Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I would like to preface this by saying that I am by no means an expert at buttercream frosting.  I have only made buttercream a few times and lived to tell the tale.  That being said, I was thoroughly pleased with the chocolate buttercream that I made for my son's Mickey Mouse cake!  I found the recipe here (http://www.food.com/recipe/chocolate-buttercream-frosting-44126) and loosely followed it.  Usually, loosely following a recipe, for me, results in disaster, but this time it worked!

For this frosting you will need:

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream
2-2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

Start by creaming the butter.  Then add the cocoa powder.  If I were you, I'd stir in the cocoa by hand because it tends to fly everywhere when confronted with an electric mixer.  Add the vanilla, and beat to incorporate.

Now comes the fun part.  Add the sugar a little at a time, thinning with some of the cream if it gets too thick.  Keep adding the sugar till it is all incorporated, thinning with cream as needed.  You may need to add the full 1/2 cup of cream or you may not need all of it.  You want the frosting to be thin enough to spread easily but not so thin that it drips off the cake.

This recipe should make enough for a 2-layer cake or a couple dozen cupcakes.  I had plenty to frost my son's Mickey Mouse cake with some left over.

After I frosted the cake, I decided to add some strawberries for a little extra decoration (no artificial colors invited to this party!).

One final note, I had a mixer malfunction while making the berry buttercream and had to use my food processor to make the chocolate.  Food processors are very good for this task as they eliminate a lot of the mess!

Next time... Blueberry buttercream!