Chocolate Frosting substitute

Substitutes for Chocolate Frosting with ratios

1. 2Chocolate ganache, poured or whipped

   Different texture

   Use the same amount chocolate to hot cream by weight for a glaze, 2:1 cooled for a spreadable frosting, 1:1 chilled and whipped for a light frosting

   Chocolate melted into hot cream, used at three different ratios for three different jobs.

   What changes

   Best for

   layer cakes, drip cakes, tortes, cupcakes, filling between layers

   The best-tasting option by a wide margin, and the least sweet, since there is no powdered sugar in it at all. It tastes purely of the chocolate you used, which cuts both ways: a good bar makes a spectacular frosting and a cheap one has nowhere to hide. Poured at around 90F it sets to a glossy shell. Cooled to a fudgy paste it spreads thickly and sets firm enough to stack. Chilled and then whipped it becomes pale, light and mousse-like, roughly doubling in volume, and that version pipes well but softens quickly in a warm room. Do not over-whip the chilled version or it turns grainy and splits.

2. 3Melted chocolate chips beaten with cream cheese or butter

   Different taste

   1 cup (170 g) chips melted and cooled, beaten with 4 oz cream cheese or ½ cup butter and 1 to 1 ½ cups confectioners' sugar

   A frosting built from chips, which is often what is in the cupboard when there is no baking chocolate or cream.

   What changes

   Best for

   cupcakes, layer cakes, sheet cakes, piping, brownie toppings

   Quick and very good, and the cream cheese version is the more interesting of the two: the tang cuts the sweetness in a way pure butter cannot, giving something closer to a chocolate cheesecake frosting, slightly softer and noticeably less sugary. Let the melted chocolate cool to barely warm before it meets the cream cheese or it will thin out and refuse to firm up. Because chips contain stabilisers they set firmer than a chopped bar would, so this frosting stiffens in the fridge and needs twenty minutes on the counter before piping. Cream cheese versions must be refrigerated.

3. 4Chocolate whipped cream

   Taste and texture differ

   1 cup cold heavy cream, ¼ cup cocoa, ½ cup (60 g) confectioners' sugar, ½ tsp vanilla, whipped to stiff peaks

   Cocoa and icing sugar whipped into cold cream, giving the lightest possible chocolate frosting.

   What changes

   Best for

   sponge cakes, chilled layer cakes, icebox desserts, trifles, cupcakes served the same day

   Delicious and far less sweet than buttercream, with a texture like chocolate mousse, and it is the fastest option here. The honest limitation is stability: it is whipped cream, so it will weep and slump within a few hours at room temperature and cannot survive a party in a warm kitchen or a car journey. The icing sugar helps because its cornstarch stabilises slightly, and whisking the cocoa in with the sugar before the cream is whipped prevents lumps. Frost the cake as close to serving as you can, and keep it refrigerated until then.

4. 5Sweetened condensed milk fudge frosting

   Taste and texture differ

   1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk, ¼ cup cocoa, 2 tbsp butter, pinch of salt, warmed and whisked smooth

   A pourable fudge frosting that needs no icing sugar and no beating.

   What changes

   Best for

   sheet cakes, brownie toppings, bundt cakes, poke cakes, traybakes

   The right answer when you have no powdered sugar and no cream, and it is almost impossible to get wrong, since condensed milk will not split. Warm everything gently, whisk until smooth and pour it over a cake while both are still slightly warm so it spreads by itself. It sets thick, dense and slightly chewy, more like the fudge topping on a traybake than a buttercream, so it cannot be piped. It is also markedly sweeter and milkier than buttercream, with a caramel note from the condensed milk, so add a generous pinch of salt to keep it from tasting one-note.

5. 6Dairy-free cocoa and coconut oil frosting

   Different taste

   ½ cup solid coconut oil or vegan butter, ½ cup (45 g) cocoa, 2 ½ cups (280 g) confectioners' sugar, 3 to 4 tbsp plant milk

   The same buttercream idea with plant fats, or whipped coconut cream with cocoa folded in.

   What changes

   Best for

   vegan cakes, dairy-free cupcakes, sheet cakes, piping

   Works well with one thing to watch: coconut oil melts at around 76F, far lower than butter, so this frosting is firm in a cool room and soft to the point of sliding in a warm one. Use refined coconut oil if you do not want a coconut flavour, start with it solid but scoopable, and beat in the plant milk a tablespoon at a time. Vegan butter blocks are more stable than coconut oil and pipe better. The alternative approach, folding 3 tablespoons of cocoa into whipped chilled coconut cream, is lighter and less sweet but must be kept refrigerated.

6. 7Chocolate hazelnut spread, straight or whipped

   Taste and texture differ

   Use as is, or beat 1 cup spread with 4 oz cream cheese or ½ cup whipped cream to lighten it

   A jarred spread used as frosting, either spread thick or lightened with something soft.

   What changes

   Best for

   cupcakes, sheet cakes, brownie toppings, crepe cakes, quick assembly

   Perfectly good and takes no time. Spread straight from the jar it is dense and very sweet and sits heavily on a cake, and it firms up quite hard in the fridge. Beaten with cream cheese it becomes light, spreadable and much better balanced, and beaten with whipped cream it turns into something close to a mousse. In every version the hazelnut is the dominant flavour, so the cake tastes like a hazelnut dessert rather than a chocolate one. Off the table if nuts are a problem for anyone eating it.