A high altitude yellow sheet cake that’s moist and fluffy, frosted with chocolate fudge frosting and sprinkled with chocolate chips. This classic yellow birthday cake is a delicious and easy cake to make for any special occasion!
You might also love these high altitude recipes for vanilla sheet cake, chocolate sheet cake and carrot cake sheet cake.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Classic Birthday Cake Flavors. When I started developing this yellow sheet cake recipe, I began with my popular yellow butter birthday layer cake. I knew the recipes would be pretty similar, but while my original recipe uses the standard creaming method to make the cake batter, I wanted today’s recipe to be one that didn’t require the use of a mixer. Instead of creaming together softened butter with sugar first, this recipe uses melted butter so it requires nothing more than just whisking together wet and dry ingredients until combined. And after a few test bakes and a few ingredient adjustments, the cake turned out so perfectly soft, fluffy and moist, with a buttery vanilla flavor that’s just fantastic with the chocolate icing.
Easy to Decorate. I love a sheet cake for its ease and simplicity. With no layers to fuss with stacking and frosting, you can just swirl on some icing and scatter it with chocolate chips or sprinkles for an easy but pretty finish.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Cake
- Cake Flour. Gives the cake strength and structure. The lower protein content of cake flour makes a fluffier, more tender cake.
- Granulated Sugar. Adds sweetness and moisture.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent, making the cake rise as it bakes.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Butter. Adds fat, richness and moisture for a tender, flavorful cake.
- Eggs. The eggs contain protein and fat, and they add structure to your cake.
- Vanilla. Vanilla extract flavors the cake, complementing the flavor of the butter.
- Whole Milk + Sour Cream. Adds fat and moisture.
The chocolate fudge icing or frosting is different from my chocolate buttercream. Instead of using cocoa powder, it uses melted chocolate chips. The finished frosting is a bit sweeter than my standard buttercream recipes, with a creamy, fudge-like consistency under the crusted surface. It’s the type of chocolate icing that you might find on Texas sheet cakes and Denver sheet cakes.
Frosting
- Whole Milk. Adds moisture to thin the frosting.
- Butter. You can use either unsalted or salted butter. This will add fat and richness, and keep the frosting from setting up too firm.
- Chocolate Chips. Use semi sweet or dark chocolate chips so that the frosting isn’t too sweet.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the frosting.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray an 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick baking spray, or line with parchment paper. To bake this cake in a 9×13 pan, double the recipe.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, then whisk until evenly distributed.
- Add the melted butter, eggs, vanilla, milk and sour cream, and whisk the batter until smooth and combined, about 10-15 seconds.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for about 30-32 minutes, until the top springs back when gently touched, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the cake completely before frosting.
Frosting
- Heat the milk and butter in a saucepan, or in the microwave, until the butter is melted and the mixture is hot.
- Measure the chocolate chips into a bowl, and pour the hot milk/butter over the chocolate chips. Stir until smooth and melted. If the chocolate seizes up a little and won’t smooth out, microwave the mixture (in a microwavable bowl) in 30 second increments at 50% power until it’s mostly smooth.
- Stir in the powdered sugar. The frosting may look sort of grainy at this point.
- Now use an electric mixer to beat the frosting for several minutes to smooth it out. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the frosting for 10-15 minutes to cool it down, then beat it again for several more minutes. The frosting will get thicker and more fudge-like, but it will not be fluffy like buttercream.
- Spread the frosting over the cooled cake. The surface of the frosting will crust over quickly, so sprinkle it with chocolate chips or sprinkles before it crusts over.
Frosting Variations
Chocolate Ganache. For a rich, creamy chocolate frosting that’s not very sweet, I absolutely love the ganache icing on this chocolate sheet cake. Ganache is made with just two ingredients, cream and chocolate. It’s dark, chocolatey, and simply wonderful paired with the yellow sheet cake.
Chocolate Buttercream. Another favorite frosting of mine is the chocolate buttercream on this chocolate layer cake. It’s light, fluffy, pipeable, and perfectly chocolatey, made with Dutch-processed cocoa powder.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use all purpose flour instead of cake flour?
No, all purpose flour will make this cake too dense and dry, and you may not be happy with the results. Please use the cake flour, unless you’re willing to experiment with using a little less all purpose flour.
Can I use any type of chocolate chips in the icing?
You can use dark or semi sweet chocolate chips, but milk chocolate chips will make the icing too sweet.
How can I adjust this recipe for a 9×13 inch cake?
You should double the recipe for a 9×13 inch pan. It should take about 30-35 minutes to bake.
You Might Also Like
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High Altitude Yellow Birthday Sheet Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ¾ cups cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup whole milk
- â…“ cup full fat sour cream
Frosting
- ¼ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray an 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick baking spray, or line with parchment paper.To bake this cake in a 9×13 pan, double the recipe.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, then whisk until evenly distributed.
- Add the melted butter, eggs, vanilla, milk and sour cream, and whisk the batter until smooth and combined, about 10-15 seconds.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for about 30-32 minutes, until the top springs back when gently touched, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the cake completely before frosting.
Frosting
- Heat the milk and butter in a saucepan, or in the microwave, until the butter is melted and the mixture is hot.
- Measure the chocolate chips into a bowl, and pour the hot milk/butter over the chocolate chips. Stir until smooth and melted. If the chocolate seizes up a little and won't smooth out, microwave the mixture (in a microwavable bowl) in 30 second increments at 50% power until it's mostly smooth.
- Stir in the powdered sugar. The frosting may look sort of grainy at this point.
- Now use an electric mixer to beat the frosting for several minutes to smooth it out. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the frosting for 10-15 minutes to cool it down, then beat it again for several more minutes. The frosting will get thicker and more fudge-like, but it will not be fluffy like buttercream.
- Spread the frosting over the cooled cake. The surface of the frosting will crust over quickly, so sprinkle it with chocolate chips or sprinkles before it crusts over.
Do you think this cake recipe would work in cupcake form?
I haven’t tried it, so let me know if it works out!
Denver suburb. Made the yellow cake as cupcakes this weekend – turned out great! I’d say this makes 14-15 cupcakes and I baked for ~22 minutes. Set up nicely and didn’t fall as they cooled. Cupcakes had a good, light texture – not dense and not dry and crumbly. Maybe would have liked a little more butter flavor.
Used a different frosting, so no comment on that!
Hi Heather,
In this recipe, you said to double it for a 9 by 13 pan but you don’t have the baking time listed. I doubled it yesterday and my bake time was around 40 mins…but my altitude is different than yours. Just thought it would be quite nice to add a baking time if you can. Thanks for the fabulous recipe!
Can I use buttermilk instead of whole milk?
Buttermilk is not always interchangeable with milk, due to the different level of acidity, which can affect the rise and texture of the cake.