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This Chocolate Pudding Frosting Is Silky, Rich, and Incredibly Easy: If you grew up loving bakery-style chocolate cake, this chocolate pudding frosting is about to become your new favorite. Itโs silky, rich, and incredibly easy to make using instant pudding, creating a smooth, fluffy frosting that spreads like a dream – without cool whip! This is the most delicious frosting for Chocolate Cake – or to just keep in the fridge whenever you need a little sweet treat.
This Chocolate Pudding Frosting Tastes Like Bakery Cake at Home! I’m going to show you how this chocolate pudding frosting is smooth, glossy, and deeply chocolatey – it is totally the kind of frosting that makes you want to lick the bowl. If you love rich chocolate desserts without fussy steps, this oneโs for you – this frosting tastes just like that classic bakery style frosting we all love!
Don’t want all the extras in a recipe post? We provide a skip to recipe button in the top left corner, as well as a clickable table of contents, just below, to help make this page easier to navigate.
At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
Table of contents
How To Make Chocolate Pudding Frosting
This easy chocolate pudding frosting is light and fluffy like pudding, and deliciously spreadable like frosting. If you want a rich, smooth and decadent frosting, you canโt go wrong with this recipe.
The best part about this frosting is that itโs super easy to make, but even your guests will be impressed that you made it completely from scratch. Made with simple ingredients, this pudding stores well, and spreads with ease making it the perfect frosting for all your treats!
This decadent chocolate frosting recipe makes the perfect amount of frosting to frost cakes and cupcakes. It goes a long way! Get out your ingredients and letโs get started.
Chocolate Pudding Frosting Ingredients
To make this recipe, we will need the following ingredients:
- Granulated sugar sweetens the frosting and helps create that classic pudding-style texture. Because itโs cooked into the base, the sugar fully dissolves, giving the frosting a smooth, non-gritty finish.
- Flour thickens the pudding base as it cooks, giving the frosting structure without making it heavy. This is what allows the frosting to be silky and spreadable instead of dense like traditional buttercream.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder adds deep chocolate flavor and reinforces the pudding base. Using unsweetened cocoa keeps the frosting rich and balanced rather than overly sweet.
- Whole milk creates the creamy foundation of the pudding. The fat in whole milk helps produce a smooth, luxurious texture and prevents the frosting from feeling thin or watery.
- Unsalted butter gives the frosting its rich, fluffy body once whipped. Using unsalted butter lets you control the salt level while adding classic, buttery flavor and smoothness.
- Bittersweet chocolate adds intensity and depth that cocoa powder alone canโt provide. Finely chopping it helps it melt smoothly into the warm pudding, creating a glossy, bakery-style finish.
- Vanilla extract enhances the chocolate flavor and rounds out the sweetness. Even a small amount makes the frosting taste more complex and balanced.
- Salt sharpens the chocolate flavor and keeps the frosting from tasting flat or overly sweet. Itโs essential for bringing all the flavors together.
Steps to make Chocolate Pudding Frosting
Once you’ve gathered your ingredients, we will use the following process:
Make Ganache
First, whisk together your dry ingredients (sugar, flour, and cocoa).
Chill
Once it reaches a boil, allow it to boil for 30-seconds, and then remove it from the heat.
Cream Butter
Cream butter in a stand mixer.
Melt Chocolate
Melt your chocolate. Put the chopped bittersweet chocolate in a bowl and microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring in between until the chocolate is fully melted.
Mix
Slowly add pudding mixture to creamed butter, mixing as you go.
Add Chocolate
Add the melted chocolate and beat just until everything is combined.
Mix to Fluffy
Finally, add the vanilla and salt, and mix on medium speed about 2-3 minutes, until your frosting is light and fluffy.
Tips and Tricks to Perfect Chocolate Pudding
Stir Pudding. Stir the pudding continuously while cooking. You donโt want the pudding mixture to burn, so make sure to keep an eye on it and stir it often while it is on the stovetop.
Use Softened Butter. Allow the butter to soften at room temperature. It is easy to cream the butter if it is at room temperature. You can set it on the counter 30-minutes before beginning the recipe.
Store in Fridge. If you donโt use the frosting right away, keep in mind that it will thicken while in the refrigerator. To get the silky soft whipped texture, let it sit at room temperature for an hour and re whip it before spreading on your cake.
Makes 8 Cups. Once whipped, this frosting recipe yields about 8 cups of frosting, the perfect amount to frost an 8 or 9-inch two-layer cake or a 6-inch 4 layer cake or 24 cupcakes. You would have excess frosting if used on a 9×13-inch cake.
Shelf Stable. Even though the frosting has milk in it, itโs cooked into the pudding and stabilized by the large amounts of sugar and good at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Thickens When Cold. The frosting will thicken when cold and have more of a firm ganache texture as opposed to its silky soft and whipped texture right after making. If you let the cake sit at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours after removing it from the refrigerator, the frosting will soften up again. Just make sure not to leave it in a really warm area or in direct sunlight.
Rewhip from Cold. Frosting can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator, but you will need to let it soften at room temperature for about 1 hour then rewhip it in the stand mixer before using.
Chocolate Pudding Frosting Recipe FAQs
You will want to use medium heat when cooking the pudding mixture on the stovetop. Once it gets to a boil, you will cook for 30-seconds, and then remove it from the heat.
This chocolate pudding frosting wonโt take long to make. Most of it is waiting for the pudding to cool in the refrigerator. Altogether, with prep, cook time, and cooling, it will take about an hour and 30-minutes.ย
Yes, you can use a pre-made pudding mix in place of the homemade chocolate pudding portion of this recipe. You can substitute a pudding mix for the sugar, flour, cocoa powder and milk portion of the recipe. Follow the remaining instructions once you have made the pudding and allowed it to thicken.
Frosting and icing are used interchangeably, but they are actually quite different. Icing is thinner than frosting. Additionally, it has more shine and a smoother consistency than frosting.ย
Avoiding sugar can be tricky, but you can use sugar free sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup, or stevia if you choose. The texture and consistency of the frosting may be a little different.ย
Yes, it is! It spreads perfectly on any cakes or cupcakes.ย
If you plan to use this chocolate frosting for cupcakes, you will easily be able to frost 24-cupcakes! It will also frost an 8-9 inch two-layer cake or a 6-inch four-layer cake. If you choose to frost a 9×13 inch cake, youโll have extra.
You can make this frosting in advance and easily store it in the refrigerator. However, it is fine to leave it at room temperature for up to 3-days as long it is out of direct sunlight. Be sure to cover your frosting tightly with plastic wrap.ย
One serving of frosting is 2 tablespoons.
More Delicious Desserts
Now that youโve made your chocolate pudding frosting, itโs time to spread it on your favorite cake or cupcakes. Or, you could try it on my Easy Vanilla Sheet Cake, spread it on my Easy Pumpkin Dump Cake, or enjoy it on my Decadent Chocolate Chinese Five Spice Cake.
You can find the rest of our desserts in our Desserts recipe archives here.
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The Best Chocolate Pudding Frosting Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1ยฝ cups granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons flour
- ยผ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1ยฝ cups whole milk
- 1ยฝ cups unsalted butter
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Whisk together the sugar, flour, and cocoa.
- Whisk in the milk then transfer to a small saucepan.
- Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly for 4 to 6 minutes until it begins to boil.
- Once boiling, boil for 30 seconds only then remove from heat.
- Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap touching and covering the surface and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Melt the chopped bittersweet chocolate at 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until fully melted, then let cool.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter then add the pudding mix in small amounts, mixing a couple of times in between additions.
- Add the melted chocolate to the stand mixer and beat just until combined.
- Add the vanilla and salt and mix on medium speed for 6 to 8 minutes until light and fluffy and light brown in color.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
For aesthetic purposes, how can we adjust the recipe for white colored frosting?
You can make this with white chocolate, use this instead of coca powder and white chocolate chips, just know it will be sweeter than the original recipe.
If I use cook n serve chocolate pudding mix, would you say a small box would suffice, or should I use a large box? Iโll also be veganizing the whole recipe, so Iโll let you know how it turns out!
A small box
Should the pudding mix be completely cooled before adding it to the butter?
Yes! I will update it!