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Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting is a classic baked treat that will be a hit at any and every function! The yellow cake is buttery and soft and the chocolate fudge frosting is fluffy, smooth, and melt-your-mouth delicious!
Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting is a classic, nostalgic dessert. In fact, it’s the first cake I ever made growing up.
Admittedly, when I was younger, I used boxed cake mix, but now that I’m grown and can bake my a$$ off, I’m making it from scratch and it’s even better!!
You have a buttery soft yellow cake made with lots of vanilla and extra egg yolks for added richness… then there’s that fluffy chocolate buttercream.. ugh! Don’t even get me started, it’s SO good.
What I love about this recipe is that you don’t need to be a master baker to assemble this cake. And best of all, it doesn’t require any fancy ingredients. Just mix everything together, bake, frost, and eat!
Yellow Cake with Chocolate Buttercream, Mm mm good!
Every time I make this cake, I always think of the box cake mix from the supermarket. It has the yellow cake label with the chocolate buttercream. I remember walking past those boxes while grocery shopping with my mom and always wanting to recreate it at home. Luckily, my mom loves to bake too and we’d occasionally indulge and bake those together! I have such fond food memories cooking with my mom as a kid. Especially around the holidays.
what’s the difference between yellow cake and vanilla cake?
So, in essence, they’re the same thing. A lot of people make the differentiation between a yellow cake and a white cake. Now, those are actually different. A yellow cake is a cake that has more of a custardy taste. This flavor primarily stems from the amount of eggs that are used. A white cake uses egg whites exclusively, which given that the egg yolks are excluded, allow for the cake to be white. Both yellow and white cakes contain vanilla. Hence the confusion. However, both are delicious and have their place in the kitchen. Or at the table. Or wherever it is that you’re eating them I suppose. lol
what is the flavor of yellow cake?
If I had to pin a taste to this cake, I would truly think back to the yellow box cake mix… but turn up the flavor and the texture from like a 1 to a 10. If box cake is a 1, this cake is a definite 10. Now I’m not trying to throw any shade at box cake mix. I actually thoroughly enjoy a box cake mix (from time to time), however, there’s nothing like a homemade cake. It’s delicious, fun to make, uses real ingredients… and c’mon, there’s a true satisfaction that you get from baking your own cake. Especially when it’s as easy and tasty as this one! If I had to actually describe the flavor, this yellow cake is super buttery with a vanilla flavor. The flavor is light and delicate.
how do you make chocolate buttercream from scratch?
It’s super easy! So, for this recipe, you want to start by making sure that your butter is at room temperature. You beat the butter in a stand mixer/hand mixer until it’s light and fluffy – which takes about 2-3 minutes. (I like to beat the butter for thee minutes because it ensures that the buttercream gets airy!) Then you slowly begin to add in powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and cocoa powder. One all of the ingredients are added and are fully incorporated, I add a tiny bit of milk to make the buttercream light and maximize taste. It’s SO good.
what type of cocoa powder should I use for the chocolate buttercream?
For this chocolate buttercream, I used dutch-processed cocoa powder! This is not a necessity, however, I highly recommend it. Dutch processed cocoa powder is less acidic than the traditional cocoa powder and has a bit of a smoother taste that yields a lovely but rich chocolatey buttercream flavor. Here’s the cocoa powder that I used, click here. If you don’t have dutch-processed cocoa powder, you can use any natural unsweetened cocoa powder!
what’s the best way to store this cake?
There are several ways to store this cake! If you’re going to be eating the cake throughout the week, you can store the cake on the counter of your kitchen at room temperature inside of a cake cover. You really don’t need to refrigerate the cake. The cake should last up to 5 days. After that, things get a little fussy. If you would like to store the cake for a time in the future, it’s best to freeze it. You want to start by refrigerating the cake for about 30 minutes, then taking the cake out of the refrigerator and wrapping it in plastic wrap and freezing it. It will keep in the freezer for about 3 months.
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Yellow Cake with Chocolate Buttercream
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups (375 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 3.4 oz (96 g) Vanilla Pudding Mix
- 1 tbsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/2 cup (113 g) Salted Butter, (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup (112 g) Vegetable Oil
- 2 cups (400 g) Sugar
- 3 large (150 g) Eggs
- 2 (36 g) Egg Yolks
- 1 tbsp (15 g) Vanilla Bean Paste, (or vanilla extract)
- 2 tsp (10 g) Butter Vanilla Emulsion, (optional, you can also use butter extract)
- 1/2 cup (120 g) Evaporated Milk, (room temperature)
- 2/3 cup (160 g) Whole Milk
- 1/2 cup (120 g) Sour Cream, (room temperature)
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
- 1 1/2 cups (340 g) Salted Butter
- 2 3/4 cups (468 g) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- 1 1/2 cups (360 g) Heavy Cream
- 1 1/2 cups (188 g) Powdered Sugar
- 1/4 cup (21 g) Cocoa Powder
- 4 tbsp (80 g) Corn Syrup, (or honey)
- 1 tbsp (15 g) Vanilla Bean Paste , (or vanilla extract)
- Pinch Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Start by making the chocolate frosting. It'll need time to set so we'll begin with the frosting first. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Once melted, add chocolate chips and heavy cream. Stir until warmed throughout and all of the chocolate chips are fully melted. Stir constantly to prevent the chocolate from burning on the bottom of the pan, this will take about 5-7 minutes. 1 1/2 cups Salted Butter 2 3/4 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips 1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream
- Once everything is fully melted combined, remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar, cocoa powder, corn syrup, vanilla bean paste, and a pinch of salt. Whisk until smooth, about 20-30 seconds. 1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder 4 tbsp Corn Syrup 1 tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste Pinch Kosher Salt
- Use a fine mesh sieve to strain the frosting into a 9×13 baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it cool to room temperature, then place into the refrigerator for 30 minutes. It will thicken as it cools.
- While the frosting is cooling, let's get started on the cake. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, vanilla pudding mix, baking powder, and kosher salt. 3 cups All-Purpose Flour 3.4 oz Vanilla Pudding Mix 1 tbsp Baking Powder 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add salted butter, vegetable oil, and sugar and mix together together for 3-4 minutes on medium speed, until combined and fluffy. Then begin add eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, ensuring each egg is fully incorporated prior to adding the next. Add butter vanilla emulsion, vanilla bean paste, and continue to mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue to mix for an additional 20 seconds. 1/2 cup Salted Butter 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil 2 cups Sugar 3 large Eggs 2 Egg Yolks 1 tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste 2 tsp Butter Vanilla Emulsion
- In a small bowl, whisk together evaporated milk, whole milk, and sour cream. Add half of the dry ingredients to the stand mixer/wet ingredients and mix. Then add the sour cream/milk mixture and mix together until smooth, about 20 seconds. Once fully incorporated, add the remainder of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, about 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue to mix for another 10 seconds to ensure all of the ingredients are fully incorporated and the batter is smooth. 1/2 cup Evaporated Milk 2/3 cup Whole Milk 1/2 cup Sour Cream
- Spray 3 8-inch pans with nonstick baking spray or line with parchment paper. Divide the batter equally among the pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn the cakes over onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cakes have completely cooled, scoop up the frosting with a spoon ensuring it's set – it should be smooth and fudgy. Add one of the cakes to a cake stand and add generous layer of chocolate frosting on top of the cake. Add the second cake on top and repeat. Add the third layer on top and add the remainder of the frosting all around the cake.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Question: Do you know if I may I substitute melted butter or organic coconut oil for the vegetable oil in this recipe? Thanks in advance! : – )
Hi! Coconut oil would be a great substitute for vegetable oil. Enjoy!
This cake is SO good. The cake almost tastes like sugar cookies and the chocolate butter cream is what chocolate dreams are made of! The sweet flavor of the frosting and the delicate cake flavors balance perfectly. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
I’m SO happy to hear this! I really appreciate your your review, it means a lot! 🙂