UPDATED OCT. 30, 2022 :: Well here she is, the chocolate cake to beat all others. My favorite chocolate cake of all time, but dressed down and kept to her simplest, most manageable form. I swear if you ever bake at all you probably have the ingredients on hand to whip this cake up right now. One bowl. One pan! Straightforward and easy as they come (a huge part of the appeal), this Best One Bowl Chocolate Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting is really tough to beat.
Milk Chocolate is cool, I swear
And if you fancy yourself somewhat of a chocolate connoisseur, and you rarely mess with the lowly likes of measly milk chocolate, then I challenge you to stray from the dark side for a bit and give this frosting a whirl. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for the dusty tan hue that the lighter chocolate brings to the frosting, and its inherent sweetness complements the deep, rich chocolate flavor of the cake itself nicely. It’s just really good, what can I say? I wouldn’t dare steer you wrong …
A Perfect One Bowl Chocolate Cake was Born
I did some crowd sourcing on Instagram recently, to see if I could get a consensus as to what I should name this cake. “Chocolate sheet cake with chocolate frosting” would work, sure, but where’s the pizzaz? Where’s the allure in that? Seemed lacking to me. So I dug into things a little more to try and come up with something a bit more intriguing. As I stood above her the other day (her being the cake), it dawned on me that I could name it several things and all would be accurate:
Easiest chocolate sheet cake.
1 bowl chocolate snack cake.
One bowl Texas chocolate cake (though people might want to fight me)
Slab cake.
And so on and so forth – you get the idea. The general consensus seemed, far and away, to support the idea of “Best One Bowl Chocolate Cake.” And so, it was written.
What is a “Texas Chocolate Cake?” Does this oner qualify?
Long(ish) story short, a Texas chocolate cake is simply a chocolate cake that has forgone the layers and has instead been baked big and wide in a sheet pan (because Texas is big and wide perhaps?). No muss, no fuss. Now, this recipe today isn’t quite a sheet cake, because we’re baking it in a 9″ x 13″ pan, which I frankly prefer. But still, close enough. The addition of the buttermilk also seems to be a prerequisite for a Texas chocolate cake, and we’ve got that going on here, so I think calling this baby a Texas Chocolate Cake is perfectly acceptable.
You’ll often see pecans and/or cinnamon in or on a Texas Chocolate Cake, but no one in my family would dig that – so I went a little rogue and went nut-less here. But, pecan if you like.
How to Make a Killer One Bowl Chocolate Cake
There are some tried and true components of this recipe that really do contribute to it being one fantastic chocolate cake – my favorite – and I don’t use that term loosely. Here are a few reasons why this particular cake bakes up so wonderfully rich, moist and flavorful every time:
Buttermilk
Buttermilk is an all-time team player in my kitchen. It’s appropriate and useful in many more recipes than you might think. You’ll see it used in a lot of cakes because it has tenderizing qualities and helps leaven the cake as well. That special tang also helps build extra flavor in the cake, playing nicely with the sugar and chocolate. If you don’t want to buy it, or you forget it, just peep the quick tip below for making a perfect buttermilk substitute using regular milk + an acid (lemon juice or vinegar).
Oil
In my experience, cakes that use oil as the requisite fat component tend to be a bit more moist than those that use butter. I make cakes with both (depending on the recipe), but I’m to the point now where if I’m making a chocolate cake, 9 times out of 10 I’m going to reach for the oil (canola, vegetable, etc.).
Hot Coffee
Ah yes. Another sure sign of cake nirvana is the use of hot coffee. Some recipes just call for boiling water, or maybe boiling water with some instant espresso dissolved inside, and this is due to the immense moisture bringing properties of the boiling water and the wonderful things coffee does to chocolate. The flavor of coffee somehow just complements that of chocolate so well that it makes the chocolate taste more, well, chocolatey. A match made in heaven, to be sure, and your cake will be all the better for it.
How to make buttermilk, in a pinch:
Making buttermilk – or at least a reliable buttermilk substitute – is so easy and almost always within reach, if you’re like me and seem to forget to pick up the buttermilk you needed for this recipe or that. I tend to forget the buttermilk all the time for some reason. But no matter; by simply souring some milk quickly and allowing it to sit for a few minutes on your counter, you can create a dead-ringer substitute that will work beautifully in your recipes, giving the tenderness to cakes and breads and the tang and rise to pancakes and pies.
To make your own homemade buttermilk:
Squeeze half a lemon into a liquid measuring cup, being sure to catch any seeds. Alternatively, you can use vinegar (a clean, neutral flavored vinegar works best here). Add whole milk (or 2% milk, if it’s all you’ve got) to the lemon juice until you reach 1 cup. Allow the sour milk mixture to sit on the counter for 5 minutes, and then use just as you would buttermilk in your recipes. Voila!
If you like the looks of this One Bowl Chocolate Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting, you might also want to check out:
Banana Cream Cake with Whipped Berry Frosting
Dark Chocolate Cake with Pumpkin Pie Frosting
PrintBest One Bowl Chocolate Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting
Just a really great, incredibly easy chocolate cake that is pretty tough to beat. A heap of fluffy milk chocolate frosting seals the deal beautifully.
- Yield: Bakes one 9-by-13-inch cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 eggs, beaten and at room temperature
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 TBSP vanilla extract
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1-1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup hot coffee
For the Frosting
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2.5 cups powdered sugar
- 8 ounces milk chocolate, melted per package directions and cooled slightly
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 TBSP heavy cream
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with non-stick spray and then line with parchment paper. Spray again.
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In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, buttermilk, sour cream, oil, and vanilla until smooth. Sift in the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (this prevents conspicuous clumps). Mix just until the flour is fully incorporated. Add the coffee and mix until combined.
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Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the top is just set and a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before you frost it.
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To make the buttercream, add the butter and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand-held mixer). Beat for 3 to 4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the melted milk chocolate and vanilla and beat, scraping down the bowl as needed, for about 2 minutes more, until well mixed. Add the heavy cream and whip the frosting for 2-4 minutes more or until light and fluffy.
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Frost the cake and decorate as desired.
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