Chocolate Tahini Buttercream Frosting – Sweetened with Raw Honey

What My Kids Have to Say About This Frosting

If you were to ask my toddler what she thinks of this silky chocolate tahini buttercream frosting … well, she wouldn’t say a word. Because she would be too busy licking every last bit of it off of her spoon 😀

I recently made my decadent chocolate layer cake, and I used this frosting for both the filling and the external frosting. It was a huge hit with my whole family, especially the kids. But whenever my toddler asks for “cake”, she primarily eats this irresistible chocolate buttercream frosting off of it.

But that’s not actually where my kids’ obsession with this chocolate frosting started. I originally created this frosting recipe to go on top of my healthy rice Krispie treats. And that is when my kids were first introduced to this chocolaty treat topping.

I had already made them my rice Krispie treats a time or two and they loved them. But I wanted to try adding a little something to make them extra special now and then. So I made the chocolate tahini buttercream frosting, slathered it on top of my rice Krispie treats and served them up to my kids.

They both went crazy for the delicious new topping, especially my older daughter who loves anything chocolate. She started asking to have “that chocolate frosting” on other treat items because she loved it so much.

So while this recipe was originally meant to simply be an add-on to the rice Krispie treat recipe, my kids’ enthusiasm for it motivated me to try using it for frosting the cake, which turned out to be a perfect chocolate combo.

So here we are. Chocolate tahini buttercream frosting gets it’s very own recipe blog post thanks to an emphatic endorsement from my kids.

What to Use This Chocolate Tahini Buttercream Deliciousness for

As I already mentioned, I have used this chocolate buttercream frosting with several different treats and I intend to try it with others I know it will go well with. It is a pretty diverse frosting because it is perfectly creamy at room temperature, but it will harden when chilled. So you can keep your treat in or out of the fridge before serving depending on the effect you’re going for.

I already explained that this recipe began as a topping for rice Krispie treats, so that is an obvious great choice for pairing with this easy chocolate buttercream frosting recipe.

And as I also previously alluded to, this frosting is really good for eating by the spoonful according to my toddler 🙂

You can also use this frosting for decorating cupcakes. It goes great with chocolate or vanilla flavored cupcakes.

And, excitingly, this chocolate tahini buttercream frosting is obviously perfect for frosting a layered cake! I was so impressed with how beautifully this frosting worked for a layered cake. The flavor of this creamy frosting goes so well with my rich and decadent chocolate cake recipe.

But also, it behaves essentially the same as my vanilla buttercream frosting. Because the base of it is butter, it softens at room temperature for easy smoothing, but it hardens as it gets cold.

So the ideal way to frost a layered cake with this chocolate buttercream frosting is to freeze your cake layers so they are nice and cold to help the frosting become stable (but don’t worry, it won’t actually harden too quickly as long as you keep working with it) instead of getting melty as you work.

If you need a reference on how well this frosting works with my chocolate cake, my kids will gladly give one.

Another way I think this frosting would be delicious is slathered between two healthy chocolate cookies as a cookie sandwich. If you leave them at room temp, you could even just let the kids dip their cookies in it like Nutella.

You could even use this chocolate frosting to frost cut out cookies. That’s up next on my list of ways to try using this frosting.

Ingredients

• Butter: Butter is the base of this chocolate frosting recipe. I like to use Irish grass-fed butter because it has more nutrition and none of the bad stuff. But any butter will do.

• Honey: This frosting requires raw, unfiltered honey. If you use a processed honey, it will run and you will not get the correct consistency to be able to use this as a frosting. I get my raw honey from Home Goods when possible. You can also find it at Trader Joes, sometimes at Costco, or on Amazon.

• Tahini: Tahini adds to the creaminess of this rich buttercream frosting, along with adding in a little bit of nutrition. I usually get my tahini from Indian or Middle Eastern grocery stores.

• Cocoa Powder: It’s amazing what a difference a little cocoa powder can make in a treat, transforming the ordinary into a chocolate delight. I use cacao powder which has more nutrients than the more processed cocoa powder. However, cocoa powder also works just fine.

• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract adds a bit of flavor to round out all the others. Make sure you have pure vanilla extract and not just vanilla flavoring that contains vanilla extract.

Instructions

Step 1

Add all ingredients to a medium-size bowl.

Step 2

Mix with an electric mixer until all ingredients are combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl a couple of times with a spatula to ensure everything is evenly combined and mixed together.

Step 3

Use immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks. If you want to make this ahead, once you are ready to use it, pull it out of the fridge to warm to room temperature for 20-30 minutes and then remix so that the temperature is even throughout the frosting.

Substitutions & Tips

• Take your butter out of the fridge well ahead of when you want to mix up your frosting to ensure it is completely softened. Otherwise you will end up with lots of tiny butter pieces instead of a smooth, uniform texture.

• This frosting must be made with raw honey. Processed honey is too runny and will not produce a good result.

• Make sure to mix thoroughly to ensure any honey crystals or cocoa powder clumps break down as much as possible. You can also sift the cocoa powder to help prevent clumps.

• This chocolate buttercream frosting needs to be stored in the fridge long-term. However, if you want to have a soft, creamy frosting on your kids’ treat, it won’t hurt for it to sit out for a little while to soften before it is consumed.