Cocoa Buttercream Icing

I've made this icing twice in the past week. It's a great icing that has just the right amount of sweetness and tastes great over chewy brownies. I'll post my favourite chewy brownie recipe soon! I've been making it since I was a teen and I originally found it in a cookbook for kids.

The two batches of brownies I made this past week for Canada Day and end of school celebrations turned out wonderful and I received many compliments on them and I think a big part of that had to do with this icing.

When I iced my brownies, sprinkled them with Smartie bits then popped the whole thing in the fridge, the icing turned into an amazing chocolate fudge-type icing. Delish! Actually, the reason I used this icing was because I wanted to sprinkle Smartie bits on top of my brownies and needed a 'glue' to hold the bits on. :) Worked perfectly!

3 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup cocoa
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp milk

Mix icing sugar and butter together by hand. Add cocoa and vanilla. Gradually add milk until icing is smooth and spreadable.

Generously frosts one 9x13-inch cake or an 8 or 9-inch two-layer cake.

Note: If your icing sugar is lumpy, run it through a sifter.

Alternative:
Mocha Chocolate Icing
-- Add 2 1/2 tsp dry instant coffee with the icing sugar.