When I was little my mom frequently made a Classic Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting and I LOVED it. Nothing fancy, just a simple cake with a rich, homemade, chocolate frosting spread on top. As a kid, this was my favorite cake, and my dad taught me to put my slice in a bowl and pour milk over it. No lie, and before you judge all I have to say is don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
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Classic Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting:
In my opinion this layer cake has the perfect texture, thanks to cake flour, plenty of butter, ample egg yolks, and creamy buttermilk. Prep takes about 15 minutes and the cake bakes up in about 30 minutes. When it comes to ingredients, I do have a recommendation you may not be familiar with, I always prefer vanilla paste over extract. Extract is 90% alcohol so that great vanilla flavor gets lost. Vanilla paste is thick, like honey and you can see the vanilla flecks that come straight from the vanilla bean.
Why Cake Flour?
Cake flour has less protein than all purpose flour. I don’t always use cake flour when baking cakes, but for this one I do. I think the texture is just so much better when using a finer flour.
That Chocolate Frosting Though…
This frosting is actually a chocolate buttercream. So delicious! When I was a kid I think I ate more out of the bowl than on the cake! This gorgeous frosting is made with butter, confectioners sugar (powdered sugar), Dutch cocoa powder, cream, vanilla paste and a pinch of sea salt. Simple but so darn good!
Love Cakes from Scratch and Need More Recipes?
Try my Lemon Blackberry Cake!
The Recipe: Classic Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting
What you need: I use cake flour for this recipe, a hand mixer or stand mixer, and I always love to recommend my favorite vanilla paste! You’ll also need two 9″ non stick cake tins.
A delicious classic! Sunny yellow cake with a fudgey chocolate frosting made form scratch!
- 4 egg yolks, room temp
- 2 egg whites
- 2 1/2 cups cake flour (this yields the best texture, don't sub with all purpose)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
- 1 cup butter, room temp (plus a little more to grease pans)
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temp
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup butter, room temp
- 3 1/2 cups cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
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Place oven rack in the lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a paper towel to wipe sides and bottom of two non stick 9" cake pans, then dust with flour. This prevents sticking.
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Place four egg yolks in a small bowl, and two egg whites into a larger bowl. (discard remaining egg whites). Set bowls aside
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In a bowl, place flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine well, set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl using a hand mixer) cream butter and sugar at medium speed until fluffy (3-4 minutes) Scrape the sides of the bowl with spatula. Turn mixer to medium speed add egg yolks one at a time, mixing until well incorporated.
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Add vanilla paste or extract, mix well.
On low speed: Add half the dry ingredients and half the buttermilk, mix until well incorporated. Add remaining dry ingredients and buttermilk.
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Using a hand held mixer on high speed, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Don't over mix or you'll lose that fluffiness!
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Pour batter equally into cake pans, tap on the counter to remove any bubbles. Bake for a total of 30 minutes, but at 15-18 minutes cooking time you're going to need to tent cakes with foil to prevent browning (common with yellow cakes). At 25 minutes, use a toothpick to check cakes. I like to check early to avoid over baking. When toothpick comes out clean, cakes are done.
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Remove from oven, immediately use a knife to separate cakes from sides of pans. Allow to cool. When cool, gently flip cake pans and release cakes. Make frosting.
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In a bowl, use a hand mixer with a whisk attachment to beat butter until creamy (two minutes) Add powdered sugar, cocoa powder, heavy cream, sea salt and vanilla. Beat on low for 30 seconds then increase to high speed and beat for another minute. Frosting should be thick and creamy, if it's not thick enough, add a tablespoon of powdered sugar until desired consistency is achieved. If it's too thick add a tablespoon of cream until desired consistency is achieved.
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When cakes are completely cooled, frost the top of one cake, set other cake on top. Frost top and sides of cake. Serve!
I like to decorate my cakes using fresh flowers. I place a small circle of parchment paper on top so the flowers don't actually touch the frosting. You can also use, sprinkles, berries, or dust with powdered sugar once frosting sets up.
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