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You are here: Home / Recipes and Cooking Tips / Chocolate Crisco Frosting

Chocolate Crisco Frosting

May 2, 2015 by Alea Milham 16 Comments

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Quick and easy chocolate crisco frosting recipe.
An easy homemade chocolate frosting using crisco and cocoa powder.

This chocolate Crisco frosting recipe holds up well in warmer weather!

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This Crisco chocolate frosting recipe is made with cocoa powder. It's a delicious bakery icing that's dairy-free. Chocolate Crisco frosting is great for decorating because it holds its shape on cakes & cookies.

Why would you make chocolate icing with Crisco shortening? I answer this in detail in my Vanilla Crisco Frosting recipe, but the main reasons are:

Shortening is a solid at room temperature, so frosting made with Crisco holds up better in warm weather than buttercream frosting.

This chocolate frosting is made with cocoa powder, but no butter. Crisco is dairy-free, so people who have a dairy allergy can eat it.

Shortening is shelf-stable, so it is easy to keep some on hand at all times, so when you run out of butter, you can grab Crisco from the pantry rather than making a store run.

This Chocolate Decorating icing is a shelf stable chocolate frosting, so you can decorate cupcakes, cakes, and cookies the day before a party without having to refrigerating them.

How to Make Chocolate Crisco Frosting

When I made chocolate frosting using Crisco, I also use cocoa powder. To get a deep flavor from cocoa powder, you want to let it blossom. To do this, you need to use a hot liquid and pour it over the cocoa powder, then let it sit for a minute or two to allow the flavor to develop. I usually use hot water, but you can use hot coffee to create a mocha chocolate flavor. You can also use hot milk, to create a mild chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Crisco Frosting Recipe

This Crisco chocolate frosting recipe is smooth, fluffy, and has a deep chocolate flavor. This makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes, a 13 x 9 cake, or a 2 layer cake using 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans.

Ingredients:

  • 8 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 8 tablespoons hot water, coffee, or milk
  • 8 tablespoons Crisco shortening
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Add the cocoa powder to a mixing bowl.

2. Pour the hot water over the cocoa powder and let it sit for a minute.

3. Add the Crisco, vanilla, and salt to the cocoa and mix on slow to blend.

4. Slowly add the powdered sugar while blending on slow until fully incorporated.

5. Once the powdered sugar is fully mixed in, beat on high for 1 – 2 minutes until fluffy.

Fluffy chocolate crisco frosting on chocolate cupcakes.

Printable Recipe for Chocolate Crisco Frosting

A chocolate cupcake with homemade chocolate crisco frosting.
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5 from 6 votes

Chocolate Crisco Frosting Recipe

An easy chocolate frosting recipe that is dairy-free and holds its shape well
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword chocolate crisco frosting recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes minutes
Total Time 5 minutes minutes
Servings 18
Author Alea Milham

Ingredients

  • 8 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 8 tablespoons hot water coffee, or milk
  • 8 tablespoons Crisco shortening
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

  • Add the cocoa powder to a mixing bowl.
  • Pour the hot water over the cocoa powder and let it sit for a minute.
  • Add the Crisco, vanilla, and salt to the cocoa and mix on slow to blend.
  • Slowly add the powdered sugar while blending on slow until fully incorporated.
  • Once the powdered sugar is fully mixed in, beat on high for 1 - 2 minutes until fluffy.

More Frosting Recipes

Vanilla Crisco Frosting

Fluffy Dairy-Free Chocolate Frosting

Fluffy Dairy-Free Vanilla Frosting

How to Make Royal Icing

Dairy-Free “Butter Cream” Frosting

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About Alea Milham

Alea Milham is the owner of Premeditated Leftovers and the author of Prep-Ahead Meals from Scatch. She shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less.

Comments

  1. Autumn M. says

    July 27, 2025 at 8:00 am

    5 stars
    This is my new go-to chocolate icing recipe! I’m newly dairy free and just love how this tastes (when I go back to eating dairy, this will stay in the rotation though). I’ve made this with shortening and I’ve also made this with solid refined coconut oil instead (it’s the one that doesn’t have coconut flavor) and they’ve both turned out great, but I’ll stick with the coconut oil one to cut down on seed oils. I make this with hot coffee and add a little espresso powder like someone else mentioned in the comments.

    Reply
  2. Michelle says

    October 24, 2024 at 9:37 am

    If I use hot milk with cocoa powder can it be left out in room temperature or does the frosting need to be put in the fridge?

    Reply
  3. Mary says

    July 1, 2024 at 10:04 am

    5 stars
    Great recipe

    Reply
  4. Destiny says

    November 2, 2023 at 7:07 am

    can this frosting be saved and used at a later date?

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      November 3, 2023 at 6:10 am

      Yes, it can.

      Reply
  5. Nancy Morra says

    May 6, 2023 at 7:37 am

    Is this frosting enough for 2 layer cake?

    Reply
  6. CJ says

    March 3, 2023 at 2:17 pm

    5 stars
    This is a great recipe, thank you for posting it. My husband usually only likes Crisco-based WHITE frosting. But I prefer chocolate frosting. So I thought I’d try this one. He still prefers the WHITE frosting, but he said this is an EXCELLENT one for chocolate. I love that the consistency is good and not fussy to get right.

    Reply
    • Tracy says

      June 14, 2023 at 6:40 pm

      How does it hold up when on a cake and at room temp?

      Reply
  7. Christina L. says

    December 17, 2022 at 6:32 am

    Is this recipe also gluten free?

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      December 18, 2022 at 9:27 pm

      Yes, it is.

      Reply
  8. Sil says

    November 13, 2022 at 4:55 pm

    Cutting on the sugar will compromise the results?

    Reply
  9. Terry C says

    July 23, 2022 at 11:00 am

    5 stars
    This is awesome! My daughter is dairy free and is always wanting frosting on her cakes and cupcakes and now I can give her her wish with your yummy recipes. Thank you! I used hot coffee and added 1/4 tsp of esspresso.powder for a rich mocha chocolate frosting! It.is SO good!!

    Reply
  10. Lisa says

    September 2, 2021 at 8:31 am

    Reminiscent of my Mom’s frosting,it’s been a looooong time! I halved it for 8×8 raspberry brownie topping,used half coffee,half hot water ,super good,a keeper!.

    Reply
  11. Laura says

    February 26, 2021 at 1:53 pm

    Thank you for this! Icing was tasty and was easily used to ice cupcakes with an icing bag and tip!

    Reply
  12. Aylee says

    February 11, 2021 at 11:09 pm

    5 stars
    Nice texture! Good to know that Crisco is a decent option for frosting.
    Also, I had a positive result from combining a melted 1/2 bar of lowsugar, quality dark chocolate into the crisco portion prior to mixing into the rest. Yum . Thank You for this..

    Reply
  13. Z says

    January 6, 2021 at 12:46 pm

    5 stars
    Hello, I needed a dairy free frosting recipe to ice a yule log cake. I used this Chocolate Crisco Frosting Recipe and it was really nice, tasted good and was spreadable. Thank you

    Reply

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Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

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