Easy Chocolate Cake

By Maria Lichty

Updated February 11, 2025

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Why You’ll Love This Easy Chocolate Cake

• Quick and Simple: The cake only takes 25-30 minutes to bake and the chocolate sour cream frosting is easy to whip up!
• Basic Ingredients: It’s made with common pantry items, that you probably already have in your pantry!
• Moist and Rich: The cake is perfectly moist with a deep, satisfying chocolate flavor.
• Easy to Decorate: It’s made in a 9×13-inch pan and that means no chilling cake layers or decorating cake layers. You don’t need to do a crumb coat of frosting, you pour the cake batter in the sheet pan, bake, and top with chocolate frosting. It is SO simple!
• The BEST Chocolate Frosting: The cake is covered in a sour cream chocolate frosting that is silky, smooth, and so decadent! It’s the best frosting ever!
• Perfect for Any Occasion: Whether it’s a birthday, a holiday, or just a casual dessert, this cake is ideal for any event. It’s easy to transport and feeds a crowd! Cut into squares and serve!

Key Cake Ingredients

• Butter– use unsalted butter for this recipe.
• Water– if you want to intensify the chocolate flavor, you can use coffee instead of water.
• Unsweetened cocoa powder– sift or whisk if there are big clumps before using.
• Eggs– make sure the eggs are at room temperature, this will help the cake rise.
• Sour Cream– the sour cream makes the cake super rich and super moist! Use full-fat sour cream for best results. There is also sour cream in the chocolate frosting which makes it super smooth and decadent.

How to Make Easy Chocolate Cake

(For the full recipe with ingredients and instructions, scroll down to the bottom of the post).

• Preheat the oven. Grease a 9×13-inch pan. Set aside.
• Make the butter cocoa mixture. In a small saucepan, combine the butter, water, cocoa powder, and salt and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring with a spatula, just until melted and combined. Remove from the heat and set aside.

• Combine wet and dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and baking soda. Add half of the melted butter cocoa mixture and whisk until completely blended. The mixture will be thick. Add the remaining butter mixture and stir until combined.

• Add the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
• Bake the cake. Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Cool. Let the cake cool completely before frosting.

• Make the frosting. In a large bowl, sift together the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and add the powdered sugar, cocoa, sour cream, vanilla, and salt. Beat until frosting is smooth, this will take about 3 minutes. If you need to scrape down the sides, do so, and mix again. The frosting will be smooth and silky! It’s the BEST!

• Frost and serve. Use a butter knife or an offset spatula to frost the cooled cake. Feel free to add sprinkles or any decorations you wish! Cut into squares and serve.

Storing Tips

• Storing in the Refrigerator: Because of the sour cream in the cake and frosting, I store the cake in the refrigerator. Cover tightly and store for up to 5 days. Let it come to room temperature before serving. Although, I do love a cold slice right out of the fridge:)
• Freezing: You can make the cake in advance and freeze the cake. Let it cool completely. Carefully wrap the cake in plastic wrap and foil. Place in the freezer and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw and frost with chocolate buttercream.

More Chocolate Cake Recipes

• Flourless Chocolate Cake
• Chocolate Cake
• Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake
• Strawberry Chocolate Cake
• Chocolate Zucchini Cake
• Chocolate Pudding Cake

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Cake

Easy Chocolate Cake

This easy sheet pan chocolate cake is the BEST chocolate cake recipe and the perfect dessert for any celebration or just because you are craving chocolate:)

4.56 from 54 votes

PrintSave RecipeReview

Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 50 minutes mins

Cuisine American

Servings 16

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

  

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For the chocolate cake:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the chocolate sour cream frosting:

• 3 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, or Dutch process cocoa
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

 

• For the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
• In a small saucepan, combine the butter, water, cocoa powder, and salt and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring with a spatula, just until melted and combined. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and baking soda. Add half of the melted butter cocoa mixture and whisk until completely blended. The mixture will be thick. Add the remaining butter mixture and stir until combined.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking until completely blended. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
• Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
• For the frosting: In a large bowl, sift together the confectioner's sugar and cocoa powder. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the confectioner's sugar and cocoa, sour cream, vanilla, and salt. Beat until frosting is smooth, about 3 minutes. If you need to scrape down the sides, do so, and mix again.
• Frost the cooled chocolate cake with the chocolate sour cream frosting. Cut cake into squares and serve.

Nutrition

Serving: 16g, Calories: 428kcal, Carbohydrates: 59g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 21g, Saturated Fat: 13g, Cholesterol: 73mg, Sodium: 421mg, Potassium: 116mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 44g, Vitamin A: 650IU, Vitamin C: 0.2mg, Calcium: 32mg, Iron: 1.5mg

Keywords cake, chocolate cake

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