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4 ingredient coffee frosting buttercream recipe with instant coffee granules! This is now our go-to coffee frosting for chocolate cake!
This coffee frosting is dreamy!
I will say this time and time again – my body cannot handle caffeine but I still LOVE the taste and smell of coffee.
It’s a bummer that even decaf coffee can still affect me so I usually get my coffee fix through baked goods. Like espresso cheesecake, coffee whipped cream, espresso brownies. They are all good.
And how did I forget about coffee ice cream?! That is probably where it all started.
Types of Buttercream
If you’re new to the world of buttercream, there’s actually different types – American, Swiss, Italian. American buttercream is the sweetest of them and consists of beating butter and powdered sugar together until you have a light, airy texture.
Buttercream is just a fancy name for frosting. I use them interchangeably now, but before I was a blogger I never used the term buttercream.
Why do I have air bubbles in my frosting and how can I get rid of them?
Air bubbles form when whipping the frosting, which is a necessary step in making buttercream! But you can reduce the amount of air bubbles by beating the frosting on low speed for a minute or by hand mixing the frosting. You are essentially pushing out the air bubbles.
Instant Coffee Granules
One of the easiest ways to make coffee buttercream is to use instant coffee granules. The granules will help give the frosting big espresso flavor without making it too liquid-y, unlike if you were to put actual brewed coffee into the frosting. I like to use decaf instant coffee granules, but you can use regular if you’d like.
I also like that some of the granules don’t dissolve completely so the buttercream has flecks of coffee bits in it.
If you need a starting place for what to use this espresso buttercream with 2 layer espresso chocolate cake!
Cake to pair with coffee frosting
- Doctored Up Pumpkin Cake
- Cinnamon Spice Crazy Cake
- Doctored Up Chocolate Cupcakes
- Homemade Brownies
- White Cupcakes
- Doctored Up White Cake
- Sugar Cookies Bars
- Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes
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Coffee Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (1 cup)
- ½ cup vegetable shortening, can substitute with butter
- 2 tsp instant coffee granules dissolved in 2 tbsp milk
- additional 1-2 tsp instant coffee granules
- 2-4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and vegetable shortening, beat using an electric mixer until fluffy, 1 minute.
- Add in the instant coffee granules that you dissolved in the milk.
- Add in additional instant coffee granules, about 1 tsp at a time until you get your desired coffee flavor.
- Begin to add the powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time, mixing by hand first, then with the electric mixer. Continue adding powdered sugar until the frosting tastes good to you, is well mixed, and pipe-able.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
Is this a good filling for macrons?
YES!!! Great idea.
This frosting looks good enough to eat on its own!
can i use instant espresso instead of instant coffee?
Yes! Great substitute!
Could cream cheese be substituted for the 1/2 cup vegetable shortening and heavy whipping cream for the milk? I’m looking for a slightly stiffer, less sweet filling for chocolates.
Yes, I think those substitutions would be okay!
Could I use a brewed espresso, instead of milk and coffee/espresso powder?
Hi Zyllah! The brewed espresso will make the frosting watery, requiring a lot more powdered sugar, so the frosting might end up tasting too sweet or being loose in texture.
Hi, thanks for the recipe! For the butter, what is the weight (in grams) per butter stick? Would it be 1 butter stick = 250g?
One stick of butter (which is equal to 1/2 cup) is about 113 grams.
Beautiful! So excited to make this. Where do you get the cute chocolates you have on top? They go well with the frosting
I found those chocolate covered coffee beans at Meijer grocery store!
Do I need to warm up the milk to dissolve the instant coffee? If so, do I need to wait until it goes back to room temperature before I add it to the recipe? Thanks.
Nope, you don’t need to warm up the milk!
I want to try it with NESCAFÉ Café de Olla Cinnamon Flavored Instant Coffee,
to put on a chocolate bundt cake
do you think that would work
I would think it would be ok, my opinion only, but sounds delicious! I love Cafe’ de Olla!
What are the chocolate balls on top of the coffee frosting they look delicious?
Chocolate covered coffee beans!