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Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting is just as sweet, rich, and chocolatey as regular chocolate frosting but with a tangy kick! Enjoy!
Let’s talk about this Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting…
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that Blake turned 3 recently!! What a sweetie pie that boy is {usually…ha!} We will be doing a post all about his birthday soon, but I wanted to share this amazing amazing frosting recipe for his cake. {Scroll down to see his cake!}
YOU GUYS. Have you ever had sour cream in frosting before? It is NUTS. So so good. It adds a lovely tang and creaminess you just can’t get with any other dairy product. Plus this frosting paired with my Perfect Chocolate Cake recipe? Pure heaven.
Of course, this frosting would be good on just about anything, but that’s a different story for another time.
I’m somewhat methodical when it comes to making the frosting, namely because I don’t like them overly sweet, plus I like them having depth and interesting flavors…not just super-sweet-feel-the-cavities-setting-in-already.
Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting Ingredients:
- salted butter: adds the salt I need to counter the powdered sugar
- powdered sugar: frosting does need to be sweet after all!
- cocoa powder: hello??? this is chocolate frosting, so obviously I need that.
- sour cream: adds more creaminess and tang
- vanilla extract: helps bring out the chocolate flavor, ironically
As long as your butter is completely soft and you sift your dry ingredients, you will have zero problems making {and eating} this frosting. It’s almost as good, if not better than, my best and easiest chocolate frosting {which is forever more trending on Pinterest}.
It’s so velvety and smooth! I had no issues at all making Blake’s birthday cake! I’ll go into more detail about his cake once I do his official bday post with the video of him blowing out his candles. But in the meantime, this photo will have to do.
If you have a reason to celebrate or happen to be baking something soon, give this frosting a try. You won’t regret that decision. Promise!!
Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup softened salted butter
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder + 1 tablespoon, sifted well
- 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar sifted well
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir on low to combine. Scrape sides and mix again. Then whip on high for 30 seconds to 1 minute to get a completely smooth and creamy frosting. Use as desired.
I followed the directions exactly and it came out perfect. Not too sweet either but very delicious.
I don’t have sifter I shoulda used a tea strainer. It came out super delicious my favorite frosting but it’s lumpy.
The frosting tastes good- but is very runny.
I tried this frosting for the first time today and I love it! It does make allot and if you’re frosting a cake, you will have a good bit left over. I read the comments and was prepared for it to be a little runny so, I went ahead and added a little more powdered sugar and it came out just fine.
Smooth, creamy, chocolaty, delicious, and SO EASY to make. I love the fact you don’t have to melt chocolate to make it. Pour everything into your KitchenAid and whip it up. I’ve made a lot of frosting over the years, and always adjust the powdered sugar and chocolate to my taste and how stiff I want the frosting. This is a great recipe. Yum!
Delicious and so easy to spread on my cake! This recipe is a winner I will make often! Thank you
My husband says this frosting tastes like “regret.” I’ve never experienced such a waste of ingredients in my life. In another blog you mentioned that you only eat chocolate cake five times a year…so if this is the frosting you use for those cakes, I understand why.
This was unnecessarily mean, Doris. Perhaps constructive criticism would be more helpful.
I really was excited to try to this, but google placed ad right over the top of it. I thought, “Okay, maybe if I open it in my browser…” nope still there. 🙁
Not too sweet. Absolutely perfect. My new go to recipe.
I followed this recipe to a tee. Not sure how you all can say it worked perfectly when it didn’t! required another cup and a bit of icing sugar. And more cocoa!!!!!
This frosting was amazing! I will definitely be making it often. It was a little runny, maybe less butter and less sour cream or just more powdered sugar next time but so tasty.
can I substitute dutch cocoa for
unsweetened cocoa powder?
A little too tangy for my overly critical bunch. how do offset without making it sweeter
Add a little instant coffee grounds, mixed with a tiny bit of warm water, froth it up so it gets thick, add a little bit and a good pinch of salt, it will make it taste more chocolaty and less tangy.
I can hardly wait to try out your Black Forest Recipe. We traditionally have this as our Christmas Cake! Thank you for the recipe.
Nice taste but too runny ~ cheers
Makes a lot of frosting – a lot
Does this frosting require refrigeration or can the frosted cake be left out (in a dome of course)
I would refrigerate just to be safe.
I searched for a recipe that used sour cream and cocoa powder, and this popped up. I made it for my husband’s b-day Ring- of-Coconut Chocolate bundt cake. It was amazing. He couldn’t keep his fingers out of it. I reduced amounts in the recipe by 1/3 and still had plenty to cover the bundt. Thank you!
By far the BEST frosting I’ve ever had/made! I love it! Tonight I made (stupid rich) chocolate cupcakes for a coworker’s birthday, topped with this and some fresh raspberries. OMG. YUM.
I have now found my favorite chocolate frosting. Thank you Lauren!
Loved this recipe, tweaked it a bit, less sugar, and Mexican style sour cream, ghee instead of butter, worked very well, 5 stars.
[…] more frosting options, check out these: Cream Cheese Frosting, Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting, Reese’s Frosting, and Poured Chocolate […]
Easy, delicious recipe that was a hit! Thank you for sharing.
Ummm….this frosting was amazing! I used yogurt instead of sour cream, because it’s what I had on hand. Delicious, creamy, and most importantly not too sweet which is what I’ve been wanting for years. Will be stashing this recipe away for all birthdays to come.
[…] like my husband, be sure to give these other frostings a try: Amazing Chocolate Frosting Recipe, Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting, Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting and Vanilla Cinnamon Cake with Browned Butter […]
As per my usual, I’m arriving rather late to the party but better late than never! LOL My son’s birthday is today and his girls and I decided to bake…. He loves sour cream in almost everything so here I am looking for an icing recipe that I can make without going to the store. TA-DA!! Your recipe fits the bill perfectly! It will be a few hours yet b4 we complete this project, but I will report back…
[…] https://laurenslatest.com/chocolate-sour-cream-frosting/ […]
I’m making a banana cake tomorrow and did a search for an icing with sour cream (since I have some that needs to be used up). I opened 7 browser tabs, each with a different frosting recipe. Yours was the first. I read and immediately shut down all others without even looking at them because yours sounds divinely perfect. I can’t wait to see how well the cake, the icing, and the pairing of the two turn out.
If I only have unsalted butter in the house, how much salt should I add to the recipe to make it taste right?
Probably 1 teaspoon.
I made this to frost a Devil’s food cake for a graduation party. It is so creamy! But it didn’t seem firm enough to hold its shape. I had to add 1 cup more powdered sugar and 1/4 cup more unsweetened cocoa powder. Because of doing that, I also added another 1/8 tsp. salt and another dash of vanilla extract. After that, it was the perfect texture for spreading. I like that the sour cream prevents it from tasting overly sweet.
Since there’s sour cream in the mix does the cake need to be refrigerated for storage?
[…] CHOCOLATE SOUR CREAM FROSTING […]
http://www.browneyedbaker.com/irish-car-bomb-cupcakes/ I believe this is the one I use but when I make the frosting I just keep adding Baileys until its nice and boozy. Same with the ganache, 2 teaspoons of jameson is no where near enough to taste it
Sounds so good
I was wondering if this icing could be prepared in advance and frozen, or alternatively, how long it can last in a fridge?
I haven’t made this and frozen it, but I have made it in advance. It’s a little tricky to work with, but if you bring it back to room temperature and fluff it up a bit in your mixer, it should work just fine. I’d check the expiration date on the sour cream and use that as the date to go by.
Perfect timing. I am baking cupcakes for my hubby to take into his nurses. I am going to make it right now.
wonderful recipe I will soon try this 🙂
Tastes good, but this is not a good recipe for frosting a cake that has more than one layer. It’s liquidy and will fall down the sides of the cake, collecting at the bottom. I think it’s because of the sour cream.
Easily the cutest birthday cake I have seen in quite a while. Can see how this could be converted into a race track theme. Loved the candles, both numeral and quantity. Can visualize Blake putting up three fingers as well!