Chocolate Sheet Cake – A deliciously moist and fluffy chocolate cake spiced with cinnamon and topped with chocolate buttercream frosting!
Chocolate Sheet Cake
Chocolate cake. One of the best desserts ever, and is a lot of people’s favourite – including mine. Today, I bring you my Chocolate Sheet Cake.
A deliciously moist and fluffy chocolate cake baked in a rectangle baking tray and generously topped with a creamy chocolate buttercream frosting.
I’ve spiced this cake with a little cinnamon to give it an ‘autumn’ taste, and it really does pair well with the chocolate flavour!
Ingredients for Chocolate Sheet Cake:
- cake flour (see recipe notes on how to make your own!)
- cocoa powder
- baking soda
- baking powder
- salt
- ground cinnamon
- eggs
- light or dark brown sugar
- vanilla extract
- unsalted butter
- greek-style yogurt
For the chocolate frosting, you’ll need:
- icing/powdered sugar
- unsalted butter
- cocoa powder
- milk
- vanilla extract
For the chocolate buttercream, I topped the cake with a thin layer, then I piped swirls onto each slice. Leave about 1/2 – 1 cup of frosting for the swirls, and spread the rest on the cake.
Want a slice? 😉
Want more chocolate? See these recipes!
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Chocolate Sheet Cake
A deliciously moist and fluffy chocolate cake spiced with cinnamon and topped with chocolate buttercream frosting!
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 cups (250g) cake flour*
- 1/2 cup (50g) cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 and 1/4 cups (250g) light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, melted
- 3/4 cup (180g) greek yoghurt
For the Frosting
- 4 cups (500g) icing/powdered sugar
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (50g) cocoa powder
- 3 - 4 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease a 13x9-inch pan, and set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Whisk together the eggs. Add the sugar, and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla extract, butter, and yoghurt and whisk until combined. Gradually fold in the dry ingredients.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and spread out evenly. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Allow to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
For the Frosting
- Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat together the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the cocoa powder, milk and vanilla until smooth, and spreadable. Add more milk if needed.
- Spread the frosting evenly over the cooled cake (leaving about 1/2 - 1 cup for piping). Transfer the remaining frosting to a piping bag and pipe swirls on each slice of cake. Garnish with sprinkles.
Notes
*Make your own cake flour! Measure out 2 cups (250g) of plain/all-purpose flour, remove 4 tablespoons, and replace with 4 tablespoons of cornflour/cornstarch. Sift well.
Leftovers can be stored, covered, in the fridge for up to 2 - 3 days.
After the cake has cooled completely, it can be wrapped in clingfilm and refrigerated/frozen overnight, ready to be frosted the next day. The frosting can also be refrigerated overnight.
Frosted or unfrosted cake freezes well for up to 2 months.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 16 slices Serving Size: 1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 465Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 187mgCarbohydrates: 71gFiber: 1gSugar: 54gProtein: 4g
Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
Dao
Saturday 14th of August 2021
Absolutely delicious!! I tried making it for the 1st time for my nephew.... but I didnt have 13"*9" tray so I divided batter into 2 parts and baked them with my 8"*8" trays, made some extra frosting, put frosting between the 2 sheets and again on top added tons of oreos, kitkat on tops for decoration and sprinkled it with cocoa powder affer and everybody loved it! Thank you!!!!
Autumn
Thursday 28th of May 2020
Hello! I am excited to make this cake, but was wondering if you use unsweetened cocoa powder or sweetened cocoa powder. Thank you!
Marsha
Thursday 28th of May 2020
I use unsweetened. My favourites are Dr. Oetker Fine Dark Cocoa Powder, and Hershey's Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. Enjoy! :)
Verna
Friday 9th of February 2018
My batter was really thick. The cake is only about 2 inches high. Doesn’t look anything like the picture, although I followed the recipe to a T.
Marsha
Friday 9th of February 2018
I'm so sorry this cake didn't turn out for you! I'm afraid I can't really let you know what went wrong without being there. All my cake batters are quite thick.
Lily
Wednesday 11th of October 2017
Hey Marsha, I'm making this tomorrow. Did you use regular cocoa powder or dutch-processed in this cake?
evelyn
Sunday 16th of July 2017
hi Marsha, Just saw this lovely chocolate cake recipe after your vanilla sheet cake. can i know will this cake rise up high like your vanilla sheet cake recipe. I needed to bake for my son's birthday as a soccer pitch( did wrote in your other comments too) Can I use this cake to frost it as a soccer field cake? I don't like the taste of cinnamon, is there any other ingredient to replace it? Thanks again...looking forward to your reply.
Marsha
Sunday 16th of July 2017
Hi Evelyn! This chocolate cake isn't the same thickness as the vanilla one, so I would make the vanilla one and replace half cup of flour with cocoa powder, and just make the frosting as instructed on the chocolate cake recipe. Cinnamon is optional, so you can totally leave it out! :)