Looking for a great-tasting dessert that can be easily dressed up like a birthday cake? Love chocolate and the richness of cream cheese? Then you’ll love this sheet cake topped with a delicious chocolate cream cheese frosting. Add sprinkles if you want to dress this up for a birthday cake!
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter (this is 1 3/4 cups as an alternative; make sure the butter is room temperature and divided)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 large eggs
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (room temperature)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (divided)
- 6 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- If you plan to turn this into a birthday cake or you simply want to make it more fun, add sprinkles.
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, but before you do so, place the rack in the middle of the oven for best baking results. Spread the unsalted butter along the bottom and sides of a 13×9 baking dish. Lightly dust flour into the pan, shake the pan to evenly spread the flour, and then discard any excess.
In a large bowl, combine the baking powder, granulated sugar, salt, and baking soda. Whisk these ingredients together into the flour.
Combine in a separate bowl the eggs, egg yolks, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Whisk this together until the mixture is smooth.
Take two of the sticks of butter and cut them into one-inch pieces. Place in the bowl with the dry ingredients (see step 2). With an electric mixer, beat the butter into the mixture. Begin this at a low speed on the mixture, then slowly work your way up to the medium mixing speed. This should result in the mixture looking like a coarse meal, and there should be no more chunks of butter left at this point. (This should take about four minutes, but you may have to mix it for up to five.)
Make a well in the middle of this result, then pour about half of the wet ingredients in the middle. Mix well into the other ingredients.
Add the remaining wet ingredients and beat on low speed until all the ingredients are mixed together well. After at least one minute, the mixture should be light, thick and smooth.
Pour the batter into the baking dish and make sure that the liquid is evenly distributed.
Bake for 45 – 55 minutes, making sure that the top is golden brown and a tester in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack and cool completely.
Frosting
Once your cake is in the oven, you can make the thick, rich chocolate cream cheese icing. Take the room temperature cream cheese and the remaining butter, place in a large bowl, and beat for two minutes so that the result is light and fluffy. Next, add the cocoa powder and salt.
Add powdered sugar slowly to this mixture, working up to two cups. Make sure that the result is smooth and that all ingredients are well-blended.
Once your cake has cooled, you can spread the frosting over the top. Add sprinkles to dress it up like a birthday cake, or just to add a little fun to your dessert. Enjoy any day of the week, no special occasion needed!
