Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Why you’ll Love This Recipe

• Great for beginner bakers
• Perfect for birthdays or any kind of celebration!
• Made with simple pantry ingredients
• What Makes This

Why This Recipe Works

Cake flour produces a fine, crumb that’s soft without being fragile.

The combination of oil and sour cream helps the cake stay moist much longer than butter based cakes.

Mixing just until the flour disappears helps prevent excess gluten development resulting in a tender cake.

The chocolate frosting is whipped until light and fluffy, making it easy to spread while adding just the right amount of chocolate richness.

Ingredients

See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for all ingredients and quantities.

Cake flour – Cake flour has a low protein percentage in it so it’s less apt to form a tough glutenous cake. Instead you’ll create a softer, finer crumb giving the cake a light, tender texture.

Eggs and egg yolks – The extra yolks adds richness, moisture, and the beautiful yellow color that gives this cake its name.

Vegetable oil – You can use any neutral oil. This keeps the cake moist.

Sour cream – Full-fat sour cream adds moisture while giving the cake a soft texture. It also adds a hint of tanginess that I love.

How to Make Yellow Cake

Step 1: Whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Step 2: In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, vegetable oil, milk, sour cream, and vanilla extract until well combined.

Step 3: Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined. Divide the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Step 4: Let the cakes cool and start the chocolate frosting. Whip up the frosting ingredients until light and fluffy.

Step 5: Frost the cooled cake and serve!

How to Store and Freeze

To store this frosted cake, cover or place in a airtight cake container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

If refrigerated, let the slices sit at room temperature for about 20 to 30 minutes before serving to soften up for the best texture.

To freeze the cake layers by themselves, let the cake cool completely. Wrap each layer of cake tightly in two layers of plastic wrap and an additional layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil or pop them in a freezer bag with just the plastic wrap on them. Freeze for up to 2 months. Frost them while they’re still frozen or let them thaw first at room temperature. That’s up to you, but frosting them frozen is a lot easier in my opinion.

This post was originally published January 29, 2014 but is being updated with a recipe tweaks, new photos, and a lot of new information.

If you try this recipe, be sure to leave a rating below and also share it on Instagram, and tag me! You can also find me on Facebook and stay up to date on recipe releases by joining the Newsletter!

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Author: Miranda Couse

This Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting is a soft, vanilla cake layers stacked high with rich, creamy chocolate frosting. It's the kind of homemade cake that never goes out of style and is perfect for any celebrations or simply when you're craving an old-fashioned slice of cake.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Cool Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 55 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8 slices

Calories 1162 kcal

Ingredients

  

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Cake

• ▢ 3 ½ cups cake flour
• ▢ 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 3 large eggs
• ▢ 2 egg yolks
• ▢ ¾ cup vegetable oil
• ▢ ⅔ cup whole milk
• ▢ ½ cup full-fat sour cream
• ▢ 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Frosting

• ▢ 1 ½ cups butter, room temperature
• ▢ 4-5 cups powdered sugar
• ▢ ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ▢ 3 tablespoons whole milk

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Instructions

 

Cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray or butter. Place a parchment paper round in the bottom of each pan and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
• In a medium mixing bowl, add the 3 ½ cups cake flour, 1 ½ cups granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt. Whisk until combined and set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, add the 3 large eggs, 2 egg yolks, ¾ cup vegetable oil, ⅔ cup whole milk, ½ cup full-fat sour cream and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract. Whisk until the eggs are well combined.
• Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients while whisking or beating with a hand mixer on medium/low until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in any remaining bits.
• Evenly distribute the cake batter into the 9-inch cake pans.
• Place into the preheated and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes in the pans before turning them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Remove the parchment paper round that’s on the bottom of the cakes, if they stuck.

Frosting

• In a large mixing bowl, add the 1 ½ cups butter and beat with a hand mixer on medium speed until smooth.
• Add 4 cups of powdered sugar, ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, and 3 tablespoons whole milk. Beat slowly on low speed until fully combined.
• Add small amounts of the extra 1 cup of powdered sugar until frosting reaches your perfect spreadable consistency.

Assembling the Cake

• Once the cake is fully cooled, place a cake layer on a cake plate or cake board. Add a dollop of frosting to the center of the layer and spread out evenly to the edges. Add a second cake layer on top of the frosting and gently press down. Add a dollop of frosting to the cake layer and evenly spread out to the edges of the cake. Add the last layer of cake and gently press down. Add several large dollops of frosting on top of the cake. Using an angled spatula, begin spreading out the frosting and working it down the sides of the cake until the entire cake is frosted.

Nutrition

Calories: 1162kcal | Carbohydrates: 143g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 63g | Saturated Fat: 28g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 14g | Monounsaturated Fat: 16g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 213mg | Sodium: 464mg | Potassium: 387mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 98g | Vitamin A: 1350IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 153mg | Iron: 2mg

(Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietitian for special diet advice.)