Best Moist Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe

The best thing about sheet cakes is that they are an effortless way to make the most decadent cakes. This is the best moist chocolate sheet cake you will ever make. It’s dark, light, rich and moist make it perfect to eat on it own or decorated with frosting for a celebration cake. Simple recipe with minimal effort.

The BEST Moist Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe

This is one of my most popular chocolate sheet cake recipes so far. I have been making it for years; much before I became a cake decorator. The best part about this recipes is that it’s simple, easy, effortless and forgiving recipe. Which means that you don’t have to be so precise and perfect with your measurements. If you use a little less water, or your flour measurement is off by a few tablespoons – that’s OK. The cake will be a little denser, but still delicious.  So it’s a great recipe for those of you just starting out as bakers. Also, it’s ideal for seasoned bakers like me that just want a quick recipe.

The ingredients look like a lot but they aren’t complicated. In recent years as a professional cake decorator, I have made more big sheet cakes than small cakes. And I know that most people want to use sheet cakes as birthday cakes. So, I’m giving you the measurements for a 13 x 9 inch sheet cake.
But as you can see in the images, my cake is not big. I baked three such cakes out of one recipe so I could send the other two as a gift to a couple of friends. Also, it looked more aesthetic to take this picture than just a big sheet cake.

The BEST Moist Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe

Using this Sheet Cake

As I said this is a light sheet cake which means it does not work for your novelty cake. If you need a cake for carving use my recipe Chocolate Cake perfect for carving – the best cake for sculpting.  The less you do with this cake the better. You can frost it with buttercream and even cover it with fondant but do not try carving it as it can be messy.

• Today I simply added melted chocolate chips as frosting but there is so much more you can do. (my kids favorite)
• If you like a lightly frosted chocolate cake – top it with whipped cream (my favorite of all)
• A rich frosting would be a good Swiss Meringue Buttercream (absolute heaven)
• And an indulgent chocolate heaven would be to go with rich dark Chocolate Ganache – (only recommended for chocolate lovers)

A full recipe makes this size of a sheet cake. This is the same recipe used for this birthday cake.  It’s frosted with my Velvet American Buttercream and covered in my Homemade Sugar Paste fondant recipe. I have shared with this the progress pictures on how I hand painted the image on the cake in this tutorial. Hand Painted Bakugan Cake 

Best Moist Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe 

Recipe  – The BEST Moist Chocolate Sheet Cake

Tools

• Mixer – Hand Mixeror Kitchen-Aid or K-mixwhich ever works for you.
• Bowls
• Whisk
• Spatula
• Cake Pans
• Parchment Paper
• Baking Tray
• Cooling Rack

The BEST Moist Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe

Ingredients

This makes a 13 x 9 sheet cake but can be halved successfully.

Dry Ingredients

• All-purpose flour  – 500 grams
• Cocoa powder – 85 grams (3/4 cup)
• Baking powder  – 1 tsp
• Baking soda – 2 tsp
• Salt – 1 tsp

Wet Ingredients

• Dark brown sugar – 300 grams (1 1/2 cup)
• White granulated sugar – 300 grams (1 1/2 cup)
• Eggs – 4 large
• Vegetable oil – 120 ml (1 cup)
• Melted unsalted butter – 228 grams (1 cup)
• Yogurt – 250 ml  (1 cup)
• Boiling water – 170 ml (3/4 cup)
• Milk – 120 ml
• Coffee – 2 tsp
• Vanilla – 2 tsp

Frosting

• Semi-sweet chocolate chips – 270 grams (1 1/2 cup)

Method

Prepare

• Preheat the oven to 170 C/340 F.
• Grease and line one 13 x 19 inch sheet pan of two 8 x 10 inch rectangular pans.
• Have all your ingredients ready at room temperature.
• Add the boiling water into the coffee and cocoa powder – set aside to cool.
• Combine the yogurt and the mix – use to whisk to ensure no lumps.

Mix dry Ingredients

• Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Mix wet Ingredients

• In another bowl – add melted butter and oil.
• Add both the sugars.
• Using a whisk whip until the sugars are almost melted.
• Add eggs one at a time until each is well combined.
• Next, add the cooled cocoa mixture into the sugar mixture – mix well.
• Followed by the yogurt/milk mixture – stir well.
• Lastly, add the vanilla.

Combine the Wet and Dry Ingredients

• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
• Use a whisk to ensure no lumps or dry flour remains behind.
• This is a very liquid batter and that’s normal.

Bake

• Pour into your baking pan and bake in the preheated oven until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
• A single 13 x 11 sheet pan will take about 30 to 40 minutes.
• Two small rectangular pans will take 20 to 30 minutes each.

Chocolate Topping

• As soon as you take the hot cake out of the oven.
• Sprinkle the chocolate chips on the cake surface and cover with a foil for ten minutes to cool.
• The heat in the chocolate will melt the chocolate chips.
• After 10 minutes remove foil.
• Use a spatula to smear the melted chocolate.
• Decorate when completely cold.

Don’t forget to save this tutorial on Pinterest for later.
You can find a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest

BEST Moist Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe

Best Moist Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe

The best thing about sheet cakes is that they are an effortless way to make the most decadent cakes. This is the best moist chocolate sheet cake you will ever make. It's dark, light, rich and moist make it perfect to eat on it own or decorated with frosting for a celebration cake. Simple recipe with minimal effort.

5 from 12 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Adjust Servings Here: 40 servings

Calories: 351kcal

Author: Veena Azmanov

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 40 mins

Total Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 500 grams All purpose flour
• 85 grams Cocoa powder
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 2 tsp Baking soda
• 1 tsp Salt

Wet Ingredients

• 300 grams Dark brown sugar
• 300 grams White granulated sugar
• 4 Eggs large
• 120 ml Vegetable oil
• 228 grams Melted unsalted butter
• 250 ml Yogurt
• 170 ml Boiling Water
• 120 ml Milk
• 2 tsp Coffee
• 2 tsp Vanilla

Frosting

• 270 grams Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Metric - US customary

Instructions

Prepare

• Preheat the oven to 170 C/340 F.
• Grease and line one 13 x 19 inch sheet pan of two 8 x 10 inch rectangular pans.
• Have all your ingredients ready at room temperature.
• Add the boiling water into the coffee and Cocoa powder - set aside to cool.
• Combine the yogurt and the mix - use to whisk to ensure no lumps. 

Mix Dry Ingredients

• Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Mix Wet Ingredients

• In another bowl - add melted butter and oil.
• Add both the sugars. 
• Using a whisk whip until the sugars.. 
• Add eggs one at a time until each is well combined.
• Next, add the cooled cocoa mixture into the sugar mixture - mix well.
• Followed by the yogurt/milk mixture - stir well.
• Lastly, add the vanilla.

Combine the Wet and Dry Ingredients

• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. 
• Use a whisk to ensure no lumps or dry flour remains behind.
• This is a very liquid batter and that's normal. 

Bake

• Pour into your baking pan and bake in the preheated oven until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
• A single 13 x 11 sheet pan will take about 30 to 40 minutes.
• Two small rectangular pans will take 20 to 30 minutes each.

Chocolate Topping

• As soon as you take the hot cake out of the oven.
• Sprinkle the chocolate chips on the cake surface and cover with a foil for ten minutes to cool.
• The heat in the chocolate will melt the chocolate chips.
• After 10 minutes remove foil.
• Use a spatula to smear the melted chocolate.
• Decorate when completely cold.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 100g | Calories: 351kcal | Carbohydrates: 43.6g | Protein: 5.2g | Fat: 18.5g | Saturated Fat: 12.6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5.9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 38mg | Sodium: 208mg | Potassium: 0mg | Fiber: 2.8g | Sugar: 25.3g | Vitamin A: 0% | Vitamin C: 0% | Calcium: 0% | Iron: 0%

The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you

Tried this recipe?Mention @veenaazmanov or tag #veenaazmanov!

Are you new to cake decorating? Do you love cake decorating?
Click here to see some of my Index of all cake tutorials from basic to advance.