By Erin Jeanne McDowell
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- 4(1,917)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This is the kind of dessert worth dreaming about: a buttery yellow cake topped with a chocolate-sour cream frosting, made doubly rich with cocoa powder and melted chocolate. The batter may seem thin when you spread it in the pan, but, once baked, it rises to perfection. It’s not a towering, lofty cake — it’s not meant to be — but when it’s covered with a generous layer of frosting, it makes for the ideal cake-to-icing ratio. For a perfect cake, make sure designated “room temperature” ingredients truly are; this helps ensure that the batter is fully incorporated so the cake bakes evenly.
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Include recipe photo
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:One 9-by-13-inch cake
- Nonstick cooking spray
- ¾cup/170 grams unsalted butter (1½ sticks), at room temperature
- 1¼cups/250 grams granulated sugar
- 2large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1½cups/190 grams all-purpose flour
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- ½teaspoon baking soda
- ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¾cup/180 milliliters whole milk
- ¾cup/170 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2½cups/310 grams confectioners’ sugar
- ½cup/45 grams cocoa powder
- ½cup/120 milliliters sour cream
- 2ounces/55 grams bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
- 1½teaspoons vanilla extract
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- Sprinkles, for finishing (optional)
For the Cake
For the Frosting
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with nonstick spray. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Step
2
Make the cake: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the egg yolk, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Mix on medium speed until fully incorporated, about 1 minute. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine, 15 to 30 seconds.
Step
3
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to combine. Add about ⅓ of the flour mixture to the mixer and mix on low speed until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add about half the milk and mix on low speed until incorporated, about 15 seconds more. Repeat with another batch of flour mixture, the remaining milk, then the remaining flour mixture until fully incorporated.
Step
4
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread in an even layer. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the cake is golden and separating from the pan at the edges, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely.
Step
5
Meanwhile, make the frosting: Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the bowl from the electric mixer, and sift the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa into the bowl with the butter. Stir with a spatula a few times to incorporate slightly. Return the bowl to the mixer and beat on medium speed until smooth and uniform in color, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the sour cream and melted chocolate and mix on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and salt and mix to combine.
Step
6
Spread the frosting on the cooled cake in an even layer. Garnish with sprinkles, if desired.
Ratings
4
out of 5
1,917
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Flamingo
To Sugar Free: This is a cake. It’s supposed to be sweet. If you want something healthier, try an apple.
Jane Eyrehead
What is "leftover frosting"? :)
SugarFree
There are 2 cups of sugar to a pound. This cake has nearly two whole pounds of sugar in it! Can someone please explain why it's necessary to add that much sugar to a single, relatively small cake (unless the servings are miniscule, not likely) instead of less than that?
Robin
Anyone who has made an uncooked buttercream frosting knows to first cream the softened butter with the salt and THEN add the powdered sugar. Be sure the melted chocolate is cooled when you stir it in or you will negatively affect the consistency of the frosting. If you typically find buttercream frosting too sweet, consider making a chocolate ganache instead. Seems as if dark chocolate would be a great complement to this cake, too.
Margaux Laskey, Senior Staff Editor
Hi all! We heard you, and we updated the recipe to change the order of ingredients added to the frosting. I hope that helps!!
John Golden
I stand corrected over my previous comment. The cake tempered after a day and the frosting and cake are wonderful. The mistake was in the directions and method given inMaking the frosting. The butter should be creamed first so that when you add the sugar and cocoa it can be absorbed by the beaten butter without creating a dust storm. Then the milk and vanilla gets it all together and frosting becomes creamy and silky.
mk
How r y’all having problems with this I am eleven and I can do it easy peasy
Bill
I defy Erin McDowell to make this icing exactly following the instructions without creating a dust cloud sufficiently large to hide a truck. I knew better (having made many different icings over the years - I'm 80), but I thought I might learn something and I almost always follow instructions the first time I make a recipe. What a messGood grief! Erin must have half a dozen gremlins to clean up after!
Marcy Goldman
I'm just curious why a sweet milk cake, that also doesn't feature any acidic ingredient in the batter (no buttermilk, sour cream, brown sugar, chocolate) calls for baking soda?
Patricia
I cut 1/4 cup sugar out of the cake and amended the frosting by reducing the powdered sugar by 1/2 cup and increasing the cocoa powder by 1/4 cup. Added the sour cream with the butter to get it to whip up.
Pam
The frosting for this cake is a keeper...it was delicious. The cake, not so much. It turned out pretty dry, and had more of a cornbread-type crumb than a cake crumb. Perhaps cake flour would have helped. I won't be making the cake again, but I'm keeping the frosting recipe for sure!
C from Colorado
Just a question: Why make major substitutions to a recipe and then complain about the result? If one switches unsalted butter--called for in this recipe--for canola oil or some other liquid, forget about the taste and look and texture of this cake. Make something as directed and find out what the author expects. Then, and only then, should you make adjustments and have the right to complain it wasn't as the author presented.
Devilsporkchop
It's the secret ingredient that makes cake taste so wonderful.
Nate
For those wondering what to do with leftover frosting, might I recommend placing it between two graham crackers? While good fresh, I've found these are better with stale grahams, after a day or two.
John Golden
This is the worst—and messiest—recipe. Indeed it’s way too sweet. And it’s the fosting that’s the culprit. Sifting the conf sugar and cocoa into the deep stand mixer bowl and then beating in the softened butter starts a wind storm of fine powder that sprayed everywhere I don’t have the guard that goes on the bowl. The icing itself is way too much. The cake is so sweet that I’m afraid iof an irreversible onset of diabetes 2. Doesn’t the NYT test recipes anymore? Destined for the garbage can
mairedodd
jane eyrehead - i hear your comment every time i bake a cake and make icing now - thank you for the smile!btw, i had no extra icing here - and it wasn't particularly thick - it was absolutely perfect. this has become a go-to for me.
david k
Amazing frosting. Do not over-beat at the end or it will develop curds, although those smooth out after a few hours.
DG
A perfect birthday cake! Love the sprinkles. Since the batter makes about an inch of cake in a 9x13, check it at 20min, my edges were very brown at 28. Frosted it the next day with dairy at room temp. Chocolate was Guittard semi-sweet chips mix of Hershey's/Guittard Cocoa Rouge. Sifted in WF organic powdered sugar w the cocoa. Mix gently to keep it from flying (no stand mixer, I use a hand mixer and a rubber spatula). Used ALL the frosting, finished cake is about half cake half frosting. Rich!
Melody
The cake is rich. The frosting is the homemade version of what comes in a can. Both delicious. And incompatible.
Lydia
Always a great cake and easy to make!
Joy
Cake was not a success, and not sure where I went wrong. Came out dense, almost oily, and underbaked despite toothpick coming out clean. By contrast, Frosting was a GREAT SUCCESS. Will defo use the frosting recipe again, but am currently without a cake on which to enjoy it!
elizj
I agree with other commentators about most of this. The cake is good and flavorful, but it did have an odd texture--I wouldn't say like cornbread, but maybe like a muffin. The icing is delicious, but there was way too much--I threw out maybe a third of it. I'd try the icing again, but probably on a different cake.
makayla
Just wanted to say that I’ve made this recipe many times and I’ve been able to remove 1/2 a cup of sugar from the cake and only use make 1/2 the amount of frosting with great results! Cake is gone in a few days and it’s a good amount of sugar :)
marymc
I loved it. Sweet and fluffy for a sheet pan cake. The family ate it up.
Becca L
Agree icing is way too sweet. Also would have been helpful as a novice baker to have steps on melting the chocolate, I botched that. Otherwise it is absolutely delicious. I added sprinkles to the batter for my 2 year old's amusem*nt. Will be making again!
unedaeat
Can this be made as cupcakes? What would the yield be?
JasonofToronto
I make this one soooo much but the amount of icing is American-insane. You can cut it in half and freeze the rest for another whole cake or you can use it all at once and set everyone’s teeth on edge.
eaterwithapassion
loved this recipe! i always wanted to make a yellow sheet cake with chocolate frosting but i never made the time to. the cake itself was great, very soft while being firm too. i didn’t leave my butter and eggs in room temperature (but TRUST me it’s better if you do). used 1 3/4 cup of powdered sugar for the frosting and accidentally put too much cocoa powder. however, the result wasn’t hazardous! the cocoa flavor was strong but it meshed well with the cake. it’s ok to use less powdered sugar.
Lisa
This recipe does not have close to two pounds of sugar in it. Confectioners sugar is much lighter so Sugar Free’s calculation is incorrect. If you convert the grams of sugar to pounds it is half that amount!
Elizabeth, Bordeaux, France
The cake portion of this recipe is amazingly delicious! I made a round cake and it turned out beautifully. The frosting is also really tasty. I think cupcakes for the next go around! This is a keeper!
Private notes are only visible to you.
