A moist and delicious chocolate cake made with buttermilk and cocoa powder and topped with a homemade chocolate frosting that’s plenty sweet. The frosting has a little crunch here and there from some toasted pecans. They taste so good with chocolate.
Buttermilk
With buttermilk in the batter and in the frosting, this cake makes good use of Buttermilk. Do you find that you frequently have a carton of Buttermilk at the back of the fridge that’s about to go bad? I almost always seem to.
If you make this cake and still have extra buttermilk try making Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Pie, Buttermilk Pancakes or Buttermilk Parmesan Pork Chops.
This is a simple, old-fashioned cake that is always a winner. It’s basically a Texas Sheet Cake except instead of baking it in the typical jelly roll pan (half sheet pan), I’ve made it in a 9X13-inch pan so that it is a little thicker. Chocolate Buttermilk Cake is both light and insanely rich at the same time. It’s very difficult not to go back for another bite. And another. And another. It will keep calling out your name until every last bit is gone.
One minute, you’ll be swooning over it, professing your love. The next minute you’ll be telling it how much hate it for making you eat too much.
That’s why this cake should only be baked for a potluck or a party where there are boatloads of people and there is no chance there will be any left over.
Fudgy Frosting
The frosting is easily assembled in a saucepan and takes only a few minutes. Still warm when poured on top of the cake, it forms an absolutely irresistible fudgy layer. It’s the frosting that really makes the cake. What’s really nice about it is it just naturally spreads itself out over the cake. You only need a spatula to help even it out a little bit.
That’s my kind of cake frosting. I know there are many people who enjoy the labor intensiveness of frosting a 3-layer cake. But I’m not one of them. By that point all I’m thinking is, I want a piece of this cake. Let’s hurry this up.
Buttermilk Substitute
If you don’t have any buttermilk you can make a buttermilk substitute by placing a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar in a glass measuring glass and filling to the 1 cup line with milk. Stir.
Recipe Tips
That being said, you do need to wait a little while for the frosting to cool and set up before you slice it and take a piece out, or all the frosting will run into that empty spot. Unless you stuff the empty spot with a wad of aluminum foil and tilt the pan ever so slightly to make it harder for the frosting to move in that direction. I’m not saving I’ve done that before.
Use full-fat buttermilk.
The pecans can be left out if you need a nut-free dessert.
Storage
Cake can be kept at room temperature for 4 to 5 days if wrapped well.
★★★★★
This chocolate cake is my new favorite! It has the perfect amount of sweetness and a great texture. My only problem with this cake is that I can’t stop eating it!
More Chocolate Cake Recipes
- Midnight Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Cake with Cream Filling
- Nutella Chocolate Cake
- Easy Death By Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Praline Layer Cake
Watch the video below to see how to make Chocolate Buttermilk Cake.
Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Frosting
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup butter
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Chocolate-Buttermilk Frosting
- 1 cup butter
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 (16-ounce) package confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup toasted pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9X13-inch pan.
- Combine 1 cup butter, 1/3 cup cocoa, and 1 cup water in a small saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until butter is fully melted. You can cut the butter into pieces to speed up the process. Remove from heat.
- Using an electric mixer, beat buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Gradually add melted butter mixture, beating until mixed.
- In a medium bowl, combine sugar, flour, and salt. Add to buttermilk mixture and beat until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until set in the middle.
- To make frosting, combine butter, cocoa, and buttermilk in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth.
- Remove from heat and stir in confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and pecans. Pour over cake while cake is still warm. Let frosting cool and set some before slicing.
Notes
Nutrition
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Originally posted May 4, 2017.
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How many cupcakes would this recipe make?
I haven’t made cupcakes with it before but I would think it would make at least 18.
I made this yesterday. So this cake is really dense, right? I thought maybe I did something wrong because I had to cook it about 35 minutes and it just didn’t look like a cake normally looks. But I swear it tastes better today than it did yesterday. It’s almost brownie like but so tender. Anyway I love it.
I keep this cake in the frig …. and its delicious cold or remove from frig and wait 15-30 minutes before you eat it ( If you can wait that long ! LOL it is delicious … )
Glad you enjoy it. I haven’t made this cake in ages. Need to soon. 🙂
That should be “enjoyed it” Definitely time to go to bed. 🙂
This cake sounds delicious, how many cups of icing sugar would I use for the frosting? Thanking you in advance for your reply.
About 3 3/4 cups.
**WOW!!** This cake uses an entire Pound of butter. I think I need to lose 10 lbs. before making it…..lol
It does have a lot of butter, but it is at least 18 servings so not really that much per serving.
This cake looked so good, I had to make it! My friend Nicole and I made it together; unfortunately, the frosting never seemed to set. I’m thinking to try it again and see if the same thing happens.
Has this recipe been used for cupcakes? If so, how long do you leave in the oven and temperature? Thanks!!
This cake is divine!! Very addictive. Will definitely make this again. Thank you!
…MMM looks delicious! I am a chocoholic and I know it, sure would love to get my hands on a couple of these!! 🙂
Me too Michael! I can never get enough chocolate 🙂
Looks so yummy!!! I love chocolate, this should be so delicious!
Thank you! I am loving the almond cookies on your blog 🙂
Mmm, what a perfect cake for afternoon snacking 🙂
I love old-fashioned chocolate cakes and this one looks awesome! 3 layer cakes are great for special occasions but when I’m making a cake for my family to just enjoy – I would much prefer a cake like this one – it sounds delicious and perfect for a potluck too:)
it looks yummy!
Thank you Dina! 🙂
Wow – that frosting looks insanely good! I do like a 3-4 layer cake, but will gladly dig into a slice of this with THAT frosting! Thanks for sharing this amazing cake AND frosting recipe!
Oh my gosh these look SO good! Love that the icing even has butter milk in it!
Thanks Krystle! Buttermilk in icing seems a little strange at first, but it’s so good 🙂
I love collecting good recipes using buttermilk because like you said, there’s always extra buttermilk left! I love a good chocolate cake and this looks great. Love the extra height in it going with the 9×13 pan. This is so perfect for pot luck and summer picnics coming up.
I always have buttermilk lingering in the back of the fridge. I know you can freeze it, but it would stay in my freezer forever if I did that:)Definitely a perfect cake for picnics! Have a great week Monica!
#drool
Love your recipe and love the layout of your ziplist plugin. Any change you can share how to do that? I have been playing around a bit but not able to change the layout of prep time cook time total time, Could you tell me what do I need to add to the stylesheet?
I just use the Easy Recipe Plus plugin and I haven’t done anything special to change the layout.
Yummy for the tummy! My Mother use to make a this cake and we called it Texas Hot Cocoa Cake…memories galore!
Don’t you just love recipes that bring back memories! Have a great week Kay!
This cake looks yummy! Brings me memories.. my mom used to make buttermilk cake.. and I have never tried myself.
This chocolate cake is definitely calling my name! And that frosting sure looks good but I think I’d have trouble waiting for it to set. 😀
It definitely takes some discipline to wait for the frosting to set! Have a great week Ruby!
This has been my very favorite cake for years. Once while making it, two little neighbor girls were watching me. When I added the buttermilk, they both made gagging sounds and wrinkled up their noses. They thought I was going to add chocolate milk – not buttermilk, of all things. But, after it was done and they had a small slice, their whole opinion of buttermilk changed. By the way, I am a native Texan. We all call it Texas Sheet Cake. But it doesn’t matter where you live or what you call it. It’s always delicious!