I won’t take up space talking about the loveliness of this recipe because well…it’s CHOCOLATE FUDGE FROSTING. Even if I thought of some cute words to write, you would likely be saying, “Yada, yada…show us the recipe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” And so…without further ado or ANY ado…here is the fudge frosting recipe made with homemade powdered sugar from sucanat I’ve been promising you…
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa powder
4 (+) cups of powdered sugar (I suggest either making your own powdered sugar from sucanat, or using an unbleached powdered sugar)
Melt butter in a saucepan. Add water to the butter and bring it to a boil. Pour the boiling butter/water into a bowl with the cocoa and powdered sugar. Add vanilla and mix with beaters until thoroughly combined. Add a little more powdered sugar if the frosting is too runny, but keep in mind that it does thicken up just a little bit as it cools.
This recipe makes enough frosting for a two-layer cake or for a big sheet cake or for a nice thick layer of frosting on brownies or a 9×13 inch cake. Actually, it’s almost too much frosting for the brownies and 9×13 inch cake, so save some of it in your fridge and put the leftovers on homemade donuts another time. :)
Here’s our Buttermilk Chocolate Cake recipe! :)
Julie says
I love frosting. I can not wait to try it, yum.
Angie says
This is very lovely looking and yum!!
Julie G says
Thanks! Can’t wait to try it!
Carla says
Yummy! Can’t wait until I am done nursing this baby so that I can try it! Chocolate cake at my house in March!
Baking Mama says
I also do this with sucanat and it makes a “healthier” chocolate frosting … but I can’t seem to get over the GRAINY texture! I can see the grains in your frosting, too. I guess if it doesn’t bother anybody else and you get used to it, then O.K. I guess I’m just spoiled by the smooth frostings we used to have (open a can of Duncan Hines!) )-: One thing that has helped is to use boiling water in the recipe. The sucanat grains dissolve that way, but unfortunately the fat melts, too, making it more runny. This makes a very nice frosting to “drizzle” over a bundt cake, though. (I like this better anyway because you use – and eat – less “sugar” than when you frost a two-layer cake!) Now if there was only a “healthy” yellow cake with white frosting that I am OFTEN asked to make for birthdays. Still have not found a recipe that I’m happy with (help, Laura!!!!!!!!!!!)
melanie says
My daughter was just telling me that the boiling water is supposed to bring out the flavor in the cocoa ~ So this should be great frosting! Thanks, Laura!
Kimberly says
I’m sure this recipe is plenty to frost a cake…if you don’t eat it all with a spoon first. :)
Christy says
Wishing I had a free taste “test” of that! : )
Taryn says
Umm- yum.
Ivette says
Looks so good. Can’t wait for the cake recipe also.
Blair says
Yummy!! We LOVE chocolate around here!
april says
chocolate. did you have to give us this one days before Trunk-or Treat???
Erin Lowen says
I’ve been craving chocolate and don’t want the bad for you candy bars. I can’t wait to try this one.
Thanks.
Danielle says
Looks great. My 3-year-old wants chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for his birthday November. I will be trying this recipe for sure!
Robyn O. says
Oh my yumminess! Just in time for my boy’s birthday cake!
Stefanie says
Looks really yummy! Can’t wait to try it!
Dana says
This looks delicious! I’ll have to give it a try!
Janeen says
Ooooo. This looks wonderful! Thanks for the recipe!
Kathy says
Wowza is right, Laura. Thanks for the yummy-looking recipe. I’ll have to give it a try soon!
Christy says
Yum! Thanks!
Jami says
Holy Cow! That makes me wanna make chocolate cake right now! Why do you do these things!!!??? :)
Cheryl says
Found the comment on why you boil the butter & water. Is that the reason?
Will have to give this a go some time soon. Maybe for your pretzels I’m going to try for our church’s birthday fellowship this Sunday!
Laura says
I wasn’t aware that boiling the water and butter would bring out the cocoa flavor, but what I have noticed about doing this is that it gives the frosting more of a fudge consistency instead of just chocolate – if that makes any sense!
Tracey says
So craving chocolate cake now!!
Shonda says
I would love to make this frosting!
Jennifer S. says
I really, really am looking forward to trying this recipe.
Allyson says
Oh, I wish my husband ate chocolate. I can’t realy justify making all of this just for me :(
Debbie says
It’s 60 degrees in my house today and the oven is already on because I don’t want to turn on the heat yet. I am thinking that a chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting, apple sauce bread, and roasted potatoes might just be in the working while I am enjoying teaching Sonlight curriculum to my children.
jennifer viol says
Yum! Great photos
Suanna says
This sounds really good.
Carrie says
This looks delicious and sounds easy to make too.
Melissa says
Oh this looks “Heavenly”! :) Can’t wait to try it out!
Carmen says
oh my goodness!!!!….my girls will thank-you dearly for this recipe…
YUM–can’t wait to try it.
Debbie says
Is organic cane juice sweetener the same thing as sucanat? I found it in bulk at http://www.bulkfoods.com for $112.45 for 50 lbl.
Laura says
No, that’s not quite the same thing (if I was looking at the correct item). Sucanat has a brown color and is less refined than what they picture. I’ll do a more thorough explanation of sucanat in a few days.
Laurie Plath says
Looks wonderful, I’ll have to try making my own powdered sugar.
Peggy says
I love chocolate. I will definitely have to try this recipe. Thanks!
Marianne says
MMMMM chocolate…how can I not try this one? :)
DorthyM says
I love frosting! Especially chocolate fudge…well, anything chocolate fudge! BTW. after seeing that the last thing showing up on facebook is what to do with butternut squash yesterday, and still not seeing an update now, i finally (duh) figured out, come to the website! Guess facebook is being picky again.
Sally says
Thank you thank you! That is on my list to try very soon.
I use both honey crystals and succanat ( I get them from http://www.breadbeckers.com ) Which one would you recommend for this
recipe?
Christine says
I am the only person in my house who likes chocolate frosting… Going to have to try this recipe and just eat it all myself!
stephanie says
YUMMY…I love choc frosting
alesha says
Looks good. I just bought some sucanat and tried your flour-less peanut butter bars. (which my kids loved) So I’ll have to try this. Keep the yummy recipes coming.
Jennifer says
Yum!
Vanessa says
Mmmmm! This looks so yummy!
Heather Eide says
Yummy…chocolate in any form it good in my book! :)
Sacha says
Looks yummy! Any ideas on healthy chocolate syrup for making chocolate milk?
Heather says
Hello, beautiful! Who doesn’t love chocolate? And is there such a things as too much frosting for a pan of brownies? Not in our house there isn’t! And frosting on graham crackers is one of my favorite treats, although we do it less than once a year here. SO GOOD. Even better when they get soft the second day, but rarely make it that long.
Heather
Bethany B. says
YUM!!!!!!! Ok, now I need to go find a reason to make a chocolate cake…
Rachel B says
This looks WAY too good! But I did really need a reason to make some homemade powdered sugar … :)
Angela says
now I feel like making something chocolate!!!
Carmen says
Yum! Chocolate frosting. Can’t wait to see the cake recipe.
Kellie says
I think I’ll be baking and frosting a cake this weekend!
Ashley says
That looks heavenly! I have to make a cake for the Fall festival at our church…I’m thinking chocolate would be perfect!
Leah says
oh my!!! The pictures created some huge craving!!!
Erin says
Hmmm, now I need to make a cake so I can have a viable excuse to make this ridiculously yummy-looking frosting, Laura! (I seriously considered halving the recipe and just making a batch of it for us to enjoy straight from the ball, but that’s just too gluttonous. Even for me. :) Thanks for the great posts this week!
Lauren@BaseballsandBows says
THANK YOU! Just this week, I made a cookie cake for my daughter’s birthday. The cookie was all “real food”, but I didn’t have a good icing recipe. I will next time!
Mombeam says
Are there specks in the frosting or is that just some effect of the photograph? If there are actually specks does that have to do with the sucanat?
Laura says
Yes, there are some specks in the frosting as the sucanat turned powdered sugar isn’t quite as fine as what we’re used to. But on the cake, I didn’t even notice. Also, the picture shows my first attempt at making it this way. The second time around, I was able to get it smoother.
Jacque says
I love chocolate frosting!!!
Aya says
Yum! I’m craving sugar now though. :)
Carol E. says
Thank you so much for this recipe. The only reason to eat cake is for the chocolate frosting, in my opinion.
Sarah DJ says
Oh wow…yum.
Michele M. says
I made this today and frosted a cake with it. Yum!!!!! Now, what to do with the leftovers…
Wendy says
Chocolate on chocolate!! My FAVORITE!!! :)
Christina says
This recipe sounds so good!!
Lorinda says
What a yummy looking treat!
Elaine says
thanks looks great
Sara R. says
Yay! I’ve been waiting for this recipe since you first mentioned it back at the beginning of the week! I’ll definitely be trying this one!
Katie M. says
mmm….i want to eat this, cake or no cake :)
Sarah says
I am so craving chocolate now!
Andrea says
Finally! The recipe that has been TAUNTING us for a whole week. :) Do you think it would be possible to make this with coconut oil? It looks too yummy. I just might have to try and see!
sara says
This sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Barbra says
Looks lovely. I am a chocolate fan! But I may try it with carob powder, I know the taste will NOT be the same.
AmyR says
Yum, yum!
fudge recipe says
Chocolate fudge frosting is my twin boys’ favorite. They don’t really care what’s underneath, be it carrot cake, marble cake, or even a pumpkin cake. They love giving me a hand in the kitchen. I used to put chocolate fudge frosting in a pipe bag, now they can simply scoop it out with a spatula right from the bowl. :)
Pam F. says
I need to make the cake so I don’t eat the frosting by the spoonful!
Tanya says
I just made this frosting and your doughnuts! Oh my goodness….They are both SCRUMPTIOUS!
Merry Jo says
Sounds SO delicious!
Kristin says
Oooo! Looks delicious.
Sabrina says
That looks delicious!
Lisa says
I will definitely try this!
Kristi says
I can’t wait to give this one a try – I will be licking the spatula!
Rebekah says
Nothing beats homemade frosting! I read a comment recently on a cake making site where the woman said she didn’t have time to make homemade frosting but she constructed acorns out of meringue?? I love knowing how to make things from scratch! It really saves time (on last-minute runs to the store) and makes me feel like I know my way around my kitchen!
Lenetta says
Hooray for healthier good stuff! This looks sooo yummy.
Natasha says
So easy! Who would have thought!
Susan says
Oh, this sounds yummy. I live with 3 sickos (husband and sons) who do not like chocolate! :) This may not stop me from making it though. ;)
Kelly says
This looks so wonderful! Even my husband (who has an incredible sixth sense about knowing when I’ve “healthied up” a recipe won’t see this coming!
Sara says
Thanks! I am lazy and melted the butter in the microwave, added the water and heated it back up in the micro and then took it out and dumped it into the dry ingredients and mixed it with a regular spoon (i halved the recipe). It was GREAT on my homemade whole wheat brownies. yum!
Sue says
My family does not like dark chocolate. Would you please tell me how strong the chocolate frosting is? It looks delicious.
Laura says
This is more of a milk chocolate I’d say…since it has butter in it. It’s rich, but not like dark chocolate.
Sue says
Thank you very much. I am very eager to make it.
Gretchen says
This was really good! I used about 2/3 evaporated cane juice and 1/3 rapadura to cut down on the rapadura taste, but it was still strong. However, everyone really liked it! Thanks for the recipe, I will be making again.
~ginger~ says
I just made the Buttermilk chocolate cake with REAL butter, Buttermilk made from RAW milk, and Sucanat.
I’m making the Powdered Sucanat Frosting from your website, and having made this before, I wanted to offer a couple of quick suggestions to aid in the consistency. First, use Milk instead of water, and secondly, add the cocoa powder directly to the butter mixture. While that’s cooling a little, mix all the remaining ingredients.
Then combine the two mixtures. It’ll be smooth the very first time around, with a fraction of the beating time. (Esp. if you’re doing it by hand.:)~
Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes! From a fellow Nourishing Traditions, Homesteading, Homeschooling Mom of 5!
Sandra says
The novelty of having an effectively infinite supply of powdered sugar at my disposal caused me to make my frosting a little too stiff. It was still smooth and usable. It’s just that applying it to the cake was more like spreading putty than what I think of as typical frosting. It was a refreshing change from my too-thin efforts in my distant past, before I gave up frostings entirely. It was also utterly delicious.
Melissa says
Finally had a good excuse to actually make this, and it was amazing!! I was given fresh cane sugar from a local farmer (south LA is loaded with cane fields ;)), so I powdered that in the blender instead of sucanat. It’s a little more moist, but the frosting was heavenly. ;) I got tons of compliments and requests for the recipe. Thank you for experimenting and sharing!
Laura says
I’m so jealous that you got FRESH cane sugar!!!!! I don’t even know what that looks like. It sounds so delicious!
Melissa says
It is, and it’s beautiful!! Some neighbors have friends and family from two different fields, so my sugar jar looks like one of those colored-sand “sculptures”. Wish you were closer to share, but, then again, we don’t have Azure Standard anywhere around here, which I am incredibly jealous of. ;)
jenn foy says
oh wow. this was INCREDIBLE!!!
Elizabeth says
Could this be used to frost cupcakes??
LindseyforLaura@HHM says
Sure! Great idea!
Kathryn says
Oh YUM!!!!!!!! We made this for my moms birthday!!!!! Delicious!!!!!!
Lisa says
Cake is in the oven and the frosting…… oh, mine. I hope the cake gets some of the frosting because I can’t keep my fingers out of the bowl.
Jill says
Hi. What kind of cocoa powder do you use for both the cake and frosting recipes? Is it sweetened? Thank you.
LindseyforLaura@HHM says
It’s unsweetened. :)
Angela says
Oh wow!! This was fantastic frosting! I seriously wanted to just eat the whole bowl! Mine set up really quick making it a little challenging to spread…did I add too much powdered sugar? Is there something I could do different to keep it more spreadable? Thank you, thank you for this recipe. It’s definitely a keeper!!
LindseyforLaura@HHM says
If you add just a tiny bit of water it should spread easier.
Angela says
Ahhh, ok. I’ll try this next time because, yes, there WILL be a next time. :) Thanks!!
Brooke says
Quick question Laura!! :)
On this recipe, can I replace the butter with coconut oil to make it dairy free??
Amy says
I’ve tried it with coconut oil and it worked wonderfully.
Brooke says
Thank you Amy :)
LindseyforLaura@HHM says
I think it is delicious when replaced with coconut oil. My family loves it too!