Easy Chocolate Sheet Cake
This Easy Chocolate Sheet Cake is an irresistibly moist, tender, and decadent one-bowl chocolate cake. Together with the chocolate cream cheese frosting, this cake recipe is a winner.
Servings: 20 servings
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 cups granulated sugar, (397 grams)
- 5 ounces dark chocolate, good quality, roughly chopped
- ½ cup unsalted butter, (113 grams)
- 1 cup water, (240 ml)
- 1 TB instant coffee granules, decaf is fine
- 1 cup buttermilk, (240 ml)
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, (283 grams)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the Chocolate-Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½ cup unsalted butter, (113 grams), room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar, (340 grams)
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, (43 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 375F with rack on lower middle position. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and set aside.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together the sugar, dark chocolate, butter, water, and coffee granules. Occasionally stir until mixture is melted smoothly together. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly, about 10 minutes.
- Whisk in the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the pot in three additions, whisking gently to combine after each addition. Mixture will be liquidy.
- Pour the batter into the greased pan and spread into an even layer. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out mostly clean, 30 to 40 minutes (a few tender crumbs attached is perfect.) Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
For the Frosting
- Using an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Sift in the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Add vanilla. Mix on low speed at first, as powdered sugar can fly upwards; increase to medium-high speed and beat until frosting is smooth and whipped, about 1 minute.
- Spread the frosting evenly over the top of the cooled cake.
Equipment
Notes
- If you prefer, instead of using 1 TB instant coffee granules, substitute with 1 cup of very strong brewed coffee/espresso in place of the water. We highly recommend using either the instant coffee granules or brewed coffee, as it enhances the chocolate flavor of the cake - it will not taste like coffee at all.
- Frosted cake will stay fresh and tender in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- For an extra fluffy, delicious topping check out our recipe for Stabilized Whipped Cream.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 307kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 335mg | Potassium: 147mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 483IU | Calcium: 53mg | Iron: 2mg