This cookie dough buttercream frosting is easy to make and perfect for cakes and cupcakes. It’s made from pantry staples including chocolate chips, butter, sugar, and sour cream. The best part: It’s safe to eat because there’s no egg.

No judgement here if you snitch this chocolate chip cookie dough buttercream frosting straight from the bowl. Who can resist its insanely simple and satisfying cookie dough soul?! Plus it’s easy to make, insanely indulgent, and ridiculously perfect for slathering atop cakes and cupcakes, as well as, natch, snitching straight from the bowl.–David Leite
How do I store buttercream frosting?
Buttercream, much like butter, is good to stay on the counter for a day or two. Obviously, in Arizona in July, you might need to rethink it, but if it’s temperate enough to leave your butter out, then your buttercream will be good for up to 3 days. Refrigerate if you want it to last longer or if you want to keep any swoopy or decorative details in your icing.
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Cookie Dough Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (5 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 12 ounces confectioners sugar
- 3 1/2 ounces light brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt salt
- 2 ounces sour cream (DO NOT use low-fat or non-fat sour cream)
- 1 teaspoon store-bought or homemade vanilla extract
- 1.2 ounces dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into small pieces
Directions
- Place all the ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer until combined, at least 3 minutes. The frosting will be slightly grainy because of the chocolate pieces.
- Indulge in the frosting straight from the spoon or spread the frosting over a cake or cupcake. Originally published October 04, 2016.
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We’d love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
I think we’ve all eaten our fair share of raw cookie dough, but I never thought about turning it into frosting. It was a challenge not to eat this cookie dough buttercream frosting right off the beaters before it even saw a cupcake. It’s basically a lighter, fluffier version of chocolate chip cookie dough, minus the eggs and flour.
The finished product was so tasty that I was trying to invent things to slather it on. A nice plain vanilla or chocolate cupcake does the trick. A simple cake really complements this frosting and lets the flavor of the cookie dough come through. The frosting is quite sweet—a little goes a long way. I made the vanilla cupcakes recipe suggested and frosted them with 3 to 4 tablespoons per cupcake. I do think the frosting could have used more chocolate pieces—35 grams didn’t seem like enough chocolate.
This is a very elegant and delicious frosting that comes together, start to finish, in just seven minutes. I will be adding this to my quick and tasty recipe collection. The flavors are well-balanced and I must admit I was eating the frosting straight out of the bowl. It makes enough buttercream to frost two 9-inch cakes or a dozen cupcakes.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
I don’t love this. It is extremely sweet, seemingly beyond my regular cooked flour frosting. Next time, I might try this as a cooked flour frosting, eliminating the powdered sugar entirely.
Thanks for letting us know, roxlet. It’s frosting and it’s designed to taste like cookie dough, so yes, it’s pretty sweet.