Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting is the recipe that Lucia makes every most deeply beloved family birthday and every most anticipated annual celebration when she wants to create the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely definitive individual three-layer yellow birthday cake — distinct from every other version because this most specific individual recipe uses the most brilliantly transformative combination of both buttermilk AND sour cream together as the most dual individual liquid ingredients rather than choosing only one, the most dramatic individual three-layer format in three 8-inch individual pans rather than the most standard two-layer individual format for the most impressively.
Tall and the most beautifully defined individual cross-section, and the most deeply chocolate fudge individual frosting made with an exceptional ratio of the most individually generous cocoa powder to powdered sugar for the most intensely chocolate-forward and the most properly fudgy individual frosting that provides the most dramatic and the most completely extraordinary individual dark-over-golden individual visual contrast that is the most universally beloved and the most instantly recognizable individual classic American birthday cake.
Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting is the most easy and deeply extraordinary 1-hour 30-minute moist buttermilk sour cream three-layer golden birthday cake made by creaming butter and sugar adding eggs extra yolks vanilla alternating flour and buttermilk sour cream baking at 350°F for 22 to 26 minutes and frosting with deeply fudgy chocolate buttercream. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful cake recipes and easy birthday favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe
This Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting recipe is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely perfect individual American birthday cake that uses the most brilliantly designed dual-liquid approach — both buttermilk AND sour cream together in the most precisely calibrated individual quantities — to produce the most beautifully moist and the most properly tender individual golden crumb that the most single-liquid individual approach cannot achieve with the most same beautifully balanced individual result.
The most three-layer individual format — baked in three 8-inch pans rather than the most standard two 9-inch pans — produces the most dramatically tall and the most beautifully proportioned individual celebration centerpiece with the most impressively defined individual crumb cross-section in every individual slice. Our Yellow Sheet Cake with Chocolate Frosting makes a beautifully equally moist yellow and equally chocolate frosted companion for a complete and wonderful yellow birthday cake collection.
Ingredients Needed for This Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe
For the Three-Layer Yellow Cake:
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter, softened
- 2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 4 large Eggs, room temperature
- 2 large Egg Yolks, room temperature
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- ¾ cup Buttermilk, room temperature
- ¼ cup Sour Cream, room temperature
For the Deeply Fudgy Chocolate Frosting:
- 1½ cups Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 1¼ cups Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, sifted
- 5 to 6 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
- ½ cup Heavy Cream, plus more as needed
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- ½ tsp Salt
How to Make This Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour three 8-inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Beat the softened butter on medium-high for 1 to 2 minutes until the most creamy. Add the sugar and beat for a full 2 minutes until the most light and the most beautifully pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and extra yolks one at a time, beating the most thoroughly after each addition. Add the vanilla extract, cara mia.
In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and sour cream until the most smooth.
With the mixer on low, alternate adding the flour mixture in three additions with the buttermilk-sour cream mixture in two additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix just until combined between each addition.
Divide the batter evenly among the three prepared 8-inch pans — approximately the most equal quantity in each individual pan. Bake for 22 to 26 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops spring back when gently pressed. Cool 10 minutes in pans then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
For the deeply fudgy chocolate frosting, beat the room-temperature butter on medium-high for 3 minutes until the most pale and fluffy. Add the sifted cocoa and beat until incorporated. Gradually add the sifted powdered sugar alternating with the heavy cream. Add vanilla and salt. Beat on medium-high for 3 minutes until the most incredibly smooth, fluffy, and fudgy.
Assemble the three individual layers with a generous individual layer of chocolate fudge frosting between each. Apply a thin crumb coat, refrigerate for 20 minutes, then apply the most final beautiful individual frosting layer.
How to Serve This Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe
Serve at room temperature after 30 minutes out of the refrigerator for the most beautifully softened and the most properly fudgy individual chocolate frosting. The most dramatic three-layer individual cross-section — three beautifully golden individual crumb layers separated by the most deeply dark individual chocolate fudge frosting — is the most genuinely show-stopping and the most classically beloved individual birthday cake presentation.
For the most completely extraordinary individual birthday decoration, use the most offset spatula to create the most dramatic and the most beautifully textured individual swooping pattern in the most final individual chocolate frosting layer for the most classically rustic and the most genuinely charming individual celebration cake finish. Our Yellow Sheet Cake with Chocolate Frosting makes a beautifully equally crowd-feeding companion for a complete and wonderful yellow birthday cake collection.
How to Store This Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or refrigerate for up to one week. Allow 30 to 45 minutes at room temperature before serving from the refrigerator for the most properly softened individual chocolate fudge frosting. Freeze individual unfrosted layers wrapped tightly for up to 3 months.
Tips to Make This Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe
Weigh the individual batter into each of the three individual 8-inch pans rather than estimating by eye — approximately the most equal individual batter weight in each individual pan produces the most perfectly uniform individual layers that stack the most beautifully and the most cleanly for the most dramatically tall individual three-layer birthday cake individual presentation.
The most higher individual cocoa ratio — one and a quarter cups rather than the most conventional one cup — in this individual chocolate frosting produces the most intensely chocolate-forward and the most deeply fudgy individual frosting character that creates the most dramatically dark and the most beautifully rich individual contrast against the most golden individual yellow cake layers.
Helpful Notes for This Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe
The most dual liquid combination of buttermilk and sour cream is the most specifically calibrated individual pairing for the most beautifully balanced individual moisture — the most buttermilk provides the most gentle individual acid-leavening for the most properly fine individual crumb while the most sour cream provides the most essential individual fat richness for the most beautifully moist and the most deeply tender individual layer that a most single-liquid individual approach cannot achieve with the same most beautifully balanced individual result.
Variation of This Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe
Maria made a version adding half a cup of rainbow sprinkles through the individual batter for the most completely extraordinary and the most joyfully colorful individual funfetti yellow birthday cake with the same most deeply fudgy individual chocolate frosting. Teresa tried a salted chocolate version — sprinkling the most beautiful individual flaky sea salt over the most final individual chocolate frosting application — for the most completely extraordinary and the most properly sophisticated individual salted chocolate frosted yellow birthday cake.
For a two-layer version, divide the individual batter between two 9-inch pans and bake for 28 to 32 minutes for the most equally extraordinary and the most conveniently simplified individual two-layer yellow birthday cake with the same most deeply fudgy individual chocolate frosting. Our Vanilla Sheet Cake makes a beautifully equally moist butter and equally crowd-feeding companion for a complete and wonderful classic birthday cake collection.
FAQs About This Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting Recipe
Why use both buttermilk AND sour cream together?
The most dual individual liquid combination of buttermilk and sour cream is the most brilliantly calibrated individual pairing that produces the most beautifully balanced individual yellow cake moisture — the most individual buttermilk provides the most gentle individual acidity for the most properly tender individual crumb structure while the most individual sour cream contributes the most essential individual fat richness for the most beautifully moist individual layer. Together they create the most extraordinarily moist and the most properly tender individual yellow cake crumb that neither individual ingredient can achieve alone with the same most beautifully balanced individual result.
Can I make this as a sheet cake?
Yes — pour the entire individual batter into a greased and lined 9 by 13-inch baking pan and bake at 350°F for approximately 32 to 38 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. The most same most deeply fudgy individual chocolate frosting applies the most beautifully for the most conveniently crowd-feeding and the most easily portioned individual yellow birthday sheet cake format.
Why does yellow cake use extra egg yolks?
The most additional individual egg yolks contribute the most concentrated individual fat and the most natural individual lecithin emulsifiers that produce the most beautifully rich golden color, the most essential additional individual moisture, and the most properly tender individual crumb that defines the most authentic individual yellow birthday cake character — without the most extra individual yolks, the individual cake is the most noticeably less golden, the most less rich, and the most less tenderly moist.
Conclusion
This Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely perfect moist buttermilk sour cream three-layer golden birthday cake that makes every birthday and every gathering feel genuinely and completely magnificent through the most beautifully golden egg yolk crumb and the most deeply fudgy chocolate frosting in every single dramatically tall and completely irresistible yellow cake with chocolate frosting slice.
We hope it brings the same deeply joyful classic birthday cake perfection and the same completely delighted celebration table to your kitchen that it has always brought to ours. Make it, share it, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa
Print
Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting The Most Easy Moist Buttermilk Sour Cream Three Layer Extra Yolk Chocolate Fudge Frosting Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes including cooling and crumb coat
- Yield: 12 to 14 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most extraordinary moist three-layer Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting made by preheating oven to 350°F greasing flouring and lining three 8-inch pans whisking 3 cups flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt beating 1 cup softened butter medium-high 1 to 2 minutes adding 2 cups sugar beating 2 minutes pale and fluffy adding 4 room temperature eggs and 2 extra yolks one at a time beating thoroughly then vanilla whisking 3/4 cup room temperature buttermilk and 1/4 cup room temperature sour cream on low alternating flour in 3 additions with buttermilk sour cream in 2 additions beginning and ending with flour just combined dividing evenly among pans baking 22 to 26 minutes until toothpick clean cooling 10 minutes then on racks then beating 1 1/2 cups room temperature butter 3 minutes pale and fluffy adding 1 1/4 cups sifted cocoa beating incorporated gradually adding 5 to 6 cups sifted powdered sugar alternating with 1/2 cup cream adding vanilla and salt beating 3 minutes smooth fluffy and fudgy assembling three layers with frosting between crumb coating refrigerating 20 minutes applying final layer. A completely perfect moist buttermilk sour cream three-layer golden egg yolk yellow birthday cake deeply fudgy cocoa frosting recipe.
Ingredients
3 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Unsalted Butter softened
2 cups Granulated Sugar
4 large Eggs room temperature
2 large Egg Yolks room temperature
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
3/4 cup Buttermilk room temperature
1/4 cup Sour Cream room temperature
1 1/2 cups Unsalted Butter room temperature for frosting
1 1/4 cups Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder sifted
5 to 6 cups Powdered Sugar sifted
1/2 cup Heavy Cream plus more as needed
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract for frosting
1/2 tsp Salt for frosting
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F 175°C. Grease flour and line three 8-inch pans.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat softened butter medium-high 1 to 2 minutes. Add sugar. Beat 2 minutes pale and fluffy.
4. Add eggs and extra yolks one at a time. Beat thoroughly. Add vanilla.
5. Whisk buttermilk and sour cream in small bowl.
6. On low alternate flour in 3 additions with buttermilk sour cream in 2 additions. Mix just combined.
7. Divide evenly among three pans. Bake 22 to 26 minutes until toothpick clean.
8. Cool 10 minutes. Transfer to racks. Cool completely.
9. Beat butter 3 minutes pale and fluffy. Add cocoa. Beat incorporated.
10. Gradually add powdered sugar alternating with cream. Add vanilla and salt. Beat 3 minutes smooth fluffy and fudgy.
11. Assemble three layers with frosting between. Apply thin crumb coat. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Apply final layer.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 26 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cake, Birthday, Celebration
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 695
- Sugar: 72g
- Sodium: 340mg
- Fat: 37g
- Saturated Fat: 23g
- Unsaturated Fat: 12g
- Trans Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 88g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 7g
- Cholesterol: 175mg
Keywords: yellow cake with chocolate frosting, easy moist yellow cake with chocolate frosting recipe buttermilk sour cream three layer extra yolk deeply fudgy cocoa frosting, best three layer yellow birthday cake chocolate frosting, moist buttermilk sour cream yellow three-layer egg yolk chocolate fudge birthday cake
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