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Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

By: Author Mary-Lou

Posted on  - Last updated:

Indulge in this simple, homemade, and delicious chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.

This basic from-scratch two-layer chocolate cake is perfectly paired with chocolate cream cheese frosting. A fantastic cake for any celebration or anniversary!

Chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting topped with flakey chocolate.
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I realized that I don't have a simple chocolate layer cake on the site, so I decided that I needed to perfect my recipe. This recipe is based on my chocolate cupcakes and chocolate tray bake recipes.

And because I already have a kick-ass buttercream frosting recipe, I knew I needed to really work on perfecting my cream cheese frosting. Which I have done and am debuting on this recipe.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

  • This foolproof chocolate cake recipe makes two 8-inch layers that are about 3.5cm tall (after trimming the slight dome), which is, in my opinion, the perfect size for a general family celebration cake.
  • This recipe can also be used to make slightly thinner two 9-inch layers.
  • The chocolate cream cheese frosting is a delicious filling and topping to this cake.
  • A chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting is a fantastic combination of flavors.

Ingredients

Here are some notes on the ingredients used in this recipe. Please see the recipe card for quantities.

Chocolate layer cake ingredients.
Cream cheese frosting ingredients.

Butter adds flavor, softness, and moisture and sometimes aids in the leavening of baked goods. I use New Zealand butter in my recipes, which has approximately 82% butterfat and can be very yellow (similar to European or Irish butter). Butter cannot be substituted with butter or margarine spreads, but it can be substituted with baking margarine.

Milk - whole or full cream milk is what I usually use when baking. However, these can be substituted with lower-fat varieties. The best plant-based milk to use if needed is soy milk.

Vanilla extract enhances the flavors of the other ingredients in the recipe and is a cornerstone ingredient in baked goods and desserts containing eggs.

Cocoa powder adds that delicious chocolate flavor. I recommend using a Dutch-processed cocoa powder for general homemaking. I use Cadbury Bournville cocoa powder.

Eggs - I use a New Zealand size 6 egg, which is around the same size as Australian and South African Large Eggs, but closer to a US/Europe Medium sized egg.

White sugar (granulated or caster sugar) adds sweetness without really impacting additional flavors in baked goods. Sugar doesn't only add sweetness, it adds moisture, slows down gluten formation, enhances other flavors, and acts as a leavening agent in this recipe. I would not decrease the sugar content in the actual cake.

If you really want to decrease the sugar then I would decrease it by no more than ¼ cup (50 grams).

Salt is a crucial ingredient in all baked goods. I use table salt in all my recipes. One teaspoon of table salt equals 1.5 teaspoons of Morton Kosher Salt equals 2 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal.

Make sure your baking powder is fresh (especially if you haven't bought some in a while) by placing a ½ teaspoon into a cup or bowl. Pour about a ¼ cup of boiling water over the baking powder. If it foams and bubbles it is still fresh.

Plain flour (all-purpose flour/standard grade flour) refers to flour that has a protein content of approximately 9.5-12%.

Plain/all-purpose/standard grade flour can be substituted on a 1-to-1 basis for recipes that have ½ to 1 teaspoon of baking powder per 125 grams/1 cup of flour. For this recipe, a direct substitution should work fine. Self-raising/rising flours may already contain salt so this may need to be omitted from the recipe as well.

Cream cheese - I always use Philidelphia cream cheese in the block form for all baking and frosting requirements.

Icing sugar (powdered or confectioner's sugar) for the cream cheese icing.

Strawberry jam for a delicious filling to the center of this two-layer chocolate cake. This is an optional extra. Any fruit jam or even Nutella would be great for a plain chocolate cake.

Slice of chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting topped with flakey chocolate.

Room Temperature Ingredients

Use room-temperature ingredients! Using room temperature ingredients ensures that ingredients in the batter or dough will incorporate easier. Take note that room temperature refers to around 20°C/68F.

  • To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, place them into warm water for about 10 to 15 minutes.
  • To bring butter to room temperature quickly, cut the butter into cubes and zap it in the microwave at 20% power in 10-second intervals. Or place the cubes in a bowl over warm water (such as with a double boiler) over low heat for 1 minute!
  • Milk, buttermilk, and cream can be brought to room temperature by zapping in the microwave at 20% power in 10-second intervals. Or on low heat for a minute or two swirling every 10-15 seconds.
  • If the butter is too warm/soft for baking - pop it into the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Weighing & Measuring Ingredients

Weighing ingredients with a kitchen scale is more accurate than using measuring cups. All my recipes are developed and tested using grams only.

However, I have activated the metric-to-cup conversions. Simply click on "cups" or "metric" for your preferred measurements. For these conversions, cups are equal to 240 millilitres/8 fluid ounces, tablespoons are 15 milliliters and teaspoons are 5mL.

Variations

For a chocolate layer cake with delicious whipped buttercream frosting - make this cake as per the instructions and use my buttercream frosting.

If you prefer a vanilla cream cheese frosting, simply skip the addition of cocoa powder to the frosting.

Up the flavor by adding 4-5 tablespoon of your favorite fruit jam or Nutella in between the two layers.

Reduced-Sugar Variation

Skip the filling. And cut back on the amount of frosting.

If cutting down to 2 cups of frosting (½ the recipe), place about ¾ cup in the middle, and the rest on the top and sides.

If you want to cut back the sugar in the actual cake itself, I would not cut it down by more than ¼ cup (50 grams) of sugar.

Two-Layer Chocolate Cake Instructions

Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 180°C/355°F/gas mark 4. Grease and line two 8 or 9-inch round cake pans.

Tip - If you have dark cake pans, either use bake-even strips or wrap the sides of the pan with a few strips of foil. This will help the cake to rise up the sides of the pan for even layers.

Tip - place the rack in the middle of the oven.

Step 2 - Melt the butter and milk together, either in the microwave or on the stovetop on low heat.

Step 3 - Add the vanilla and coffee to the butter/milk mixture and stir through until most of the coffee is dissolved. Set aside.

Butter, milk, coffee mixture.

Step 4 - In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar either with an electric hand mixer or with a stand mixer for 3- 5 minutes. The egg mixture will lighten to a pale yellow and almost triple in volume when done.

Step 5 - With the beaters running, slowly add the butter/milk mixture to the eggs.

Chocolate cake batter in a large mixing bowl.

Step 6 - Sieve the cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and half of the flour over the egg mixture. Mix until just combined. Then sieve over the rest of the flour and mix until just combined.

Chocolate cake batter divided between two cake pans.

Step 7 - Divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans. Approximately 640-650 grams of batter per pan.

Tip - I use a cake pan with a 3-inch tall side, so I like also to cover the cake pan with foil to slow down the setting of the top of the cake for flatter cake levels. After 25/30 minutes remove the foil and bake until done.

Step 8 - Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean from the center. Test 9-inch cakes at the 25-minute mark. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 5 to 15 minutes before turning them out onto a wired cooling rack to cool completely.

Tip - I run a plastic knife (no scratched pans here) around the sides of the pan to make sure the cakes release easily.

Step 10 - When they are completely cool, wrap them in plastic wrap and store them in the fridge or freezer.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Instructions Method

Step 1 - Bring the butter and cream cheese to room temperature. If your bowls are cold, run the outside of the bowls under some warm water and dry off before using.

Step 2 - Place the butter, vanilla, and salt into a large mixing bowl and start beating with a whisk attachment on a low to medium speed for 2-3 minutes. Then increase the speed to high and beat for 2-5 minutes, scraping down the bowl in regular intervals to make sure all the butter is being beaten. The butter will become soft, fluffy, have lightened in color.

Step 3 - Sieve the icing sugar over the butter, add the salt, use the paddle attachment, and beat the icing sugar into the butter. The mixture will look fairly crumbly.

Step 4 - Add in the soft room temperature cream cheese and beat on low/medium speed with a paddle attachment until combined. The mixture will become thick. Start adding the cream/milk to thin out the frosting as needed (especially if using a hand mixer).

Step 5 - Once the cream cheese is mixed in, sieve the cocoa powder over the frosting and mix in until combined.