High Altitude Chocolate Sour Cream Sheet Cake
The easiest and best high altitude recipe for chocolate sheet cake, moist with sour cream, and frosted with creamy dark chocolate ganache.
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
- 9x13 Baking Dish
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp instant espresso powder or instant coffee
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup full fat sour cream, room temperature
- 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Frosting
- 8 oz semi sweet or dark chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)
- 8 oz heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.Prep a 9x13 inch baking pan by spraying it with non-stick baking spray if you plan on serving the cake from the pan. Or, if you plan on turning the cake out of the pan onto a serving platter, you'll need to line it with a sheet of parchment baking paper, to ensure the cake comes out cleanly.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, milk, oil and vanilla, until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk the batter just until combined.
- Pour the batter into the pan. Bake the cake for about 38-42 minutes, until the center springs back when lightly touched, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and let cool for about an hour (or cool completely to room temperature) before frosting with the ganache.If turning the cake out onto a serving platter, place the platter on top of the pan, and carefully flip the platter and pan over, letting the cake fall out onto the platter. Peel the parchment paper off the cake. Keep the cake covered with a towel until you're ready to frost the cake.Note: It's fine to spread ganache onto a cake that's still warm. If you're frosting your cake with buttercream, however, your cake must be completely cooled first.
Ganache
- While the cake is cooling, you can start on the ganache. Finely chop the chocolate (no bigger than 1/4 inch pieces), and scrape the chocolate into a bowl.
- In a saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat, just until hot and beginning to simmer around the edges.
- Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, let sit for 3 minutes, then stir with a spatula until it smooths out into a creamy ganache.
- Note: You can also make the ganache over a double boiler. Simply combine both the chocolate and cream in a heat proof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Let the cream warm up and the chocolate melt, stirring with a spatula until smooth and creamy.
- Let the ganache cool at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until it's thickened a little.
- Spread the ganache onto the cake. You can serve the cake warm, or you can wait several hours for it to cool completely and the ganache to set. Cut into 15 squares, by cutting the cake into thirds vertically and fifths horizontally.
- If you like, decorate the top of the cake with mini chocolate chips, chopped chocolate, or sprinkles.
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