Black Cocoa Cream Cheese Buttercream

What's the #1 issue with black frosting...?

Aside from getting white buttercream to turn a deep black - many people worry black buttercream will stain their teeth. No bueno. So as we head into spooky season and Halloween baking, I want to re-share a recipe / tip! This is one I use in almost all my Halloween decorating - Black Cocoa cream cheese frosting!

Why you'll love this recipe - 

First the backstory (lol). My first attempt at making black frosting was ill-informed and not too successful. :/ 
I started with regular buttercream and added a *ton* of black gel color until I got in the ballpark of the color I wanted - but my end result was more dark gray than actual *black.*
After all that work, it didn't even really taste good! I had a big bowl of buttercream flavored with food dye. Yick. And super frustrating! 

This black cocoa frosting recipe is the one I wish I'd have had that day!! 

• This recipe relies on the dark color of the cocoa powder to do 90+% of the coloring work. Just a touch of black dye finishes off the job if you'd like - or if not, you can leave it out! 
• You can't taste the dye, just the chocolate and cream cheese - and you get gorgeous deep black frosting! Best of all worlds. 😉 

"How do I make black frosting that won't stain my teeth?" 

The short answer - with black cocoa powder!

Black cocoa powder doesn't contain any dyes; it's simply cocoa powder that has been more heavily 'dutched' or alkalinized. This keeps it from reacting with leavening agents in baked goods. It retains its delicious chocolate flavor - and it also gives it a dark color perfect for black frosting that won't taste bad or stain your teeth!

I've added a bit of food dye to the recipe, but it is optional - if you'd prefer to leave the dye out you absolutely can!

Quick tip if you'd like to leave out the black gel coloring -

Especially if you'd like to skip adding the black gel food coloring - prep this frosting recipe ahead of time!

I'd recommend making this black cocoa cream cheese frosting at least 24 hours in advance; letting it sit that long will deepen the black color.

"How should I store this frosting?" 

Because of the cream cheese in the frosting, I recommend storing this frosting in an airtight container or ziplock bag in the refrigerator.

(With the amount of sugar in the recipe you could maybe get away with storing it at room temperature for up to a day...but it seems risky to me.) 

And like I said above - I recommend storing it overnight to let the color deepen to that super-dark-black we all love this time of year! 😉 

Have at it - happy baking!! 

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Don't forget to pin this recipe for later!