I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We always have a bunch of birthdays around Christmastime. I try to change up the dessert a little bit and still keep to the chocolate cake requests that happen every 2 weeks at this time of year. Buttercream is made with SO much butter and requires a bit of work, so I thought I would turn my Chocolate Lasagna filling into a chocolate frosting for birthday cake instead. (See the chocolate version in the notes.) Plus buttercream is so messy with powdered sugar! After all the Christmas cookies, I want something a little lighter and easier to make – but JUST as delicious!
For a homemade chocolate cake, you can check this chocolate cake recipe out. This year I just used the box instead. I used 1/2 applesauce and 1/2 oil in the cake, and nobody even noticed. 🙂
This recipe is easy when you have everything in the pantry ready to go. I saved the cake to eat a few days later, and the frosting tasted the same! I was impressed because whipped recipes lose air as they sit. Not this one! Since this is whipped – it does need to be stored in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
- Cool Whip
- Cocoa Powder
- Milk
- Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix
Cool Whip
I used TruWhip instead of Cool Whip. But the products are completely interchangeable. For a pantry only frosting – you could use DreamWhip. This does taste like a dream! In less than 5 minutes, you add the powder, milk and a little vanilla. Boom – you have whipped topping that tastes fresh.
Cocoa Powder
I think the kind of cocoa powder used makes a difference, but that could just be me. My preferred baking cocoa is Rodelle. I find it at Costco (only during November-January) or Amazon. It is dutch-processed, so it works in most situations. I find it dissolves better for making homemade hot cocoa.
Milk
Any milk should work.
Chocolate Pudding
Double check your chocolate pudding box says “Instant”! I know I’ve gotten home a few times only to realize later it said “Cook and Serve.” I didn’t even know those existed! This uses the smaller box. There is a larger 5 ounce box and a smaller 3.4 ounce box on the shelf. You just need the 3.4 ounce box.
Other Uses:
This recipe covers a 9×13″ cake or a 2-tiered 9″ inch cake as seen in the photos. You could use the frosting on cupcakes, or a fruit dip, or wherever you want more chocolate!
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 3.4 ounce box instant chocolate pudding
- 1 cup milk
- 8 ounces (1 tub) Cool Whip*
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and pudding mix. Once mixed thoroughly, add the milk. Beat with a mixer or whisk together for 1 minute.
- Fold in the cool whip. This part will take a little while, but it is worth it! Keep folding until there are no streaks of chocolate.
- Store covered and in the fridge until you are ready to use.
This is enough frosting to cover a 9x13" cake or a stacked two layer 9" cake
