Another Yellow Birthday Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe

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I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.

I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.

I am particularly excited about this cake, because…. IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!

And I like my birthdays. A LOT.

I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.

So, in celebration of my very favorite day of the year, I’m sharing my very favorite birthday cake: yellow cake with chocolate frosting and lots of sprinkles!

I’ve actually shared this cake before. Here.

But I’ve made some upgrades to the cake recipe, so that it’s moister, softer, and fluffier! And I couldn’t use the same chocolate frosting as before. That particular frosting was made to be EXTRA creamy. Which is amazing. But it doesn’t work quite as well on a stand-alone layer cake. I needed to make a chocolate buttercream that could hold it’s own for this cake.

I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.

I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.

Let’s talk about this cake.

Hopefully, you guys know by now that I put the SIMPLICITY of a recipe at the top of my priority list before I post something new. It’s important to me that all of my recipes are completely do-able in a REAL LIFE chaotic, busy, never-enough-time, at-home setting.

In 99% of my recipes you will NOT find much chilling, softening, sifting, or anything else that is time consuming. With that being said, I hope you’ll trust me when I tell you something like this…

The ingredients that go into the batter of this cake must be brought to room temperature. I wish I was joking. But after umpteen hard and dry yellow cakes, I’ve finally conceded the fact that I have to let all the cold ingredients come to room temp before whisking up the batter.

If you plan it right, it’s really not a big deal. Set the stuff on the counter early morning or even the night before and you’re ready to go a few hours later. And great news– you can actually just melt the butter! So that’s one less cold ingredient you have to worry about.

I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.

I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.

Just promise me you’ll wait for the ingredients to come to room temp. If you’re desperate for a quick cake, use a mix. I won’t judge you. But don’t rush this recipe!

I could not believe the difference it made to simply let the ingredients come to room temperature before mixing. The cake was moister, fluffier, and downright yummier than any other from-scratch yellow cake I’ve ever made before!

I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.

I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.

I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.

And that chocolate frosting is everything. I don’t know what it is about yellow cake and chocolate frosting, but I just don’t think it gets any better than that. The only thing I would dream of adding is a gigantic scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!

Enjoy 🙂 And Happy Birthday to all the rest of you July birthdays out there!!

I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Yield: 8-16 pieces

I took my favorite homemade yellow cake and made it better.

Ingredients

For the Cake:

  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • 1-3/4 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature
  • 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup milk (1% or above), room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sour cream (regular), room temperature

For the Buttercream:

  • 3 sticks (1-1/2 cups) butter, softened to room temperature
  • 5 cups powdered sugar
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 5-6 tbsp milk or cream
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/8 tsp salt

Instructions

For the Cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
  2. Whisk together the butter, sugar, and vanilla.
  3. Whisk in the eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, mixing in between each addition.
  4. In a separate bowl: mix together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  5. Add the dry ingredient, the milk, and the sour cream, to the butter mixture and whisk until a smooth batter forms.
  6. Grease and line with parchment paper two 9-inch cake tins. Divide the batter between the two.
  7. Bake for 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the Buttercream:

  1. Use an electric mixer to whisk the butter until smooth.
  2. Mix in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, alternately with a tablespoon of milk for every cup of powdered sugar.
  3. Mix in the cocoa powder, the vanilla, and the salt. Whisk vigorously until fluffy and mixed well, scrape down the sides as needed.

Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and decorate with sprinkles as desired.

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