My most favorite chocolate cake ever! This cake is somewhere between a brownie and a cake. Full of chocolate flavor, moist & dense! Sure to become your new favorite!
Let me tell you a quick story. After my husband and I got married we lived in Provo, UT for a year and a half while he finished his undergraduate degree at BYU. And for the 2 Valentines we spent there we would get Magleby’s dinner to-go and their amazing chocolate cake for dessert! I am not a big cake person. I would much rather have a brownie or a cookie. But their cake is amazing. They are famous for it. It’s just the best. So I was excited to finally try a copycat recipe and it did not disappoint! This cake is out of this world. And it will forever remind me of my newlywed days.
- FOR THE CAKE:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup cocoa (minus 1 T.)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup sour cream
- FOR THE FROSTING:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 4 cups powder sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ -1/2 cup milk
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9x13" pan or 2-8" cake pans with cooking spray.**
- In a small sauce pan heat butter until melted on medium heat. Add water and cocoa powder and whisk until smooth, then bring to a boil and let boil for 30 seconds. Then set pan to the side and let the mixture cool.
- In a separate bowl sift together flour, granulated sugar, and salt.
- Add cooled chocolate mixture and stir until just combined and smooth.
- In a small separate bowl add eggs, baking soda, baking powder, and whisk until smooth. The mixture will start to foam, but that is normal. Stir in the brown sugar and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Pour the egg mixture into the batter and gently stir until all combined.
- Fold the sour cream into the batter gently. Don't over mix it.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan & bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out with only a few crumbs.
- Let cook before frosting. If making a layered cake, you can cover the layers with parchment paper then with a clean dish towel and place them right into the freezer. If you frost the layers frozen it makes it much easier.
- FOR THE FROSTING:
- Beat butter, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and salt in mixer with paddle attachment until smooth. Add vanilla and milk and beat until fluffy.
- If making the layered version, you will need to make more frosting to frost between the layers and around the top and sides.
UPDATE: Because I don't really like texas sheet cake I wanted to try this cake in a sheet cake pan. I didn't change anything except the frosting amounts. I baked it for about 35 min. Check it at 30 min. to see if a tooth pick comes out clean.
For the frosting: I added ½ cup cocoa powder (instead of just a ¼ cup) and used ½ cup whipping cream (instead of milk). All the other amounts/ingredients I didn't change.
Recipe Source: Find It, Love It, Share It
Updated frosting recipe for sheet pan version inspired from The Food Charlaton, who recently made this cake and loves it as much as I do 🙂 She has a beautiful blog and I pretty much want to make and eat everything from her site!
I used a different frosting recipe for the pictures in this post. It was delicious but if you are doing a layered cake, I don’t recommend it. It was very hard to get it to stick to the sides of the cake. If you are making a 9×13″ cake, this recipe would work great and tasted great! It was really light and fluffy because of the whipped cream in place of the milk. Here is the recipe to the frosting I used in the picture:
- 2 pounds powdered sugar
- ¾ cup cocoa
- 1 cup butter
- 3 teaspoons vanilla
- 1½ - 2 cups whipping cream
- Gently blend the powdered sugar & cocoa together.
- Add the butter in small pieces.
- Add the vanilla & whipping cream and whip for about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
Recipe Source: My Girls' Kitchen (Note I did not use the recipe for the cake)
Next time I make this, I am going to try it with some sort of a raspberry sauce. Magleby’s serves theirs with a raspberry drizzle and it is so amazing. Once I do, I will share the recipe 🙂 I’m thinking fresh raspberries cooked with a little sugar and cornstarch. Yum!
I am so happy to see the Magleby’s recipe! However, I am making it for an event that will look better with cream cheese frosting on the outside! Do you know of or have 🙂 a good recipe for that?
You can use this cream cheese frosting: http://bakedinaz.com/2015/10/pumpkin-sheet-cake-bars.html
Haha thank you! That’s funny, I didn’t realize you had replied because I wasn’t subscribed so I went looking for one and then commented on that exact frosting you suggested! So thanks for the follow up on that as well, and I’m Ashlie, nice to meet you 🙂 you have some great recipes that I am very excited to try!!
So nice to meet you Ashlie! I am glad you found that frosting recipe! I am so happy you found my blog too, I hope you enjoy more recipes 🙂
I’m confused, would you recommend the second frosting recipe for the layer cake?
The whipped frosting recipe ( the second one listed) I would use if you are making this in a sheet cake pan. If you are making this into a layered cake, I would use the recipe listed with the cake recipe. Let me know if you have any other questions!
xo,
Adell
Adell-
Have you ever made cupcakes using this recipe? I LOVE Maglebys cake but am looking for a easy picnic treat and was thinking about cupcakes.
I haven’t. I have only made it into a sheet pan. If you do try these in cupcakes, let us know how it worked for you!
xo
Adell
This recipe was really amazing. It’s the chocolate-cake recipe I have been searching for my whole life. It was a dense, moist, and delicious chocolate cake. My husband said it was the best chocolate icing he’s ever had! Thank you!
Wow, thank you! I am so glad you loved it. Now I am craving it 🙂