This rich and decadent mini chocolate sheet cake starts with a light and fluffy chocolate cake base and then gets smothered in a dreamy chocolate icing.
Hey, guys, this will be the last recipe of 2016. I’ll be posting a round up of my favorite Baking Mischief recipes of the year on Friday, but if you don’t drop by again before New Year’s, happy New Year!! I hope your New Year’s Eve is joyful and safe and New Year’s Day fresh and energizing.
Today’s recipe is another of my favorites from Baking for Two, and in the book it’s titled “Death by Chocolate Sheet Cake” (a name I deemed no longer charming in late 2016). It’s been penciled in on my editorial calendar as “FU 2016 Cake” since sometime around the beginning of November, and I figured it would at least be a delicious way to end a bummer of a year.
Cake is simple. Cake is good. It’s something that’s meant to be shared, and I really hope you’ll share this one.
I hope you share this Mini Chocolate Sheet Cake with a couple of your closest friends over a few glasses of wine, while you say farewell to 2016 and strategically plan how you are going to conquer 2017.
Year-end gloominess aside, this is a pretty superb little chocolate dessert. The cake is light, almost delicate, and comes together quick and easy. But the real show stopper is the chocolate icing over the top. It is completely decadent and delicious.
I’m a big fan of frosting cakes with pourable icing because there’s no skill or stress to it. You just mix the icing up on the stove and the pour it over your cake–the cake doesn’t even have to be completely cooled. The top of the icing sets after a few minutes, but the rest stays gooey and fudgy and so good. It doesn’t look like much when you are pouring it on, but trust me, it’s a substantial layer and so rich you’ll definitely need a glass of milk to go along with it.
This Mini Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe will make four big cake slices or six smaller ones. I baked it in a ceramic baking dish for these photos, but if you plan on transporting your cake, I totally recommend making it in a 7×5-inch Pyrex container so you can just pop a lid on and go.
Easy Mini Chocolate Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Special Equipment
Chocolate Cake
- 1/4 cup (30g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon (5g) natural cocoa powder sifted if lumpy
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons (2oz) unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg white
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons hot coffee or water
Chocolate Icing
- 2 tablespoons (1oz) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 heaping tablespoons finely chopped semisweet chocolate (high-quality chips are fine)
- 1/2 cup (60g) powdered sugar sifted
- Sprinkles optional
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 7x5-inch baking dish.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Whisk in egg white and vanilla until well-combined.
- One at a time, stir in half of the flour mixture, all of the milk, and the remaining flour mixture, mixing until just-combined after each. Stir in hot coffee (or hot water) and mix until combined. Mixture will be thin.
- Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for 14 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool for at least five minutes before starting the glaze.
Chocolate Icing
- In a 1-quart saucepan, combine butter, milk, corn syrup and vanilla. Heat over medium heat, whisking until butter is melted and ingredients are mixed. Add chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted and incorporated. Turn heat down to low and add sifted powdered sugar. Whisk until sugar melts into the chocolate mixture. Remove from heat and pour immediately over the slightly cooled cake. Add sprinkles if desired.
- Allow glaze 5 to 10 minutes to set before serving the cake in the baking container. Slice and enjoy with a strong cup of coffee.
Notes
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using them. There is absolutely no additional cost to you.
Platter Talk says
You had me with easy and chocolate! Looks moist and lovey!
Brandon says
Tracy, this sheet cake is so darn CUTE!! I’ve got all the ingredients sitting in my pantry/fridge. Now I just need to get a smaller baking dish!
Tara says
How cute! I love that you used a pourable frosting and topped it with sprinkles. So perfect with the smaller size.
christina says
You can never go wrong with chocolate! Yum.
Victoria M says
thanks for recipe, i will make a cake bigger 😀
Samantha says
Hi, this recipe looks delicious and I can’t wait to make it myself! I absolutely love your baking dish and I was wondering where you got it?
Tracy says
Hi, Samantha. Thanks! Unfortunately, the dish was part of a gift, so I’m not sure where to purchase them. Sorry!
Roki says
I don’t have a rectangular dish that size, but lots of round ones. What round size do you think would be comparable to your rectangular one? I.e. what sort of volume does it need? I know it may not cook the same, but we don’t mind a bit of gooey-ness in the middle, like a good brownie…. mmmm.
Tracy says
Hehe, I like your way of thinking. 😉 For dish size, anything with roughly around 35 inches of surface area should work. 6×6 square or 6-inch round would be good options.
Andrea says
Hello! I used this recipe to make a cake for my husband’s birthday, it’s just the two of us so a large cake would’ve been a waste. The frosting was delicious!! The cake was good too, but the texture was unusual. Any ideas as to what I did wrong?? I have a feeling it is because of the butter. It’s supposed to be at room temperature, but I microwaved it for 45 seconds on 50% power. Could that have done it??
Thank you! 🙂
Tracy says
Hi Andrea, that definitely could do it! Also though, the texture of this cake is a little more delicate and melt-in-your-mouth than standard chocolate cake, so that could be part of it too. 🙂
Lauren says
I tried to make the batter twice and each time when i added the egg white the batter curdled
Tracy says
Hi, Lauren. This is not a problem. When this happens, the battter’s not actually curdling, the butter is just reacting to the coolness of the egg. Just add the rest of the ingredients, and it will smooth out and bake up just fine!
Summer says
Hello! I absolutely love your website. I love the idea of making a small cake because big cakes are sometimes just a waste of food. I wanted to know if you could use a round baking mold? Thank You! 🙂
Tracy says
Hi, Summer. Thanks! You could absolutely make this in a round 6-inch cake pan. The cooking time might just be a little longer.
Anne Clifford says
Hi, Tracy, I found this recipe some time after you posted it, so am not sure you will see this comment. Cake was excellent. Icing seemed almost “granular” in consistency (in look and less noticeably in taste), not smooth; I had trouble getting it to “pour,” too–had to spread it more.
I substituted maple syrup for the corn syrup, which I read was an acceptable substitute, and DID sift the powdered sugar. Note we are into a VERY HOT summer here on the East Coast, and while I had my AC units going, I am wondering if temp/humidity might have been a factor. I will definitely try this again, especially as the cake was so surprisingly light for a “regular” flour cake, and it came together with minimal effort (I mixed ALL by hand, even), but am wondering what I did wrong on the icing (also mixed by hand–maybe that’s the problem?). Thanks!
Anne
Tracy says
Hi, Anne. Happy to hear you liked the cake layer! For the icing, the graininess was probably due to the maple syrup (and possibly the humidity). I find that maple syrup can sometimes replace corn syrup in recipes, but that it almost always changes the texture of the end product.
Anne says
Thanks, Tracy–I also noticed that it seemed initially as if the butter in the glaze was starting to separate out. I did not measure it terribly precisely, which may be a reason, though. When the glaze started to set, the ends, where the butter looked more like dark chocolate thin syrup, turned crispy.
The other thing I did that may’ve mucked things up was I was perhaps a bit too liberal (hmmm) with the Ghirardelli chocolate chips in the glaze….
Anyway, the cake was gone within 24 hours (with me as the sole consumer), so I have no real complaints, and will definitely try this again.
Just wish I did not have to buy corn syrup, as otherwise I’d have no use for it. I have a jar of brown rice syrup I never used–do you know if that is a decent substitute?
Tracy says
I totally understand not wanting to buy an ingredient for one dish (I’m the same way!). The one good thing about corn syrup is that if you do buy it, it never goes bad, so you don’t have to worry about using it up in a timely manner.
I’d probably try the brown rice syrup first though. I’ve never cooked with it, but from everything I’ve read it seems to be a pretty good substitute.
Kim says
Pretty good and different for a small cake recipe. My improvisation of this recipe was adding chocolate protein mix for cocoa powder, cornstarch for baking powder, and 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of o-mega margarine for butter and some added pineapple pieces to the bottom. It is light, moist and cooked.
Tracy says
Glad it worked out for you, Kim. Love the idea of adding pineapple to the bottom!
Jean says
This little cake is yummy. Doubled recipe, one for us and one for a friend recovering from surgery. Used whole egg and added 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to batter. Sprinkled toasted chopped walnuts on top. So good and so easy
Tracy says
Aw, you’re a good friend! So glad you enjoyed it, and love the idea of adding a little cinnamon!