Moist Yellow Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting Recipe
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Difficulty: Easy |
Total Time:
1 hr, plus cooling and frosting time
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Active Time:
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Makes:
1 double-layer 8-inch cake (10 to 12 servings)
A yellow cake with chocolate frosting is the staple for birthdays, and though the simplicity of a box mix is alluring, homemade is just as easy. Here, tender cake pairs with slightly bitter chocolate frosting for a classic combo.
Game plan: If you don’t have two 8-inch cake pans, you can make this in a single 13-by-9-inch pan. To frost, use one batch of Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting instead of two. Baking time will be the same.
This recipe was featured as part of our Easy-Bake Birthday Cakes story and our Baked Sweets photo gallery.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large egg yolks
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting recipes
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange the rack in the middle. Coat 2 (8-inch) cake pans with butter and flour, and tap out any excess flour. Set aside.
- Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl and whisk to aerate and break up any lumps. Set aside.
- Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on medium-high speed until fluffy and light in color, about 3 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla, and continue to beat another 5 minutes. Add yolks one at a time, letting each incorporate fully before adding the next. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.
- Return the mixer to medium-high speed and add whole eggs in the same manner, allowing 1 minute between additions. Stop the mixer again and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle. (The mixture should be very pale in color.)
- Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, and turn the mixer to low speed, mixing until the flour is just incorporated. Add 1/2 of the milk, and mix until just incorporated. Continue with remaining flour mixture and milk, alternating between each, until all ingredients are incorporated and smooth.
- Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake until cake edges slightly pull away from the pans and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out dry with just a few crumbs, about 35 to 40 minutes.
- Remove the pans from the oven and let cool on a wire rack, about 10 to 15 minutes. Run a knife around the perimeter of each cake, and turn out onto the rack to cool completely (at least 1 1/2 hours) before frosting.
- To frost, place a cake layer on an 8-inch cardboard round, a tart-pan bottom, or a cake plate. Evenly spread about 1/3 of the frosting over the top of the layer. Stack the second layer, and evenly spread another 1/3 of the frosting over the top and sides of the whole cake. (Don’t worry about looks at this point—this is just a basecoat, a.k.a. a crumb layer, and it will be covered up later.) Place in the refrigerator until frosting is set up and slightly hard, about 15 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator and spread remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake, ensuring it’s as even as possible. Serve.
*****Maryann's BEST CAKE HERE :] Buy good quality of the following...
2 yellow cake mixes, a cream cheese flavored sugar free pudding, sour cream, apple sauce & butter for thee most wonderful, moist cake on the planet.
Now how much of each??? Use one full cake mix. Use 1/3 of the second box. Use the full box of pudding. Add Milk instead of water as the cake box recommends. Use "less milk" than the box recommends. I only use one cup. Box says 1-1/4 usually. I only use 1 cup of milk to 1-1/3 boxes of cake mix. Add only 3 eggs. I only use one out of three yokes. ( there is nothing good in a yoke /NOTHING). MIX all this together. Add 4 very heaping tablespoons of apple sauce & sour cream for a moist cake.
While the oven is warming up, I melt 6 ounces of good quality butter, Add the butter. Blend all. I have never bought or used oil during my entire life. Blend all together. Add half to 2 round pans or all in one 9 x 12 pan. Bake at 350 for the first 15 min then take it down to 325 for the rest. Remove when it is lightly golden. Test with tooth pick. Pick shows clean, its done. Don't allow the cake to bake past a light golden color. Too much heat = too dry of a cake. Don't cook too long.
Cool it. Frost with chocolate frosting. (I use Nestle's Choco Bake unsweetened pre-melted). Buy it and try it. I use the directions. I find this to be the best cake of alllll. Share it, and enjoy the compliments ;]
***** Maryann in Medina, Ohio.
Any suggestions for turning this into a sheet cake? Need to make cake for 30 for a party this weekend!
Am I really the only person who had trouble with this cake? I baked it in 8-inch round cake pans, as directed, even though my instincts told me the batter was too near the top. Sure enough, it's overflowed and has made quite a mess. It is also taking much longer to bake and right now I have two mushroom-shaped cakes rather than nice layers. Haven't tasted it yet - it's still baking - but what a disappointment for my husband's birthday. Next year he gets my tried and true chocolate cake.
pgreen, I opted to use AP flour because when I tested with cake flour, the texture/crumb too fine for a layer cake with heavy-duty frosting. Also, cake flour can be hard for some to find.
I will have to try this, although I am curious why it uses all-purpose flour instead of cake flour. Also, I may swap in my own cocoa powder-based butter cream frosting recipe for the suggested icing.
We just pulled the cake out of the oven. It looks beautiful and feels moist. So far so good!
danna- no i grew up eating cake in japan. my mom made cake from scratch and i actually don't think cake mix even existed in the 70's in japan. i've had really moist yellow cake here in the states just not out of my oven. i think you're right. i need to make a chiffon cake.
sharon -maybe they figure lots of people ONLY have kosher salt in the kitchen. I don't keep anything else except some fluer de sel.
trolley - don't take this the wrong way...but did you grow up with box cake? If so, a butter cake may just taste dry to you...they are supposed to have a fine grain..dry to some, unlike oil-based box cakes. If you think that could be it, look for a chiffon-type yellow cake which will mimic box cake more.
I've just finished making this cake. I think the yellow cake recipe is awesome...VERY moist. I would have liked a little more flavor out of the frosting. It's really a Butter cream frosting. Next time I make it, I would adjust the frosting a tad.
Has anyone made this cake? every yellow cake I attempt turns out to be dry. It's not the temperature or over baking or wrong size pans. They have just turned out to be on the dry side.
An argument for using kosher salt is that iodized salt with its additives has a chemical after taste that you will notice in the finished product. Also, it is sometimes suggested to send kosher salt through your spice grinder so that it will be measured more accurately.
Sharon, I use Kosher salt in all my cookng and baking and never have been able to tell in diference in results.
If you make this in the 13x9 pan you should still make 2 batches of
frosting. Use one on the cake and eat the other with a spoon.
I'm wondering why you would use kosher salt in this? The recipe is supposed to be easy and novice cooks may not know that kosher salt does not measure equivalently to table salt. I don't see the need for kosher salt's special properties in a cake. In fact, I wonder if it combine as well.
This really sounds easy just lots of action going on.