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This One Bowl Chocolate Cake is so ridiculously moist, filled with the perfect amount of chocolate flavor and topped with the best fudge frosting. It’s easy to make from scratch and it can feed a crowd! Top it with Homemade Sprinkles and serve with Baked Ziti for Two or Lasagna for Two for the best dinner!
I love sheet cakes because they’re so simple. No cake layers, no fancy decorating needed, or a bunch of steps to follow. All sheet cakes are amazing but particularly this Mini Chocolate Sheet Cake and this Strawberry Sheet Cake with Rhubarb Frosting. And if you have a little bit more time to bake this Ombre Chocolate Cake with Mexican Chocolate Frosting is DIVINE!
Ingredients You’ll Need for One Bowl Chocolate Cake
- Dry ingredients – Regular all-purpose flour, baking powder, and baking soda will give this chocolate cake the perfect amount of lift and structure.
- Chocolate – Unsweetened cocoa powder adds a rich chocolate flavor to the cake. Dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips are melted and used to make the fudgy chocolate frosting.
- Instant espresso – This secret ingredient is the key to any good chocolate cake recipe because it brings out the flavor of the chocolate so much more!
- Buttermilk – Interacts with the baking soda giving the cake added height and a tender crumb.
For the rest of the ingredients, please refer to the recipe index card below!
How To Make This One Bowl Chocolate Cake
- Mix the dry ingredients together. In a stand mixer, combine all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, instant espresso (this will bring out the flavor of the chocolate), baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Add the wet ingredients. In this cake batter we have eggs, buttermilk, warm water, olive oil and vanilla.
- Mix it all together. It will be a thinner batter than maybe you’re used to—it’s a-ok!
- Pour it in the 9×13-inch baking pan. And then bake it until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Then allow it to cool completely inverted on a wire rack.
How To Make Fudge Frosting for One Bowl Chocolate Sheet Cake!
- Add the butter and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand-up mixer. If you don’t have a  stand-up mixer, you can use an electric hand mixer.
- Pour in the melted chocolate, sour cream/buttermilk or heavy cream and vanilla. Beat it all together until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
- When the cake is cooled, you can add all of the frosting to the top of the cake and spread it around, creating pretty swoops. Top with sprinkles if you want!
Tips and Tricks
- Use instant coffee! You can’t taste it in the final cake but it’s used to make the chocolate taste more chocolatey.
- Want to make it ahead of time? Cake: Keep it in the fridge wrapped tightly in plastic wrap for up to 3 days. To freeze: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 3 months. Frosting: Keep it in the fridge, in an airtight container, for up to 3 days. To freeze: store in a freezer-safe container or bag, for up to 3 months.
- Invert the cake while it cools. This ensures that your cake stays light and fluffy. Oftentimes the cake will cave in on itself as it cools resulting in a denser cake, so inverting helps to prevent that!
- If you don’t own a sheet cake pan, it’s worth the investment. This is my favorite one.
Recipe FAQs
Sheet cakes are made in a sheet pan! They are usually a lot simpler to make than a regular cake which involves using a cake pan and cutting the cake into multiple layers. For the sheet cake you just frost the top then slice it!
If you don’t have buttermilk just simply add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to the measuring cup then pour in enough milk to make a full cup. Give it a stir then allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes then proceed with the recipe!
More Chocolate Recipes
If you tried this One Bowl Chocolate Cake Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
One Bowl Chocolate Cake
Equipment
- 1 9×13-inch cake pan
- 1 Off-set spatula
- 1 Large stainless steel bowls
- 1 Silicon spatula
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Fudge-y Chocolate Frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 6 ounces dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
- 2 tablespoons sour cream or buttermilk or cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
To Make the Cake:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line a 9×13-inch rectangular cake pan with parchment paper.
- In a the bowl of a stand-up mixer, with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer), add the flour, sugar, powder, instant espresso, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix, on low speed, until combined.
- Crack in the eggs, pour in the buttermilk, water, olive oil and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. The batter will be thin—that’s ok!
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 25 to 35 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the cake pan for about 5 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack and cool until room temperature before frosting.
To Make the Frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand-up mixer, with the paddle attachment, add the butter and powdered sugar; beat until smooth and fluffy, about a minutes. Pour in the chocolate, sour cream and vanilla extract. Beat again until smooth, about 1 minute.
To Frost the Cake:
- Scoop the frosting onto the top of the cake and make a bunch of swoops, decorating the top how you like. Sprinkle with a handful of sprinkles.
- Cut and serve. If you want nice, neat slice, transfer to the fridge to chill for about 15 minutes and then slice and serve.
- This cake can be wrapped with plastic wrap and kept for up to 4 days at room temperature or in the fridge.
Notes
Tips and Tricks
- Use instant coffee! You can’t taste it in the final cake but it’s used to make the chocolate taste more chocolatey.
- Want to make it ahead of time? Cake: Keep it in the fridge wrapped tightly in plastic wrap for up to 3 days. To freeze: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 3 months. Frosting: Keep it in the fridge, in an airtight container, for up to 3 days. To freeze: store in a freezer-safe container or bag, for up to 3 months.Â
- Invert the cake while it cools. This ensures that your cake stays light and fluffy. Oftentimes the cake will cave in on itself as it cools resulting in a denser cake, so inverting helps to prevent that!
- If you don’t own a sheet cake pan, it’s worth the investment. This is my favorite one.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just made this for a friend’s birthday and it was a HIT! The cake is so moist and chocolaty, and the icing isn’t too sweet. I ended up cutting the icing recipe in half because that’s how much powdered sugar I had, and it was plenty of icing to cover the whole cake with a good layer. Thank you!
Do you have to invert the cake, or can you leave it in the 13×9 to cool, and then frost it in the same pan?
I just made this, it is so delectable. I love it so much, this is gonna be my go to chocolate cake anytime.
YAY! love hearing this.
Recipe looks great! One question: can I use 8 inch rounds instead of the sheet pan? Thank you!
Yes absolutely. They’ll probably bake in 30 minutes. And you’ll need two 8-inch rounds. 🙂
Looks so good I cannot wait to try it! I found you through your book The Year of Cozy and I love it so much!!
Hi there! just made this and it was PERFECTION. Awesome recipe! Wondering if you have ever made these as cupcakes? how long would you bake them for? or have you used any other type of pan? just wondering about switching it up in the future if I want something other than the sheet pan shape. Thanks!
Can these be made as cupcakes? If so, how long should they bake for? Thanks!
What kind of cocoa powder did you use? Natural or Dutch?? Thanks!
Natural!
I have made this three times now and it’s ah-maze-ing! I prefer it a tad under baked because it tastes fudgey and I halve the icing. This is a crowd pleaser and my new go-to chocolate cake recipe
Ahh yes, this one is so good underbaked. It really is one of the few cakes I’ve found that can be overbaked without being SUPER dry. I’m so glad it worked out for you!
Amazing, I love chocolate cake. I tried it. Its delicious. Your recipes are superb. Thanks for sharing.
yay! thank you!
I wish I could post a photo of the cake I made using this exact recipe. The only modification I made was to bake it in 3 – 8″ round pans. It made a beautiful triple layer cake. There was plenty of icing to generously cover between the layers and the outside. I decorated it with chocolate covered lady finger cookies and coloured sprinkles. It was perfect and moist and very chocolatey without being sickeningly so. It was my son’s 18th birthday cake and everyone loved, loved, loved it! This will be one of our family favourites of all time. Thank you!
Hi Rosa, That sounds so amazing!! I’m so happy it worked out for you! YAY!! Happy Birthday to your son! xoxo