Yellow cake with chocolate frosting is a classic birthday cake flavor that everyone loves! Making a yellow cake recipe from scratch is incredibly simple and once you make this one, you’ll ditch the box mixes forever!

When it comes to comfort foods, I have a few favorites: pizza (specifically, buffalo chicken pizza – either homemade or delivery), brownies, and cake.  Any cake will do.  Really, I’m not that picky when it comes to cake. 

But what I’m totally in love with is classic yellow cake. Funnily enough, it’s usually Kyle’s #1 cake choice too (when I give him the option to choose, that is) so I’m usually in cake heaven when we make a homemade layer cake.

And up until a few years ago, the boxed version of yellow butter cake was fine – great (!!), in fact. It was a perfect cake every time with awesome flavor and a tender crumb. 

However, if you’ve been around these parts long enough, you’ll know that what really makes me most happy is baking from scratch. 

It’s been years since I’ve used a boxed mix for anything and in my humble opinion, baking from scratch is just as easy as and is cheaper, healthier (no preservatives or chemicals), and waaay more satisfying than opening a box.

And actually, if you get the random 7pm Wednesday (or Monday or Thursday) night whiny-man requests for cake like I do, you sure as heck don’t want to drive to the store for a box mix when you most likely already have all the ingredients for this cake in your pantry and fridge already, right? Right. 

Ingredients

Here’s the basic shopping list of ingredients you’ll need for this cake with chocolate frosting recipe. Like I said, you probably already have most of them already! Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for the full list!

• unsalted butter
• all-purpose flour
• cake flour – This will make your cake extra soft and squishy. If you don’t have it, 
• baking powder
• table salt
• granulated sugar
• eggs
• pure vanilla extract
• milk
• semisweet chocolate – Not chocolate chips. You’ll want to use baking chocolate in bar form here.
• confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Room Temperature Ingredients

I can’t stress enough the importance of using room temperature ingredients in your baking recipes. 

• Butter – Ever try to beat cold butter in a mixing bowl? It’s a nightmare! Room temperature butter will beat up easily. It will incorporate seamlessly into your cake batter.
• Eggs – Cold eggs don’t mix as well into a cake batter as room temperature eggs do. The proteins in warmer eggs are “relaxed” which allows the whites and yolks to combine better with other ingredients.
• Chocolate – For the chocolate in this frosting recipe, you’ll heat it up to melt it and then cool it down to room temperature before beating it with butter. If you try to mix the warm chocolate with the butter, your frosting will be soupy. No one wants soupy frosting!

Put simply, this is the best yellow cake recipe I’ve ever made! It really is as perfect as any boxed mix out there – amazingly soft, yet sturdy, a wee bit tangy, and not at all greasy like some butter cakes can be. The rich and glossy-smooth chocolate frosting is worthy of its own post but because it’s Friday and you’ll want to make this cake STAT, I decided to post them together. 

If you want to go in a different direction with the frosting, I’ve also made this cake with my famous peanut butter frosting and the whipped vanilla frosting from my cannoli cake recipe. Both combinations are outstanding!!

So get your comfy pants out and your comfort food on this weekend (especially if you’re drowning on the East Coast like I am) and thank me later.

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Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Yield: 12 to 16 servings

Prep Time: 1 hour

Bake Time: 32 minutes

Cooling Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 2 hours 32 minutes

Yellow cake with chocolate frosting is a classic birthday cake flavor that everyone loves! Making a yellow cake recipe from scratch is incredibly simple and once you make this one, you'll ditch the box mixes forever!

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Ingredients

For the cake:

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing pans
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting pans
• 1 ½ cups cake flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 ¾ cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ cups milk

For the chocolate frosting:

• 1 lb semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 3 sticks (1 ½ cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. To make the cake: Center one of the oven racks and preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease the bottom and sides of two 9-inch round cake pans with butter. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment paper cut to fit the pan. Flour the sides of the pans, tapping out the excess flour; set the pans aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for about 4 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate before adding the next and scraping the bowl as needed. Mix in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the dry ingredients, then all of the milk, then the remainder of the dry ingredients, mixing to just about fully incorporate each before adding the next. Scrape the bowl well to incorporate anything that may be stuck to the bottom of the bowl.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans (a kitchen scale works great for this). Smooth out the tops with an offset spatula. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until the cakes are a light golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the centers. Transfer the pans to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edge of pans and transfer the cakes to the wire rack. Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.
5. To make the chocolate frosting: Add the chocolate to a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, taking care to not allow the water to touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir the chocolate until all of the bits have melted. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to allow the chocolate to come to room temperature, about 25 minutes.
6. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and salt on medium-high speed for 3 to 4 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate and mix on low speed for 1 to 2 minutes, until the chocolate incorporates into the butter mixture, scraping down the bowl as needed.
7. Once the cakes have cooled completely, frost and decorate as desired.

Notes

A note about the frosting: The original recipe calls for a mixture of cocoa powder and hot water to be added to the frosting; I skipped doing this on purpose. I thought the frosting, with its 1 lb of chocolate, was chocolaty enough and I didn't want to add the extra liquid, as Annie had noted that her frosting was a little on the runny side at first. We definitely didn't miss the extra cocoa here.

adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook via Annie's Eats

Recommended Products

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  Winco MS3A-8S Strainer with Single Fine Mesh, 8-Inch Diameter

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