Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting (From Scratch!)
This fluffy vanilla cake recipe is the absolute best yellow cake from scratch and paired with the silky smooth chocolate frosting, you can’t beat it for a classic birthday cake or any other celebration!
Are you a box mix yellow cake person? Or a from-scratch yellow cake person?
Truth be told, it’s REALLY hard to replicate that always-moist-and-fluffy texture that everyone loves about a box cake mix, but at the same time, we also love homemade, right?!
It took me a LONG time to find a homemade yellow cake that I really, really loved. Box cake mixes seem to always bake up perfectly fluffy and moist yellow cakes, and the ones I’ve had from bakeries have been great as well, but I just couldn’t seem to replicate it at home no matter how many recipes I tried. (Consequently, I haven’t had the same issue with chocolate cakes! See: Snickers Cake – the base recipe for all of my chocolate cakes!)
Many were too dense, too dry, too chiffon-like, too fussy in their preparation. I just wanted a fantastic yellow cake recipe I could use for birthday cakes that was easy to make and turned out delicious. I came across this recipe from Joy while I was on the hunt for yet another recipe to test out for Joseph’s birthday.
This was IT. The recipe that had eluded me for years!
I love that this can easily be mixed together in one bowl using my hand mixer; there’s nothing fussy about the ingredients or preparation, and it produces an absolutely perfect yellow cake. The layers are light but sturdy, buttery and moist, and the ideal base for your very favorite chocolate frosting.
I used the chocolate frosting recipe from my ultimate chocolate cupcakes, and it was a wonderful companion to this cake. The frosting is more buttery than sugary, satiny smooth and full of rich chocolate flavor. It glides on like a dream!
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Yellow cake tends to be the elusive unicorn of homemade baking; so many cakes can turn out too dry, too crumbly, too dense, too cornbread-like, and I have one major piece of advice for ensuring yellow cake perfection:
Make sure all of the ingredients listed “at room temperature” ARE ACTUALLY AT ROOM TEMPERATURE.
I’ve totally been there and have used still-cool butter, eggs or dairy in a recipe when I’m in a hurry, but it’s actually vitally important here. Having all of those ingredients at room temperature ensures that they emulsify, which traps air in the batter and, once in the oven, that air expands and produces a fluffy cake.
Room temperature ingredients also ensure that the batter comes together well and is ultra-smooth, which keeps the resulting cake from being crumbly or cornbread-like.
Every recipe binder needs a fabulous recipe to make yellow cake from scratch; a recipe that can be transformed into the most special birthday cake, and this is definitely the recipe. It got rave reviews at Joseph’s party, and I’ve since made it again and again to countless rounds of huge applause.
This is the only yellow cake recipe you need!
Five years ago: Morning Buns
Six years ago: Greek Lamb Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce
Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting (From Scratch!)
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2¼ cups (281.25 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups (300 ml) buttermilk, at room temperature
For the Frosting:
- 20 tablespoons unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
- ¾ cup (64.5 g) Dutch-processed cocoa
- Pinch of salt
- ¾ cup (255.75 ml) light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 ounces (226.8 ml) milk or semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
Equipment Used:
Instructions
- Make the Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute between each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients all at once and beat on low speed until just combined. Add the buttermilk and beat on low for 1 minute, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 3 additional minutes.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for 33 to 38 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then turn out onto wire racks and cool completely before frosting.
- Make the Frosting: In a food processor, process the butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powdered, and salt until smooth, about 30 seconds, stopping once to scrape the sides of the bowl. Add the corn syrup and vanilla and process until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Scrape the sides of bowl, then add the melted chocolate and pulse until smooth and creamy, 10 to 15 seconds.
- Assemble the Cake: Place one of the cake layers on a serving platter and spread 1 cup of the frosting evenly over the surface. Place the second cake layer on top. Use the remaining frosting to frost the top and sides of the cake. The cake can be kept at room temperature for up to 1 day before serving. Once cut, leftovers should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Notes
- You can make this cake in 9-inch pans, you will just need to reduce the baking time slightly. It can also be made in a 9x13-inch pan (again, reduce baking time).
- The only substitution I'm aware of for the corn syrup is Lyle's golden syrup, which has a more pronounced flavor. If you cannot find (or do not want to use) corn syrup, I would recommend using The Best Chocolate Frosting.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Update Notes: This recipe was originally published in February 2016; updated in September 2019 with new photos and extra recipe tips.
[photos by Ari of Well Seasoned]
Made this cake for my wife’s birthday. My first “from scratch” cake ever. It was a hit! Thank you!
Can the chocolate icing be made without food processor
Best chocolate frosting ever! Thank you for sharing.
I think 8 oz of milk is way too much. Made my frosting to runny.
That line isn’t for milk – it’s written weirdly but it’s for milk chocolate or semi sweet chocolate
Best birthday cake I’ve ever made! I added a raspberry filling between the layers and some fresh raspberries on top and it was delicious.
Where the heck do I get Buttermilk from :(
I cant seem to find it anywhere!
But I am so excited to try this recipie
You can get buttermilk at most
grocery stores in the US, but if you’re not in the US and/or can’t find it, you can make a substitute with with milk and vinegar-just look it up online
Will it work to use this recipe for cupcakes, instead?
This recipe was dynamite, so moist like cotton, this is my go to recipe from now going forward, thanks for sharing ❤️❤️❤️
My birthday cake this year :-) Loved the cake, but not the frosting so much. We have an old and not high-quality food processor and I think it killed the motor. I don’t mind getting a new one ;-) but the frosting is just too thick. As far as I know, my husband followed the directions exactly. We wished we went with the Hershey frosting, which is our favorite chocolate frosting.
This cake was delicious! Loved it
My favorite birthday cake is one I’ve had every year….for 62 years is my Sicilian Grandmom’s Italian Cream Cake. Unbelievably delicious. Grazie for all your hard work getting us all this fabulous recipes. Ciao, Robin from Houston.🎂🥳🙏❤️
I live overseas. Many times a recipe calls for a boxed mix. If I remember correctly, one needs to add the eggs and fat. Would the dry ingredients from this recipe work? I am thinking something like the topping on an apple crisp recipe or something like that.
Can powered buttermilk be used?
This cake is phenomenal! I adore making it. But, I was wondering, what’s the best way to do a chocolate version? Would simply adding cocoa powder suffice? Or would I need to alter additional ingredients? Thanks!
Hi!
My kids want to have a baking competition and would love to try this yellow cake. But, I’d rather they make one layer. Would you just half the ingredients? What about the eggs? How many would you use?
Thanks!
Hi Kristin, Yes you can halve the ingredients. I would use 1 whole egg + 1 egg white. Have fun!
Hello, would this cake recipe do well under fondant? Thank you!
Yes, I have done so multiple times!
What happened!!! Followed the frosting recipe exactly as stated but it turned out oily and goopy. Moved around as one oily mass. Put it over a double boiler and whisked so that it became creamier but still really runny. More of a batter consistency than a frosting. So frustrating. Any thoughts?
Oh no! I’ve never had that happen. Did you make any ingredient substitutions?
I have not made this cake yet. But I have several questions. I wished to use this for a white wine cake, the old recipe called for box cake, oil wine, pudding in the mix eggs, etc. So if I add 3/4 cup of oil (or butter equivalent) 3/4 rum/wine then what about the buttermilk or do I use powdered milk, or your instant pudding( for the mix )recipe along with this yelliw cake recipe? And can I use cake flour not AP.. Sorry its long but important in conversions of old recioes. Thanks
This is a tough one, as those are a lot of substitutions; I really wouldn’t be able to say without testing the recipe. If you give it a try, let me know how it turns out!
Hello there! I made this over the weekend (both cake + frosting) and it turned out DELICIOUS! I was testing recipe for my son’s birthday over the weekend.
I had 2 questions for you if you can answer them :
1. His cake is going to have colored frosting, so can I use white chocolate in this and then add color to the frosting?! there’s no piping on his cake, just light blue colored frosting
2. I was going to make layers : can i have jam frosting in one layer and this frosting on another one?! Do you think this yellow cake will complement well with a jam filling?
Thanks in advance!
This yellow cake is “the one.” Moist, flavorful, perfectly risen without needing to be trimmed. If you are like me and only have 9 inch pans, reduce the baking time a lot, mine were done in 23 minutes. I also did 1/2 butter, 1/2 vegetable oil because I like the lighter texture of oil based cakes, otherwise followed the recipe.
How long does it take generally for the cakes to cook on a wire rack? Does it make sense to stick them in the fridge at that point to speed it up? I’m worried about applying frosting while the cage is still warm.
Hi Josh, I do not recommend putting them into the refrigerator warm; it will negatively affect the texture of the cake. Cakes generally take 1 to 2 hours to cool completely, obviously dependent on how warm it is in your kitchen.
Made this last month as my own birthday cake and it was perfect! Followed the recipe exactly and it was exactly what I wanted: the best kind of yellow cake and the most luscious frosting. Can’t wait to do this one again — my son has already requested it for his birthday!
Delicious!
Do you know how ingredients would change if you wanted to make three 8” cakes? Thanks!
Hi Kristie, I would increase everything by 50%
Wonderful recipe! Cake turned out great, not overly sweet, just right topped with whipped cream and fresh berries. Thanks!
I made this cake for my mom’s birthday. It was so good I asked her if she would let me take half home. My wife doesn’t even like chocolate (YES, I still love her), and she willingly ate a whole slice chocolate icing and all. If it wasn’t COVID season and the entire family was over, that called would have been demolished. All I know is I’m never, and I mean never using another recipe for my yellow cake. The cake was AMAZING!! Period. Cheers to you B.E.B
Minor tweaks: I used cake flour instead of regular flour. I had to use honey instead of light corn syrup for the frosting.
Not a good recipe. I’m an experience cake maker and lost my usual yellow cake recipe, but I found this and thought it would be fine. I followed the instructions exactly and I’m very disappointed, the cake is light and airy but has a distinctly egg-y taste and is somehow not that sweet even though there is alot of sugar.
I always make buttermilk cakes and they usually turn out great, I really don’t understand how this recipe can be that bad! Stay away!
I didn’t bother to make the icing since the cake was so bad.
I’m really curious to find out why this happened to you. I have made this cake cake so many times, and it’s always perfect. Has that fantastic “cake flavor”. I’m by no means a professional, but I’ve had people buy this from me. I wonder why our results are so different?
I’ve spent many years trying to find a good solid yellow cake recipe. Look no further, this is it!
Why? Because the instructions are superb and gives you the tips that you need to make a good light (not dense) and flavorful yellow cake.
I’ve tried the recipes from big names (NYTimes, Food Network) and their recipes aren’t as good as this one. I have to say that I didn’t include the corn syrup in the frosting. I added a few tablespoons of heavy cream instead.
As an important note, watch out for the baking time. The instructions explicitly state that you want a few crumbs on the toothpick.
We have to avoid certain ingredients because of a health issue…no Betty Crocker/Duncin Hines cakes for us. I have tried many yellow cake recipes …and I have to say this is the best one I have ever tried. We LOVED this cake.
So fluffy & light ..thank you so much for posting.
Yellow cake + chocolate frosting is my hubby’s favorite. I used this recipe a couple years ago but couldn’t remember how it was. Turned out great, again. Yay! I baked on Wednesday, cooled and froze the layers, frosted it (still frozen) Friday, froze the whole thing, and let it thaw Saturday night for a lunchtime party Sunday. Was tender, buttery, and delicious. Not a hair tough at all. I used 9” pans and they took 29 minutes to bake. Thanks for sharing!!
Made this yellow cake. DID NOT HAVE BUTTERMILK, SO I USED GREEK PLAIN YOUGART. IT WAS DELICIOUS, FLUFFY, THE BEST I’VE EVER MADE. ADDED 2 %milk to the batter to make consistency for pouring into cake pans. Used my own chocolate frosting receipe. Amazing. Will definitely make again.