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Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting The BEST Yellow Cake Recipe with Milk Chocolate Frosting. 5-Star Rated Recipe! www.modernhoney.com #yellowcake #homemadecake #cake #yellowcakechocolatefrosting #baking

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

The BEST Yellow Cake Recipe with Milk Chocolate Frosting. 5-Star Rated Recipe!

I was one of those kids that were counting down the minutes at my birthday party until I could blow out the candles and eat my big ol birthday cake. I wanted a piece with a thick layer of homemade chocolate frosting.

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting The BEST Yellow Cake Recipe with Milk Chocolate Frosting. 5-Star Rated Recipe! www.modernhoney.com #yellowcake #homemadecake #cake #yellowcakechocolatefrosting #baking

This is literally the best yellow cake recipe. It is so flavorful, moist, and buttery! The homemade chocolate frosting is insanely rich and creamy and pairs perfectly with the homemade yellow cake. 

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting The BEST Yellow Cake Recipe with Milk Chocolate Frosting. 5-Star Rated Recipe! www.modernhoney.com #yellowcake #homemadecake #cake #yellowcakechocolatefrosting #baking

It’s New Year’s Eve so let’s go out of 2016 with a huge yellow cake with chocolate buttercream because I see only green smoothies in my future….

Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting by Modern Honey. Homemade Yellow Cake with Vanilla Pudding Mix to make it extra moist and flavorful. Rich chocolate buttercream is the perfect addition to this birthday cake.

If you read my last post about making a homemade yellow cake — Homemade Yellow Butter Cake, I went through many experiments to bring you these cake recipes. My pants just got tighter in an effort to bring you the perfect cake!

We had large cake testings to determine the winners of the unofficial homemade yellow cake recipe challenge.

Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting by Modern Honey. Homemade Yellow Cake with Vanilla Pudding Mix to make it extra moist and flavorful. Rich chocolate buttercream is the perfect addition to this birthday cake.

The path to the Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting…

The recipe that I posted a few days ago is for a traditional yellow butter cake.  I wanted to change it up a little and experiment with adding in some vanilla pudding mix. Since it is known to add a good amount of moisture to a cake, I was excited to see how it would affect the final product.

Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting by Modern Honey. Homemade Yellow Cake with Vanilla Pudding Mix to make it extra moist and flavorful. Rich chocolate buttercream is the perfect addition to this birthday cake.

It not only made a denser, moister cake but also a flavorful one as well. It’s a small amount of pudding but was still a big difference-maker. This is truly THE BEST YELLOW CAKE EVER.

Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting by Modern Honey. Homemade Yellow Cake with Vanilla Pudding Mix to make it extra moist and flavorful. Rich chocolate buttercream is the perfect addition to this birthday cake.

The chocolate buttercream recipe is one that I played with over the years and is now my go-to recipe. It has the perfect balance of rich chocolate, butter, and powdered sugar and isn’t over the top sweet. It truly is the greatest chocolate frosting. If you are a chocolate cake lover, you must try my Love at First Sight Chocolate Cake.

Add some colorful sprinkles to this Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting if you want to make kids really happy.

Here are my favorite baking pans — USA Bakeware Round Cake Pan 8 inch and USA Bakeware Round Cake Pan 9 inch

A Wilton Angled Icing Spatula is the perfect tool to use to frost this cake.

Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting by Modern Honey. Homemade Yellow Cake with Vanilla Pudding Mix to make it extra moist and flavorful. Rich chocolate buttercream is the perfect addition to this birthday cake.

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4.94 from 133 votes

Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting

By: Melissa Stadler, Modern Honey
Homemade Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting will be the cake everyone is begging for at the next birthday party.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 16

Ingredients  

  • 4 Large Eggs
  • 2/3 cup Whole Milk or Buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla
  • 2 1/4 cups Flour
  • 1 1/2 cups Sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon Salt
  • 1 cup Butter softened, cut into cubes
  • 2 Tablespoons Oil
  • 1/3 cup Vanilla Pudding Mix instant

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

  • 1 1/2 cups Butter softened
  • 1 cup Cocoa
  • 5 cups Powdered Sugar
  • 1/3 cup Cream Half n Half or Milk

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla.
  • In a standing mixer, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
  • Beat the butter into the flour mixture, one cube at a time. Continue to beat until it resembles coarse crumbs.
  • Add the 1/2 of the egg-milk mixture and oil and beat the batter is light and fluffy. Add remaining egg-milk mixture and vanilla pudding and mix just until combined.
  • Take a spatula and scrape the sides of the bowl.
  • Spread into greased 8 or 9-inch cake pans and smooth tops with a spatula.
  • Bake for 16-22 minutes, depending on the depth of pans. If the cake layers are thin, they will cook for less time than the thicker layers.
  • Let cakes cool. Run a knife around edge of cake pan and flip over. Frost with milk chocolate frosting.
  • To make Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
  • In mixing bowl, cream together butter, cocoa, powdered Sugar, and cream until light and fluffy. You may want to add more cream or milk depending on consistency. Once the cake has cooled and has been removed from pans, frost each layer with frosting.
  • Top with chocolate shavings, chocolate chips, sprinkles, M & M's or whatever your heart desires.

Video

Notes

  • This recipe makes two 9-inch cake layers or three 8-inch cake layers. If you use three 8-inch cake pans, the layers will be thinner and will cook for less time. 
  • This is one baked good that gets even better the next day, if covered.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 16
Keyword: yellow cake
Like this? Leave a comment below!Jump to Comments

Happy Baking, my friends! xo

Homemade Yellow Butter Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting. All the secrets and tips to make the perfect yellow butter cake plus the best ever recipe for chocolate buttercream frosting.


Hi, I'm Melissa Stadler!

I am an Award-Winning Recipe Creator. Cover of Food Network Magazine. Two-Time Pillsbury Bake-Off Finalist. I am passionate about sharing the best recipes so you have success in the kitchen!

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244 Comments

  1. I’ve tried several yellow cake recipes and have yet to find one that I love. Looking forward to trying this one based on the reviews. Does this recipe work well for cupcakes? Thanks!

    1. 5 stars
      Hi Stephanie! Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. This is a wonderful yellow cupcake recipe. It should make approximately 24 cupcakes. The baking time should be reduced to about 16-20 minutes. Take a cake tester or toothpick and place in the center of the cupcake to check. Have a great day! – Melissa

  2. We make cakes out of our home, my daughter does all of the decorating, I do most of the baking. Works well for us. HOWEVER, have not been able to find a great yellow cake recipe. We have mastered chocolate cake and have some great pound cake recipes for tiered cakes. Your recipe is in the oven now! Here’s hoping for great success and this finally being THE ONE!

    1. 5 stars
      I am feeling the pressure now! Haha! You girls sound like cake experts to me so I am crossing my fingers that this one passes your test! I ate A LOT of yellow cakes in the search of a really good cake recipe and this one passed the test with flying colors. I hope that you rate it the same. Keep me posted! 🙂 – Melissa

      1. THIS IS IT! Our search is over! Moist, dense enough for tiered cakes, beautiful crumb! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

        1. 5 stars
          That is such wonderful news! You just made my day! Thanks so much. – Melissa 🙂

  3. I baked this cake for my Dad’s 79th birthday dinner. My Mom was the chocolate cake baker…she’s resting now with our Lord and Savior. So when he ask me to cook a chocolate cake it made me very nervous. So I googled and praise God I found your recipe!! He loved it!! I was so proud of myself too! The cake was delicious! Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!! I give this recipe five stars!!!!

    1. 5 stars
      Awww thank you so much, Loria for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it so much! How wonderful that you made a homemade cake for your Dad. You are carrying on your Mom’s legacy. I am so happy that it turned out so well. Have a blessed day! – Melissa 🙂

    1. 5 stars
      Absolutely! I am a huge cake flour fan as it creates such a nice texture. I use canola oil but you can use vegetable or even coconut oil. Let me know how it turns out, Chris! 🙂 – Melissa

      1. Hi Melissa! I’m making this cake for my brother and I can never find a good chocolate frosting recipe. It’s either too sweet or too dark. I was planning to make your recipe (the frosting part) and was wondering what do you prefer, milk or half and half? And also, does this recipe taste like dark chocolate or is it milk chocolate? Thanks !

      2. 5 stars
        Hello Ms Melissa, have you tried this recipe yet with cake flour it is great with apf, but also if i were to try it with cake flour (getting that nice fluffy light crumb) what would be the difference in measurements in the flour and in salt please and thank you if you know.

        Thank you so very much God bless,
        Lisa

    1. Adjustment for 5000 feet:
      Reduce baking powder: for each teaspoon, decrease 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon.
      Reduce sugar: for each cup, decrease 0 to 2 tablespoons.
      Increase liquid: for each cup, add 2 to 4 tablespoons.
      Increase oven temperature by 25 degrees F.

      Not sure your elevation but I hope this helps. ????

    1. 5 stars
      Great question, Jewels! I used unsalted butter. If you are using salted butter, reduce the salt to 1/2 teaspoon. Hope that helps! – Melissa 🙂

      1. 5 stars
        Thanks! Made it last night and it was OUT OF THIS WORLD delicious! I have been searching for a great yellow cake recipe for years! …and this is it sister! The chocolate frosting was heavenly as well. love Love LOVE.

      2. In the comments, you have said salted butter, and then another response you said unsalted. I’m confused. I’m making this today. Also, does the buttermilk need to be at room temperature?

    1. 5 stars
      Hi Taylor! Great question! I used instant vanilla pudding mix. Let me know how you like the cake! – Melissa 🙂

      1. Hi melissa
        What would be a suitable adjustment to make to the recipe if I do not wish to use the vanilla pudding mix and also what brand of mix do you use?

    2. I’m allergic to butter can I use margarine instead and can I use corn oil instead for the cake recipe

    1. 5 stars
      Yay! I am so glad that you loved it and hope that your husband had a great birthday. Thanks so much for your comment! – Melissa 🙂

  4. 5 stars
    Hi Angela! Thank you for pointing that out, my friend! I updated it and you add it when you add the egg/milk mixture. 🙂 I hope it turns out fantastic! xo

    1. What is the purpose of adding the instant pudding ,since you have your sugar n flour n butter ,, does it make it moist ,, just wondering ????????

      1. I just made the cake ..my husband says is is delicious, with out any frosting… was making it for a Birthday ,, but he ate a piece , so it is good just plain ,, guess I will have to make another one in the morning for my friend , it’s her Birthday n her husband’s tommorrow,,Same Day,, Great Cake ,, my Favorite now,, My friend wanted a yellow cake with chocolate frosting,, that’s what she will get.. Thank You so much,,, Just wondering if you dnt have the pudding will it make a difference in the cake… I had it …