I use the standard Wilton buttercream recipe....crisco, water, vanilla, powdered sugar, and meringue pwd. Wilton says to add cocoa to make chocolate buttercream. I was wondering if anyone ever added melted chocolate to the recipe instead? Wasn't sure if the melted choc. would break down the buttercream consistency.

Hi, I haven't made that recipe to make my bc. I use butter, powdered sugar and flavouring to make my buttercream. I have added melted chocolate to that. I left the melted chocolate to cool down a bit and then add it to the bc. Sorry not much of a help.

careyi does it with the basic Wilton recipe. You might try to pm her.

HTH

I've added it to my regular buttercream (which is premade) and had no problems.......the melted chocolate doesn't add as much of a chocolate flavor as the cocoa powder does though. I've also added chocolate syrup to get a nice dark color

Nope! I've done it with the Wilton recipe and love it. Their recipe on
http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Chocolate-Buttercream-Icing
says:

This recipe is a little different than what you listed. I've made this chocolate recipe several ways: with all cocoa, mix of cocoa and melted chocolate, and all chocolate. I prefer making it with the melted chocolate. It tastes way better than that chalky bitter cocoa powder. When I made it with 2 oz chocolate and 1/4 c of cocoa, it tasted best. I also think the consistency is much better than their non-chocolate buttercream. Perhaps the extra fat helps it hold up well? I've noticed it pipes better.

We do it all the time. Like the others have said, the melted chocolate will not give you as rich of a chocolatey taste as say, cocoa or syrup. However, it makes the frosting taste like a malted milkshake.

We add the melted chocolate as the last step.

Paul

Thank you all so much for your responses. I am going to try playing around with it tonight!!

I do not use the Wilton recipe, but do add chocolate to my bc. I substitute about 3 ounces of cocoa for the powdered sugar, and then add 2 or 3 ounces of melted chocolate. I agree with the others--cocoa powder gives the icing a stronger chocolate flavor and darker color. The melted chocolate helps smooth out the consistency, because cocoa powder can make the icing a little gritty.