Chocolate Sheet Cake
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This easy chocolate sheet cake is moist, fudgy, and way better than any box mix. Top it with chocolate buttercream, your favorite frosting or a scoop of ice cream. It’s made with simple, everyday ingredients and baked in a 9×13 inch pan. Perfect for birthdays, potlucks or whenever you need a simple chocolate cake!
**This post was updated August 20, 2024 with a slightly updated recipe, tips & photos**
Everyone needs a tried and true, easy chocolate cake recipe – and this chocolate sheet cake is exactly that. It has a delicious chocolate flavor that’s just chocolate-y enough without being too rich. It’s incredibly moist and fudgy and will stay moist for up to 4 days.
I like to slather on a thick layer of chocolate frosting for a double dose of chocolate. It’s also delicious with vanilla frosting, peanut butter frosting, or Oreo frosting.
What you’ll especially love about this recipe is that there’s no fancy ingredients or complicated steps. We’re just using pantry staples – like oil, cocoa powder and milk – so you likely won’t even need to run to the grocery store for.
Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe
Making this recipe couldn’t be easier. You can make the cake batter in under 10 minutes then it goes in the oven to bake. So here’s the details.
- Start by preheating your oven to 350F (180C) and preparing your pan. For a chocolate cake, I always lightly grease and then dust with cocoa powder. If you want to invert the pan to slide the cake out after its baked, then I recommend lining with parchment paper so that there’s an overhang around the sides.
- In a large bowl, you’ll whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- If your cocoa is lumpy, be sure to sift it first.
- Then in a second In a large bowl whisk together the oil, milk, sour cream, eggs and vanilla extract. If needed, you can substitute sour cream with plain Greek yogurt.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients, then pour the wet ingredients into the well. Carefully mix together. I always do a few stirs with a rubber spatula first, then use a whisk.
- Once the batter is about 75% combined, pour in the hot coffee. Whisk until the batter is smooth and you no longer see lumps or streaks of dry ingredients.
- The hot coffee helps the cocoa powder to bloom. This simply means that it helps to bring out the rich chocolate so that your cake has a better flavor.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan – and you’re ready to bake. The cake will bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the top looks set and an inserted toothpickcomes out clean or with w few moist cake crumbs. It shouldn’t have any gooey cake batter attached.
For the Chocolate Frosting
The chocolate frosting is a simple buttercream made with butter, cocoa, powdered sugar and cream (or milk) plus a little vanilla extract and salt to round out the flavor. It’s fluffy, chocolate-y and everything you could want in a frosting.
The chocolate sheet cake itself is super delicious, so if you don’t have time to make frosting, (or if you’re just not much of a frosting person) top it with ice cream and chocolate sauce, or whipped cream and berries.
Freezing Instructions
Sheet cakes freeze beautifully. Once the cake has cooled fully:
- Carefully invert the pan so that the cake lands on a square of cardboard, cutting board or cookie sheet (just something flat). Note that if you plan to freeze the cake, I recommend lining the pan with parchment paper because it’s much easier to remove the cake from the pan.
- Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap so that they entire cake is covered. You may need to wrap it a few times to ensure that every inch is covered. You want it to be tight to avoid freezer burn.
- Then wrap in aluminum foil.
- Place it your freezer on a flat surface, and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Thaw in the fridge overnight. Then decorate.
Frosted cakes can be frozen, but I find the results much better with unfrosted cake.
How Many People Does a Sheet Cake Serve?
A 9×13 inch cake will serve 18 medium pieces (2×3 inch), or about 29 small (2×2 inch) pieces.
For more 9×13 inch sheet cake recipes, check out these other classics:
Chocolate Sheet Cake
Equipment
- 9×13 inch (23 x 33 cm) baking pan*
Ingredients
Chocolate Sheet Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250 grams)
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder (45 grams)
- 2 cups granulated sugar (400 grams), use 1 3/4 cup for a slightly less sweet cake
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (120 ml)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk (120 ml), milk – whole milk is best, 2% works too
- 1/2 cup sour cream (120 ml), or plain Greek yogurt
- 3/4 cup freshly brewed coffee (180 ml), or boiling water
Chocolate Frosting
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter (168 grams)
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar (330-440 grams), sifted
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder (45 grams), sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4-5 tablespoons whipping cream (60-75 ml), or milk
Instructions
Chocolate Sheet Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
- Grease a 9×13 inch pan and dust with cocoa powder. Alternatively, line the pan with parchment paper so that there's an overhang around the edges (I recommend lining if you plan not to serve the cake in the pan or freezing the unfrosted cake).
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. If the cocoa is lumpy, be sure to sift it first.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the oil, vanilla, eggs, milk and sour cream.
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Carefully mix together. I always do a few stirs by hand, then start whisking with a wire whisk.
- When the ingredients look about 75% combined, pour in the hot coffee. Whisk together vigorously with a wire whisk until you no longer see any lumps or streaks of dry ingredients and the mixture is even (ie the hot coffee isn't sitting on the top of the bowl) – about 1 minute.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for about 35 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with a few cake crumbs. I recommend first checking around 30 minutes, although it may take up to 40 minutes.
Chocolate Frosting
- In a large bowl, beat the butter until softened.
- Sift in 2 cups powdered sugar, along with the sifted cocoa powder, vanilla and salt. Start with the mixer on a low speed and gradually increase to medium speed until combined.
- Beat in the rest of the powdered sugar about 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with 1-2 tablespoons of cream (or milk) until the desired consistency and sweetness is reached.
- Ensure that the cake has fully cooled, then frost with a flat edge knife. Optionally, decorate with sprinkles.
Notes
- Cocoa: Use Dutch processed cocoa (sometimes called Dark or Specialty Dark) for best results.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: The eggs, milk and sour cream should be at room temperature before getting started.
- Sour Cream: Can be replaced with plain, Greek yogurt. Do not use vanilla yogurt.
- Hot Coffee: This can be replaced with boiling water.
- Storage: Unfrosted cake can be covered and stored at room temperature overnight. Frosted cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 8 hours, then stored covered in the fridge for up to 4 days. After being in the fridge, let the cake sit on the counter at room temperature for about 30 minutes before enjoying.
- Nutrition: Details provided are an estimate only and based on 1 slice of cake with frosting, assuming the recipe yields 18 uniform pieces.
Nutrition
Thanks for this recipe. The cake is so easy to make and is absolutely delicious. It stays moist and chocolatey, even after refrigerating for a couple of days.
need to fix this recipe, you have baking soda listed twice instead of baking powder.
Thank you so much for catching this! Fixed
This is my go-to chocolate cake recipe! I always get rave reviews. I was wondering if this can be made into cupcakes?? Has anyone on here tried??
Sooo good!! My first scratch made chocolate cake was inedible and I thought “oh I guess chocolate is just hard to do right”…this recipe was so easy and so delicious. Whips up as quick as a box mix. I was wondering if it could be made into cupcakes??
I don’t know what I did wrong but my cake was awful! And I’m a good baker. The texture was inconsistent. I tested it with a toothpick and it came out clean but the bottom of the toothpick was still wet. Weird!
Made this for my teenaged son who, for the first time in his life, is finally clear to eat baked goods with egg in them (he’s been allergic since infancy). What a perfect, perfect intro into the world of cake made with egg (eggless cake is just never the same)! Thank you for this recipe.
I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed the recipe! So happy to hear that your son has been cleared of his allergies – what a great way to celebrate
I just made this chocolate cake to use up some leftover cream cheese frosting. Have to say this is one of the best cakes I’ve ever made, super moist and great chocolate flavor. It was easy for me to whip together in an afternoon and was great to pair with my frosting. I’ll definitely make again!