What’s better than a good Italian Buttercream? Chocolate Italian Buttercream. Once you have the Italian Buttercream part down, the chocolate part is easy. For step-by-step instructions on how to make this delicious, melt-in-your-mouth buttercream; read below. For the chocolate part, melt about 12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate over a double broiler, let cool slightly. Then take about 1/4 of the buttercream and fold into the melted chocolate. Then fold the buttercream chocolate mixture into the rest of the buttercream until fully incorporated. How easy is that? You can essentially use this method with any icing, frosting, or buttercream of your preference. The idea behind this method is to make a smooth chocolate buttercream. If you were to dump all the melted chocolate into the buttercream at once, you will get chunks of chocolate that are very hard to get out. 
I got this recipe from the The Culinary Art Institute book on Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft
- 1 – ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 5 egg whites
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 pound of butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
- Combine ⅓ cup of granulated sugar and egg whites in a KitchenAid Mixer
mixing bowl. Set up with the whisk attachment. - Combine the water and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan. Cook on medium high heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Then, continue to cook without stirring until it reaches soft ball stage, which is 240 degrees F.
- When the sugar syrup reaches 230 degrees, start to whisk the egg whites on medium speed. The egg whites should reach soft peaks at the same time the sugar reaches the desired temperature.
- Slowly stream the hot sugar into the whipping whites, still on medium speed. Continue whipping, on high speed now, until the meringue has reached room temperature, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- While the meringue is cooling, cut the butter into 1-inch cubes.
- Once the meringue is cool, switch to the paddle attachment and gradually add butter on medium speed. Cream until smooth and light. Add vanilla extract.
- Melt the semi-sweet chocolate over a double broiler and let cool completely. Take about ¼ of the buttercream and fold in the chocolate until smooth. Then fold in the chocolate mixture into the rest of the buttercream until fully incorporated.
- Use immediately or store in a covered container in the refrigerator for later use.
Step-by-step Instructions:
1. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Attach the Candy Thermometer
2. Start whipping the egg whites when the sugar reaches 230 degrees F. The egg whites should reach medium peaks at the same time the sugar mixture reaches the desired temperature. Whip the egg whites with the whisk attachment on medium speed. Beat the meringue to medium peaks. It is very important not to over whip the meringue, stiff-peak meringues are resistant to incorporating other ingredients.
3. When the sugar mixture reaches 240 degrees F/116 degrees C, add it to the meringue in a slow, steady stream down the side of the bowl while the mixer is set on medium speed. Once all the sugar is added, whip on high-speed until the meringue has cooled to room temperature.
4. Switch to a paddle attachment before you start to add the butter. Add soft butter gradually, mixing until fully incorporated after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
5. Blend in vanilla. The buttercream is now ready for use or may be stored, tightly covered in a refrigerator.
- Another thing that should be noted. As butter is added to an Italian buttercream, it may look broken, but if you continue beating, it will develop a very smooth consistency.
- Also, when storing it in the refrigerator it will get hard. To get it back to the right consistency, there are two ways this can be accomplished. One way is to let it sit at room temperature for a few hours. The faster second way is to melt about an 1/8 of the buttercream mixture in the microwave. Put the melted buttercream in a KitchenAid Mixer
and set to low speed. Add cold chunks of buttercream a little at a time until the buttercream is incorporated. It should look chunky at this point. Mix for about 20 minutes until the buttercream looks smooth and creamy again.
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