Yellow Sheet Cake With Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

By Samantha Seneviratne

Published October 20, 2025

  • Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.
Media 1 of 2
Total Time
1 hour 40 minutes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
45 minutes, plus about 45 minutes' cooling
Rating
4(313)
Comments
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This may seem like a humble, everyday yellow cake. The kind you see at every birthday party. But this one is special. The texture is perfectly downy-soft and tender thanks to the reverse-creaming technique made popular by the cookbook author Rose Levy Beranbaum. Here, the butter is mixed with the dry ingredients first, which coats the flour and inhibits the formation of too much gluten when the wet ingredients are mixed in. Rich with vanilla and butter and topped with a slightly tangy chocolate sour cream frosting, the cake hits the mark. Make it as a simple sheet cake, or bake the batter in two buttered and floured 9-inch round cake pans for about 25 minutes for the perfect layer cake.

Featured in: I’ve Baked Hundreds of Cakes. These 3 Tips Made All the Difference.

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Ingredients

Yield:One (9-by-13-inch) cake; 12 servings

FOR THE CAKE

  • ¾ cup/170 grams salted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature, plus more for the pan

  • 3 cups/384 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan

  • 1 ½ cups/360 milliliters whole milk, at room temperature, divided 

  • 4 large egg yolks, at room temperature 

  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature

  • ¼ cup/60 milliliters vegetable oil

  • 1½ tablespoons vanilla extract

  • 1½ cups/300 grams granulated sugar

  • 4 teaspoons baking powder

  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

FOR THE FROSTING

  • 8 ounces/226 grams bittersweet chocolate, chopped, melted and cooled slightly (see Tip)

  • ½ cup/113 grams salted butter, at room temperature 

  • 1 cup/123 grams powdered sugar

  • 1 cup/240 milliliters sour cream, at room temperature

  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

  • Sprinkles for topping, optional

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)

77 grams carbs; 157 milligrams cholesterol; 658 calories; 12 grams monosaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 19 grams saturated fat; 37 grams fat; 1 gram trans fat; 2 grams fiber; 430 milligrams sodium; 8 grams protein; 50 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Make the cake: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 13-by-9-inch baking pan.

  2. Step 2

    In a large liquid measuring cup, whisk together ½ cup of the milk, the 4 egg yolks, 2 whole eggs, oil and vanilla.

  3. Step 3

    In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat in the butter until the mixture looks sandy, about 1 minute. Add the remaining 1 cup milk and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. The batter will be thick.

  4. Step 4

    With the mixer running, add the egg mixture in 2 parts, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary.

  5. Step 5

    Increase the speed to medium-high and beat the batter for another 2 minutes.

  6. Step 6

    Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread it out evenly with an offset spatula.

  7. Step 7

    Bake until the cake is puffed and light golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely, about 45 minutes.

  8. Step 8

    Make the frosting: In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together the chocolate and the butter until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar. Beat in the sour cream and the vanilla. (If the mixture is too loose, refrigerate for about 20 minutes, until just firm enough to spread. Beat until smooth before spreading.)

  9. Step 9

    Invert the cake onto a serving platter, if desired. Spread the frosting evenly over the cake. If desired, top with sprinkles. The cake is best the day it’s made. Store leftovers in the fridge, well-wrapped, for up to 3 days.

Tip

  • In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate in 15-second bursts, stirring often.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
313 user ratings
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Comments

Jennifer

Glen, various bakers use various weights for a cup of flour--King Arthur uses 120 g; Martha Stewart uses 125 g; America's Test Kitchen uses 142 g. The "standard" that I use when converting old recipes to grams is 130 g, but if I'm following a recipe that uses a different weight, I go by the recipe's weight, for best results.

Glen

Advice welcome here. I always weigh with a scale and keep a chart of proper weights. (Probably a combination of info gathered over years from sources such as King Arthur Flour and Rose's Cake Bible). My list states that 3 cups of flour equals 360 grams; this recipe states 384 grams. Hey, this can happen, but when following a new recipe do you stick with the standard weights or just use whatever the recipe states?

Anne Pelak

@Cilantro Dame 2 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal is roughly equivalent to 1 teaspoon of table salt.

Trish

This recipe was very easy. I always use a scale to measure when baking - this recipe gives the option. The cake itself was delicious - moist but not heavy. But the sour cream icing just didn't do it for me or any of my guests. It was definitely less sweet and I liked that, but I didn't like the sourness. I will use the base and put other icing on in the future.

LaMarr Winn

I bake cakes pretty often and consider myself a cake snob. I have made this one twice now. I actually love the taste of this cake ;however, I did reduce the salt the second time I made it . I didn’t have any kosher salt either time ; I had Morton’s course sea salt that I rolled over with rolling pen to break it up some . I also did not have salted butter to use. Next time I make it I will use salted butter and a little over 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. The first time I made vanilla butter crème icing-delicious- and the second time chocolate butter crème with a couple of tablespoons of sour crème added. I loved this too. . This cake doesn’t rise high and yes it’s a little dense but it’s a soft dense. Do not over cook. I will keep making it. I love the technique of mixing the recipe directed.

Rosemary

Cake was too flat and dense. Sour cream frosting not sweet enough and pretty tasteless.

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