This classic yellow cake and chocolate frosting recipe is a family favorite! You’ll certainly want to try this delicious buttery cake that is so fluffy and flavorful, and topped with rich luscious chocolate frosting.

It seems everyone has a family favorite cake recipe that they bake for special occasions and holidays. This classic yellow cake and chocolate frosting recipe has been a tradition in our family that dates back at least four generations on my mother’s side. My grandmother always baked this cake for birthdays and special occasions, and now I carry on the tradition of baking this delicious cake for my family in her honor.

There are quite a few family memories that involve this cake recipe. One memory in particular was when my mother and our cousin decided to bake the cake when they were just teenagers. Needless to say, it didn’t exactly go well and the frosting turned into a disaster. In their defense the frosting can be a little tricky to make if you have never cooked frosting before. I remember my first-time cooking frosting didn’t go well either. Sometimes I would make sure I had double of the frosting ingredients on hand just in case I needed to make a second batch, but it has always turned out amazing after that first-time.

Once upon a time my grandmother handwrote a copy of our family’s Maw Maw Cake recipe for my mother to have. One day many years later my mother handed down that same handwritten recipe to me and I now have it framed and hung in my kitchen for me to remember her by. Now I share this family recipe with all of my readers to enjoy with their families. I hope you enjoy!

Let’s get to bakin’! Here’s what you’ll need…

Cake Ingredients:

• ¾ cups butter, at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 ½ cups self-rising flour, sifted

Frosting Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• ½ cup cocoa
• 12 oz. can evaporated milk
• 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate

Cake Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8-inch cake pans or two 9-inch cake pans.

2. Soften butter in mixer. Add sugar and cream them together until light and fluffy.

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3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well.

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4. Add milk, vanilla, and flour all at once. Mix for about 2 minutes until well blended.

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5. Pour cake batter in prepared pans.

6. Pour cake batter in prepared pans.

7. Let cake cool while cooking frosting.

Frosting Instructions:

1. Using a long handle wooden spoon, mix sugar and cocoa in a medium pot.

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2. Add evaporated milk a little at a time, while stirring into mixture.

3. Put pot on medium heat and bring to a rolling boil while stirring constantly.

4. Let this boil and stir for a full 5 minutes longer. If mixture rises to top of pot, then turn fire down a little bit.

5. Drop unsweetened chocolate into pot, turn fire to low and continue stirring for 3 more minutes.

6. Take pot off of fire and let set to cool for 3-5 minutes. Stir for 1 minute then frost cake.

Frosting the Cake:

1. Lay pieces of wax paper around the edge of the cake platter.

This trick is to prevent a mess of frosting around the edge of the cake platter.

2. Add the bottom cake layer on top of the wax paper.

3. Frost the top of the bottom cake layer.

This is the cake filling and also helps the cake layers stick together.

4. Add the top cake layer on top of the frosted bottom layer.

5. Frost the top of the top cake layer.

6. When frosting the side of the cake, first fill in the middle layer with as much frosting to make it flush with both cake layers.

7. After the middle is completely filled with frosting, proceed frosting the entire side of the cake in an upward motion.

8. When the entire cake is frosted, let it set and dry for about 30 minutes before carefully removing the wax paper. Enjoy!