I am a total Newbie and have only made a handful of cakes in my whole life. I recently used the crusting buttercream recipe which I LOVED because it tastes good and smooths so beautifully on my cake. However, I am now ready to try and make a chocolate cake but don't know what to do for the icing. I'm not good at smoothing the icing with my spatula so the Viva papertowel method ROCKS! Is there a good recipe for Chocolate crusting icing? Or is there another method or technique to use for chocolate cakes?

TIA!

I <3 CC!!

I add chocolate to my regular crusting icing. You can use cocoa powder or melted chocolate in it. It will need a little more liquid because it does dry the icing out a little, but other than that it still works great and the icing will still crust.

I also use a regular crusting buttercream, indydebi's recipe here on CC, and I add melted chocolate and cocoa powder for a richer chocolate taste.

I used semi sweet melted chocolate and dark cocoa powder.

I use the buttercream recipe by indidebi, when I need chocolate buttercream I just add about 1/2 a package of instant chocolate pudding. You might need to add just a little more liquid. But it is wonderful!

If you like the Viva method, you might want to try the Melvira method:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-93051-.html

HTH

Nestle makes a product called Choco-Bake that is a liquid choc paste. I recently put a few sleeves into regular crusting BC and was happy with the results! You could probably make a paste w/ cocoa powder & water...