There’s nothing more classic than a simple yellow cake with a rich fudge frosting.

As a child, yellow cake with fudge frosting was my favorite thing to bake. Every opportunity I had, I would bake this simple, buttery cake. Whether it was with the help of my mother or my Easy Bake Oven, I felt compelled to make this cake for anyone who was willing to taste it.

However, my concoctions were always made using the classic Duncan Hines cake mix, and as an adult, I always wanted to make a yellow cake from scratch. The only problem was that I didn’t have a recipe, or at least that’s what I thought. Before I started this lovely blog, I thumbed through countless family recipes, and there in my stack of inherited recipes, there it was – a recipe for yellow cake. Not just any yellow cake either, but my Grammy’s recipe for yellow cake. I never even knew that my Grammy had a recipe for yellow cake because I never saw her make it nor did I ever make it with her, which really saddened me since it was my favorite childhood cake. I definitely feel like I missed out on the opportunity to foster some wonderful memories.

But instead of being depressed by the reality of it all, I decided to resurrect my Grammy’s cake recipe and make it myself. The original recipe called for shortening as well as no icing; yes, it was a plain cake. So I decided to suit it towards my personal taste and swapped butter for shortening, as well as including my recipe for a delicious fudge frosting. In a way, it’s like I’ve made the cake with my Grammy after all.

1-2-3-4 Yellow Cake

1 cup unsalted butter

2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 ½ tsp vanilla 

2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp kosher salt

1 cup whole milk

Fudge Frosting

4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

⅓ cup unsalted butter

½ cup whole milk

¼ tsp salt

4 ½ cups powdered sugar

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven 350°F. Grease two 9” round cake pans with butter and line the bottoms with a round of parchment.

In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat until the butter becomes light and fluffy. Add the eggs into the butter mixture one at a time, making sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next one. Beat in the vanilla after all the eggs are all incorporated.

In a separate bowl, add your dry ingredients and mix together. 

Add your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients a quarter cup at a time, alternating with the milk only adding in a quarter cup at a time as well. Go back and forth adding the dry ingredients and milk until it’s all added into the butter mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold the cake batter to ensure that all the flour has been incorporated into the batter

Add your cake batter to your prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely in the pans on a wire rack.

While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting.  

Fudge Frosting

Combine the chopped chocolate, butter, milk, and salt in a small saucepan over low heat.

Stir frequently until chocolate and butter are completely melted and the chocolate mixture is smooth.

Remove chocolate mixture from the heat and pour into a large mixing bowl. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and whisk until the icing becomes glossy and smooth.

Allow the frosting to cool, stirring occasionally, until it is thick enough to spread over your cake. 

Frost your cake to your liking and top with rainbow sprinkles if desired. 

*Notes:

If you don’t want to make a layer cake, that’s absolutely fine. Just use a 9x13” rectangle cake pan instead. The cake bakes for the same amount of time and nothing else needs to be changed. It’s just a simpler way to make this delicious cake. 

It’s important to let your fudge frosting cool before you start to icing your cake. If it’s too warm it will run off the cake and be nearly impossible to make a layer cake. Instead of having a cute homemade layer cake you will have a delicious mess instead. Trust me as a mediocre cake builder, your patience will be rewarded.