Chocolate Butter Frosting

Simplicity at its best and extraordinarily tasty, too, this chocolate butter frosting will complement all kinds of cakes...and the extras taste amazing smeared on graham crackers! This amount of frosting will cover a 13 x 9" cake and provide leftovers.

Chocolate Butter Frosting (Adapted from The Settlement Cookbook)

4 tbsp. softened butter

3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 oz. melted unsweetened chocolate (or ½ cup cocoa powder)

4 tbsp. milk

Cream the butter, sugar and melted chocolate together until well-mixed. If using cocoa powder, sift with the confectioners' sugar to remove any lumps and then cream the butter.

Add the vanilla extract and the milk (you may need more milk to make a spreadable consistency, especially if you are using cocoa powder) and mix until the frosting is as thick or as thin as you want it to be. 

Yields enough to frost a 13 x 9" cake with generous leftovers

NOTE: Please see the 'Spanish Walnut Cake' entry for photos of this particular frosting. That entry features the frosting made with Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder, which yields a very rich frosting.