Sometimes you just need chocolate cake.
This easy one-bowl cake recipe comes together in a flash. It bakes for half an hour, you smother the frosting on top and bam, you’re done. It’s easy as…sheet cake! Add some fun sprinkles and you’ve got the perfect birthday cake or picnic cake, as 9×13 cakes are much easier to haul around than layer cakes.
This cake is incredibly moist with a deep, dark chocolate flavor. To me the sign of a perfect cake is that you can pick crumbs up with the back of your fork and you can do just that with this cake. I’ve made this again and again and it never gets old.
I have three important tips for this cake:
- “Flour” the 9×13 with cocoa powder instead of flour. It has the same non-stick properties as flour and this way, you don’t miss a single opportunity flavor opportunity!
- Sift together the powdered sugar and cocoa for the creamiest frosting. We don’t any lumps!
- Always set the timer for the earliest time in a recipe (ex: this cake is 30-35 minutes so set the timer for 30) or even a few minutes before. Do the toothpick test and pull the cake as soon as a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Truly my biggest pet peeve is overbaked, dry cakes!
That’s it! Let’s get baking.
Love this recipe but want it as a layer cake? Click here for my classic chocolate cake.
Chocolate Sheet Cake
For the cake:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup 1% milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
To bake the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13″ pan. Coat bottom and sides of pan with cocoa powder the way you would typically flour pans.
- Whisk together sugar, flour, dark cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large mixing bowl. Crack eggs into a measuring cup to make sure you don’t get any shell in the batter. Add eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated. Add milk, oil, and vanilla extract all at once and beat on medium speed of mixer about two minutes, stopped once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Genty stir in the boiling water. Divide batter into prepared pans.
- Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
- Frost and enjoy!
Dark Chocolate Frosting
6 Tbsp unsalted buter, softened
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
- Beat softened butter. Sift powdered sugar and cocoa powder together, then beat in powder sugar and cocoa powder alternately with milk until smooth. Add vanilla and beat well.
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Happy baking,
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