By linda 36 Comments
If you’re looking for an easy and delicious chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, you have come to the right place! This is a mix of all my best chocolate recipes, namely this chocolate bundt and this chocolate layer cake. The only difference is, this is a lot easier to make! And a lot faster too!
What I love about sheet cakes, except for the fact that they are so easy to make, is that they are much more transportable (is that a word?) than your average layer cake. Trust me, over the years I have transported many layer cakes in hot cars and it’s equally stressful every time. Dare I say that I think this looks even more delicious than a chocolate layer cake?
Some notes about this recipe
-Make sure that eggs and sour cream/yoghurt are at room temperature when you start baking
-If you don’t want to use espresso or strong coffee in the cake, hot water works too! As for the espresso in the frosting, you can simply omit it or add en extra tablespoon of cream.
-Make sure that the butter for the frosting is soft when you start making the frosting. I use salted butter for the frosting too but unsalted works just as well. Also use a high quality chocolate for the frosting.
-Store the frosted cake covered in the fridge if not eaten the same day. Make sure to bring it to room temperature again before serving.
And that’s about it! I think I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. Scroll down for the recipe.
Serves 9-12
If you’re looking for an easy and delicious chocolate cake, look no further! I recommend using espresso in the cake as works so well with the chocolate flavor, but hot water works just as well! Making it a day ahead of when you plan on serving it is a good idea because it gets even better after a day or two, but do make sure to bring it to room temperature before serving so the frosting is creamy and nice!
Ingredients
Chocolate cake
- 200 g (~1 3/4 sticks) salted butter
- 125 ml (1/2 cup + 1 tsp) milk
- 240 g (1 2/3 cups) all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 68 g (2/3 cup) cocoa powder
- 300 g (barely 1 1/2 cups) granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp. flaky salt
- 2 medium eggs
- 150 ml (2/3 cup) sour cream or thick yogurt
- 125 ml (1/2 cup + 1 tsp) hot espresso or hot water
Chocolate fudge frosting
- 100 g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate (70%), chopped
- 150 g (1 1/3 stick) softened butter
- 120 g (3/4 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp) powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp. cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp. heavy cream
- 1 tbsp. espresso
- Flaky salt to sprinkle
Instructions
Chocolate cake
- Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F) and grease a 31 x 23 cm (12 x 9 inch) baking pan.
- Melt the butter, add milk and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, sugar and salt. Add the butter mixture, eggs and sour cream to the dry ingredients and beat until just smooth.
- Add the hot espresso or water and stir until smooth (the batter will be quite runny).
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes with a few crumbs. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan on a wire rack.
Chocolate fudge frosting
- Melt the chocolate and set it aside to cool to room temperature.
- Beat butter, powdered sugar and cocoa powder until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and beat until smooth. Add the heavy cream and espresso and beat until light and smooth.
- Dollop the frosting over the cooled cake and swirl it with a spoon or offset spatula. Sprinkle with flaky salt. Store the cake in the fridge if not eaten the same day, bring to room temperature before serving.
Reader Interactions
Comments
Mara saysLove the recipe, just the thing I was searching for! Do you think I could replace salted butter in the cake with regular butter + some salt?
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- linda says
You can absolutely use unsalted butter in the cake and add a little extra salt! Let me know how it goes 🙂
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- Emily says
This cake looks SOOOO good!!! The frosting is a dream!! My goodness it looks so incredible. Love the photos as always Linda, I so enjoy your blog :))
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- linda says
Thank you so much Emily! That frosting is indeed sooo good, I could eat it straight from the bowl… 🙂
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- Meg says
Can’t tell you how many times I watched those beautiful GIFs! I made this tonight, and it is wonderful. I used an 8×8 pan and baked it a little longer – still so good. Definitely making this again. Thank you!
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- linda says
Thank you so much Meg! Ahh, it makes me so happy to hear it was a success! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂 Appreciate it!
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- Teresa Way-Hickman says
Hi I really want to try this cake, but as a layer cake will that work?
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- linda says
Hi! Sorry for my late response, it will absolutely work to make a layer cake – you will need to adjust baking time of course and the frosting depending on how big your cake is!
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- Jens says
THIS is something I will most definitely make this weekend, looking forward to it already! Thanks for amazing pictures, Jens
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- linda says
That makes me so happy, Jens!! Speak soon, I’m way behind on emails as per usual.. Haha.
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- Dalila says
Good morning Linda! ?
You’re just outstanding!!
I love your blog and all of your recipes are awesome!
Any one of your recipes that I have picked out and baked have never failed me.
Everything bakes up soooo nicely and the taste is wonderful!
Thank you for taking your time to post for us.
This chocolate sheet cake is just the sweet to make this weekend.
I mean, who doesn’t LOVE chocolate?!!
What really got to me was your chocolate fudge frosting….to die for!!
Have a lovely day Linda! ?Reply
- linda says
You are so sweet, thank you so much for your incredibly kind words! They made my day so much better <3 I wish you a lovely day and weekend
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- Patti says
I’d like to make this cake in a Bundt pan. Will that work snd how much should I adjust the time?
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- linda says
Hi Patti! That most definitely works! The recipe was originally made for a bundt pan and you can find the recipe here: https://www.callmecupcake.se/2020/02/double-chocolate-bundt-cake.html
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- Lili saysSee AlsoCreamy Semolina Pudding
These photos are so beautiful, Linda! Love this mood so much and that frosting is calling my name… ? I’ll be making this cake for sure, can’t wait to taste it!
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- linda says
Thank you so much dear Lili! I hope you will like if you decide to make it 🙂 It’s so scrumptions and will definitely be baked many many times. Take care my friend!
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- Lyndsay says
Hello my old friend!!! I’ve started reading blogs again (instead of being on social media) and it feels nice, and quiet, in a weird way? I got lost in these beautiful dreamy photos … only you could make me actually crave cake, haha… recipe sounds delicious and the frosting too, with the hit of espresso, mix of melted chocolate and cocoa powder… yum! Hope you are well! xo Lyndsay
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- linda says
Hiiii friend! So good to see you here! It is kind of quiet here isn’t it? Just you, your thoughts and the comment field haha. Cake isn’t normally my go to either even though I love making them, I much prefer to eat cookies or Swedish pastries, but I cannot resist this cake! Hope you are well! xoxo
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- Olga Caín says
Linda, this looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it. You are my biggest inspiration and the reason I started baking in the first place and now hace my own cake studio. You are the best, thank you so much.
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- linda says
Aww, Olga! That makes me so incredibly happy to hear! Thank you for sharing that with me, and I’m so happy that you now have your own cake studio!
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- Dawn says
I made this cake today and we just finished eating it. This truly is one of the best cakes I’ve ever eaten!!! Will be making it for many years to come. Thank you for such a great recipe.
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- linda says
That makes me so very happy to hear, Dawn!! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment 🙂
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- Andrea says
Stunning!
Planning to make this cake today. How much does this cake rise? Not sure I have that size of pan and want to make sure I don’t end spilling it all over the oven!Lovely images as always!
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- linda says
Hi Andrea!
It does rise a bit but not like an insane amount, so you will probably need about 4 cm extra space for that. Perhaps you already baked the cake though! I hope it worked out 🙂 Thank you!Reply
- Kärt says
The pictures are gorgeous, i coulnd’t resist trying to make it. I just finished but no idea what went wrong. It didn’t rise at all, came out brownie-like. Maybe i overmixed the dough? Or underbaked? Im sure it’s somehow my fault not the recipes. Quite dissapointed in myself. Ugh!
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- linda says
Hii! I’m sorry to hear it didn’t turn out well! I’m not sure what could have happened if they came out brownie-like.. perhaps the baking soda? That’s all I could think of, the the rising agent didn’t work properly!
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- Carmen says
Absolutely loved this post!
The pictures and the GIFS has got me drooling~Reply
- linda says
Thank you so much Carmen!!
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- Victoria F says
Can you feel the gritty powdered sugar in the frosting, or does it turn out smooth?
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- linda says
If you taste just the frosting you will feel the sugar, so it’s definitely not as smooth as a swiss meringue buttercream. Together with the cake I don’t think it’s noticeable but if it bothers you a lot, you’ll probably notice! 😉
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- Julia says
Hi linda thank you for the recipe just one question the espresso in the frosting is a dry coffee like nescafé or liquid filtered coffeee?
Thank you againReply
- linda says
Hi Julia! It’s a filtered, liquid coffee 🙂 Sorry for my late response!
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- Marisol Rodriguez says
The cake is perfect!! Best chocolate I’ve ever made or eaten! My kids were not crazy about the espresso added but I loved it. Could I make it without next time? Do you have a chocolate Frosting recipe? Thank you for this perfect chocolate cake recipe! I will be enjoying it for many years to come.
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- linda says
Hi Marisol! Sooo happy to hear that!
Ypu can absolutely use hot water in the cake instead of coffee, and for the frosting you can omit the espresso 🙂Reply
- Aphra says
Hi, is there a frosting without cream that I could use? I need a cake that is safe at room temp for 2 days & im worried they cream won’t keep
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- linda says
Hi Aphra! Sorry for my late response on this! You could omit the cream if you wish, perhaps a little more coffee if you feel like it’s needed. Hope that helps!
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