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The BEST Yellow Cake Recipe with Milk Chocolate Frosting. 5-Star Rated Recipe! This golden, tender yellow cake is topped with a thick layer of creamy chocolate frosting. Thanks to a secret ingredient — this homemade yellow cake bakes up moist, fluffy, and full of flavor every time. If you are celebrating a birthday, make sure to request this Yellow Birthday Cake with Chocolate Frosting!
Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting
I was one of those kids who 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.
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.
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….
The path to the Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting…
We had large cake testings to determine the winners of the unofficial homemade yellow cake recipe challenge.
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!
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.
Best Yellow Cake Ingredients:
This homemade birthday cake calls for a mix of both butter and a touch of oil, dry pudding mix, and buttermilk which makes it so moist and tender. It is the best birthday cake ever! Here’s what you need to make it….
- Eggs
- Whole Milk or Buttermilk
- Vanilla Extract
- Flour (All-purpose or cake flour)
- Sugar
- Baking Powder
- Oil
- Salt
- Butter
- Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix (DRY)
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
- Butter
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- Powdered Sugar
- Heavy Cream, Half-n-Half, or Milk
Why add dry pudding mix?
Dry pudding mix is my secret weapon for a yellow cake that’s ultra-moist, tender, and flavorful. The pudding mix does a few magical things:
- Moisture boost: It helps the cake retain moisture, preventing dryness.
- Texture enhancer: It adds a soft, plush crumb, almost bakery-style.
- Flavor depth: Vanilla pudding mix intensifies the buttery, sweet flavor of a yellow cake.
It’s an old-school trick that works like a charm every single time.
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!
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.
How to make the Best Yellow Cake:
I will share all of the tips and tricks for making an easy homemade cake recipe that will get rave reviews! Here are some step-by-step photos and instructions. See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for amounts and instructions.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.
- 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.
Here are my favorite baking pans — and .
is the perfect tool to use to frost this cake.
Add some colorful sprinkles to this Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting if you want to make kids really happy.
Baking Tips!
Room temperature ingredients: Make sure eggs and milk are at room temperature for better mixing and lift.
Don’t overbake: Yellow cake dries out quickly if left in the oven too long. Begin checking a few minutes early.
Rotate pans: If baking multiple layers, rotate them halfway through to ensure even baking.
Level your layers: Use a serrated knife to trim domed tops if stacking layers—your frosting will look smoother.
Popular Cake Recipes:
I love making homemade cakes and have shared so many recipes through the years on Modern Honey. Here are some of the most popular cake recipes…
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Yellow Birthday Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting
Equipment
- 8 inch round cake pan
- 9 inch round cake pans
- kitchenaid mixer
- measuring cups and spoons
- spatula set
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 (DRY) instant
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups Butter softened
- 1 cup Cocoa Powder
- 5 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1/3 cup Heavy Cream (or 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.
Happy Baking, my friends! xo
Hello! I have a question about the pudding part. Are you adding the powder or do you actually make the pudding and mix it in?
Hi!
I plan on asking this for my sons 1st birthday and have some questions. Can I substitute with coconut oil? Would this taste good with a white buttercream frosting? If so, do you have a vanilla buttercream frosting recipe?! I want to put some sprinkles on it so it’s super visible. Thanks so much!
I recently made your chocolate cake for my husband and we absolutely loved it!
Hi Sheska! Happy happy Birthday to your son! First birthdays are so much fun. I love to use coconut oil in my cakes. I make my chocolate cake with coconut oil all of the time. Just make sure it is liquified when measuring it so you get an accurate amount. It would absolutely taste great with a white chocolate buttercream. I have a cream cheese frosting listed on my website but not a white chocolate buttercream. I usually do 1 cup of butter, 4 cups of powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream or Whole Milk, and 1-2 teaspoons Vanilla. I hope that helps! 🙂 — Melissa
How do you measure your flour? Seems everyone is doing it a different way nowadays.
Thank you
Hi Anne! That is a great question. I usually measure it and then do a light tap on it with a knife. I don’t smash it down at all but make sure it is even. I hope that helps! — Melissa 🙂
I made this cake for my partner’s birthday, and she and her whole family loved it! I actually forgot to add the oil, but the cake turned out so moist and light regardless. My partner’s grandmother who doesn’t particularly like cake even praised it. Thanks for this great recipe!!
Thanks so much, Melissa! I am so happy that your partner’s family loved the cake…especially Grandma. Grandma’s are the best critics. Thank you for trying out my recipe. 🙂 — Melissa
Made this cake for a friend’s birthday today and it was a hit! So moist with a nice texture and flavor. I’ve been looking for a standby vanilla cake recipe…this is definitely it! I made 2 9inch rounds and it took a little over 25 minutes.
Thank you, Tanya, for taking the time to write such a kind comment. I appreciate it! Also, you are Friend of the Year for making your friend a homemade birthday cake. I love that! 🙂 — Melissa
I made this cake for my daughter’s birthday and it was wonderful. I’ve been searching for a good yellow cake recipe and this is a great one! The search is over. I’ll be using this one from now on. My whole family loved it. Thank you for a great recipe!
Hi Laura! Thank you for such a kind comment. It made my day! Thank you for trying it out for your daughter’s birthday and I love to hear that it turned out so well. Have a great day! – Melissa
Good Morning Melissa. I tried your recipe and it turned out really great. But I wanted to know when you say 1 1/2 times the recipe, is that just for the dry ingredients or for everything, i.e. oil, eggs, buttermilk/milk, etc. I hope you’re able to help and once again thanks for the recipe.
Hi Sonia! So that means that you 1 1/2 times ALL of the ingredients. I hope that helps! Thanks so much for trying out the recipe. I appreciate it!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ve search many, manu recipes this weekend for the best moist yellow cake recipe and your stood out from some reason. My family absolutely loved it! When my mom gave me the “OK” I knew I had arrived, LOL. She’s the “from scratch “ Baker in our family. Again, thank you sharing this. I’m looking forward to making more of your recipes. Where can I find them?? God bless????
Hi Tanya! Yay! I love to hear that your mama gave the OK. That is always a big deal. So happy that you and your family loved it. Thank you for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it!
Hi I would like to try this cake but I want it to be triple layer. Would this recipe be enough for 3 9in pans?
Hi Ernelle! Yes, you can use three 9-inch pans. The cake layers will be thin but perfect for frosting. I hope that helps!
Hi there! I am excited to try this recipe for my boyfriend’s birthday coming up! Do you think I could substitute brown sugar or coconut sugar in place of the white sugar in the cake batter? Also, could half & half be used in place of the whole milk/buttermilk in the cake batter? Thanks a bunch!
Back again after making the recipe with some modifications! I used half brown sugar and half coconut sugar in place of all the white sugar in the cake recipe. I omitted the vanilla pudding mix and used coconut oil and whole milk, which made 20 cupcakes (345 F for 16 minutes). They were absolutely divine and everyone raved about the cupcakes. I achieved a lovely brown sugar vanilla flavor by using the different sugars.
Hi Lauren! I am so happy to hear that it turned out great. I love that you improvised and made it your own. That is awesome and impressive!