Who loves cake??!!! Or more appropriately, what's your favorite cake/frosting combination. When it comes to cake I love taking it back to the basics and love (legit, love) a classic yellow cake. And it has to be frosted with chocolate frosting. This Classic Yellow Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting is one of the best cake/frosting combos there is. Plain and simple.
And what about frosting? Do you like a lot of it, a little bit of it...do you just like the cake sans frosting? I think it's pretty safe to say and shown in the photo above that I like a lot of frosting. My cake to frosting ratio may be slightly uneven. When it comes to frosting I always go the from scratch route. Making frosting yourself is a bijillion times better than anything you could ever buy in a store. And this that is coming from girl who has no problem incorporating short cut items in to her recipes.
The chocolate fudge frosting that I share with you today has actually been a trail and error thing for me for a few year now. I would try to make chocolate frosting in the past and it wouldn't come out chocolate-y enough. I figured out I was missing to important things: espresso powder and melted chocolate. These 2 simple ingredients helped me achieved the chocolate frosting of my dreams!
Classic Yellow Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 15.25 ounce yellow cake mix
- 3.4 ounce vanilla instant pudding mix not cook & serve
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup oil
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
For the Frosting:
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder sifted
- 2 teaspoons espresso powder
- ⅓ cup hot water
- 1 and ½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously spray an 8 or 9 inch round baking pans with non stick cooking spray, set aside.
- Prepare the batter: In a large bowl combine the cake mix and instant pudding mix. Give the dry ingredients a quick whisk just to mix them together. Add in the eggs, oil, sour cream, milk, and both extracts. Use a handheld mixer to beat the ingredients together on medium speed just until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Do not over mix the batter. Evenly divide the batter between both cake pans and bake according to the package instructions, typically between 25 to 30 minutes. Cake is done when a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.
- Make the frosting:First prep your ingredients: sift powdered sugar and cocoa powder together in to a medium sized bowl. Heat up and measure your water and add it to a small bowl and add in the espresso powder and mix it together. Also, melt your chocolate in a heat safe bowl. Once everything is prepped your ready to make your frosting. In a large bowl beat the butter on medium speed with a handheld mixer for 1 to 2 minutes. Add in the powdered sugar/cocoa powder mixture to the butter and continue beating until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add in the water/espresso mixture and continue mixing until combined. Finally, add in the melted chocolate and mix together until combined. Frosting will be thick and have a "hot fudge" like texture. You can stop here and use the frosting like this or if you prefer a fluffier frosting (resembling a traditional buttercream), continue to mix the frosting on med to high speed for another 3 to 5 minutes to incorporate more air into the frosting, resulting in a fluffier texture. Frost the 2 cake layers to your preference.