Help! I Can't Get My Chocolate Frosting To Look Right Good Questions

Q: I'm having a real problem getting my chocolate frosting to look right. I was making Martha Stewart's Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes, and while the cake and caramel turned out perfect, the frosting in this recipe turned out entirely too thin and runny to be piped.

Because I was out of chocolate and couldn't really start over, I tried to salvage it as best as I could. I beat in some more powdered sugar, and eventually turned it into something with the consistency of a ganache. Ultimately, it tasted just fine — but I was frustrated that I couldn't replicate the picture, especially since I had some pretty specific decorating ideas I wasn't able to implement.

I'm not entirely sure if the fault was mine (was the butter a little too cold? did I not cool down the chocolate enough?) or the recipe's (missing step? important timing stuff that wasn't spelled out?) or some combination of the two. I don't have a problem mixing up other buttercream frostings — I've got a pretty good grip on the fluffy white stuff that looks like it's from a storebought cake but tastes SO much better. But the chocolate frosting is driving me nuts.

Are there any secrets I'm missing here? Is there a better recipe for pipeable chocolate frosting? Any help you or your readers can offer would be much appreciated.

Sent by Rob

Editor: Here is the recipe Rob is working with:

• Martha Stewart's Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes at 52 Cupcakes

Rob, we are curious if you were able to refrigerate the frosting for a while after making it? For frosting recipes that start out warm, like this one, we often refrigerate them overnight and then re-whip the next day. We find that many chocolate frosting recipes need to chill thoroughly before they stiffen up.

That's just one idea, though. Readers, any other thoughts or recipe suggestions?

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Related: DIY Whipped Chocolate Frosting

(Image: 52 Cupcakes)

Comments (10)

I agree on the chilling idea. It take a bit more planning ahead, but you'll almost always end up with a thicker frosting. I've been told (not that it's true) that it allows the corn starch in the powdered sugar to absorb moisture and therefore thicken.

I just use the chocolate buttercream recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. You can make it non-vegan if the v-word scares you off, but as an omnivore, I promise it tastes delicious either way, and is always pipable. I've never had a problem with it.

The other possibility is that Martha's recipe needs tweaking. I never trust her baking recipes - I have found there is always something a little off. Don't get me wrong, she's great, I have just worked really hard on too many recipes to have something fall flat at the last moment with her baked goods.
I don't know specifically of any piped chocolate frosting recipes, but you could just search epicurious, look for recipes with apicture, and find a cake with piped frosting and use that recipe.

I love these cupcakes! The frosting recipe is runny - both times I've used it, I've just put it in the fridge for a few minutes before piping it (once it's in the bag), then again when it warmed up too much. Once it's on the cupcakes, it stayed put.

I have had the same problem with the same frosting! I also added a ton more powdered sugar and got decent results, but I feel like I shouldn't have to tweak a published professional recipe if I don't feel like it. Ugh.

I have moved on to the chocolate buttercream from the folks at America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated. It comes out perfect every time.

You could also take the vanilla buttercream recipe you like and add some melted chocolate to it (chocolate shouldn't be too warm). Since it's already sweet, the darker the chocolate the better. It's delicious, and definitely not runny.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I hadn't considered chilling the frosting (I spent all that time carefully bringing the butter to room temperature and melting the chocolate, after all!), but I know exactly what I'm going to do the next time I make chocolate frosting.

Was it the same type of chocolate or have the same cocoa content? Those could also be issues. I've used two different brands of 60% chocolate and they melted very differently.

I too always have trouble with martha stewart's recipes. I've stopped using them.