Sunday Chocolate Cake
This Sunday Chocolate Cake is the easiest, most comforting chocolate cake recipe ever. The boiled frosting on top is flaky, fudgy and delicious!
So this cake might not look like much, but let me tell you…it’s everything.
It simple.
It’s classic
MY OTHER RECIPES
It’s nostalgic.
And it has the best flaky boiled chocolate icing on top.
It’s a lot like a Texas Sheet cake, but better. It’s a lot like My Kid’s Favorite Brownies, but different…
I found the recipe for this in my Grandma’s recipe box and I remember her making it a lot.
She’d always make it on Sunday’s…hence the name.
It’s the perfect weekend cake. Also, it’s my kid’s most favorite. The classics usually are.
But first things first…
This cake is easy. No mixer involved. Love that!
Go ahead and whisk your dry ingredients in one bowl and your wet in another…
Melt your butter and shortening in a saucepan…also, if you think vegetable shortening is from the devil go ahead and sub in all butter. This recipe is my Grandma’s back in the days where Crisco was king. Actually the recipe calls for Oleo, so yeah.
Oh yeah, add your cocoa powder in there too…
Also, I am the messiest cocoa powder user ever in existence. What’s my problem??
When it’s all melted pour it into your dry ingredients…
Then whisk in your other wet ingredients until a smooth batter forms.
Pour that all in your prepared pan.
When the cake is almost done baking start making your boiled frosting.
Boil butter, milk and cocoa powder together.
Then stir in some powdered sugar…
Whisk it all up until it’s smooth.
Pull the cake out of the oven when it’s done…
And pour that frosting all over top!
Glorious.
Then let the cake cool.
And your frosting will look like an old man’s wrinkly butt…
Ok, that was gross, I’m sorry. And also, I haven’t ever seen an old man’s wrinkly butt in real life…but I did see that episode of Sex and the City. YOU KNOWWWW!
Make it. Your Sundays will be better for it.
Also, the edge pieces are my favorite. All the frosting.
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PinIngredients
Cake
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 Tbsp white vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (you can sub in butter if you prefer)
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
Icing
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup milk + 2 Tbsp
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 400°
- Spray or grease a 9×13 baking pan
- In a large bowl whisk together sugar, flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
- In another bowl whisk eggs, milk, vinegar and vanilla together. Set aside.
- In a saucepan melt butter, shortening and cocoa powder together, whisking until completely melted and smooth.
- Remove from heat and pour into flour mixture, and then add the other liquid ingredients. Stir together until smooth and there are no more lumps.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake for 15-20 minutes until center of cake is set.
- Prepare icing when cake is almost ready.
Icing
- Melt butter, cocoa powder and milk together over medium heat. Bring just to a boil and remove from heat. Whisk in powered sugar and vanilla until there are no lumps.
- Pour icing over hot cake in pan.
- Allow cake to cool before slicing.
Now proving yet again that we share a brain, my friend Kristan posted this picture on Instagram the same day I made this cake..so immediately I texted her and asked her what it was! Apparently it’s Cracker Barrel Double Fudge Coca Cola Cake…but doesn’t it look so similar?
So make sure to hop over to her site and check out the recipe for her doppelganger cake. I think I need ice cream on mine too!
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Yep that is some serious chocolate goodness right there. I have never tried boiled icing but from that picture ; I am going need to try it soon on my cake!
Omg! My mom would always make a cake similar to this and she called it Texas Sheet Cake! So cool to see this, I’ll have to tell her
Now this is a cake my family would love!! Classics are the best and that icing! Wow, it sounds so good!
Boiled chocolate frosting is the best! I feel like it has magical powers. Reminds me of my mom’s recipe, and I’ll take this Monday-Saturday too!
Um, is it possible to use cocoa WITHOUT making a mess? I’ll try to neatly scoop cocoa and all of a sudden there’s chocodust everywhere! Maybe I’m just messy cook in general, and I just notice the cocoa more because it contrasts with the counter.
Both of these cakes look amazing!!! Thanks for sharing!
My hubs will love this cake!
YUM! and great timing, i need a recipe for my son’s birthday cake next week!
http://semiweeklyeats.blogspot.com/2014/01/so-much-to-say.html
This looks sooooooo good! I’m definitely going to have to try it!
Recipes like this, straight from Grandma’s recipe box, are always the best. Especially with the memories you have of it! I love the nostalgic taste of TX sheet cakes and I know this would be right up there too! That frosting just looks awesome! pinned
OK, is it just ME, or did anyone else Pin this one partly because of the “old man’s wrinkly butt” comment? I’m still giggling! 😀 Can’t wait to try the recipe! 🙂
That’s very similar to our favorite chocolate sheet cake… love the boiled frosting!
A good old-fashioned chocolate cake…just what I’ve been craving!
OK boiled, flaky chocolate frosting is the BEST! I haven’t had it in God knows how long because nobody makes it like that anymore. And I once described my idea of perfect frosting to a friend, and it was JUST THIS! Love!! I want some so badly now!
you just kill me! rofl…old man’s wrinkly butt…seriously? Love it. Cake looks great too!
Oh, Shelly, I’m making this one tonight!
I should offer this as a giveaway!
I could eat chocolate cake every day! This looks lovely!
This cake looks awesome and so very easy. I’ll have to try it out.
I need this in my life now!
What is vegetable shortening is it oil in simple language ?
Crisco. It’s a solid vegetable oil
This looks AMAZING! You’re really speaking my love language with this one 🙂
my mom made this recipe and she was always told it was the texas sheet cake and she would say no and said she got the recipe out of a local paper, and it was for a 9 x 13 cake pan, not a sheet pan. Its the cake all my bros and sis want when we get togetheer.
For the frosting can I use evaporated milk or is regular milk better? Also can the frosting be used on a 3-layer cake?
You could use evaporated if you would like! It will be a bit bit thicker, but that’s ok! The frosting is a bit thin for a layer cake, so if you’re looking for a thinner frosting that’s good. You could let it cool a bit more and it will thicken up to spread.
This is the recipe I also call Texas
sheet cake. Or “our” chocolate cake- because it’s been our go to choc cake recipe for over 40 yrs now. You just CANNOT beat it, according to our family. That wrinkly old icing is simply the best. Loved your description! Lol.
I’m loving your grandmother right now. This cake looks a chocolate lovers dream come true. Love!
Ooh Ive never had boiled chocolate frosting but it is insanely mouthwatering! Love that theres no need for a mixer for this!
I am drooling over this cake right now! It looks amazing yummy!
I’ve never made a boiled chocolate frosting before! Lovely!
Heading to the store to buy the ingredients for this! Looks so amazing! Love a good chocolate wrinkly icing! Lol
I cooked it for the 12 – 15 minutes but it wasn’t ready. Is this the correct time?
Awesome recipe – it makes me look organised!
The recipe says 15-20… so 12 would definitely had been too short!
I had to cook it for 35 minutes on 400 degrees. After 20 minutes, the middle was still jiggly. It’s a pretty thick cake!
Made it last night…OMG…this will be a recipe I’m keeping in my stash! Such an awesome chocolate cake! Thanks!
Hi Shelley,
My Grandmother used to make this cake for every church event when I was growing up. It is SO good! She sprinkled pecan halves on hers before she poured the icing. Thanks for posting a oldie but goodie.
This looks so absolutely delicious and nostalgic. Seems easy. Will give it a go this month
I made this today, the frosting came out perfect the cake not so much. It collapsed in the center. 🙁
I’m baking this right now! Smells really good, and I decided to taste the batter before pouring it on the pan, and it tasted GREAT!! I’m excited, and so is everyone else in here lol
I want to jump in there and eat my way out. Totally.
Can I sub. skim for whole milk? I rarely have whole but almost always have skim. Thanks a bunch.
I think that will be fine!!
I’m a little disappointed–I tried this recipe (using the butter for Crisco substitute and skim milk instead of whole) and by the end of 20 minutes of cooking my cake was still liquid! I ended up cooking for closer to 30 minutes, and when it came out it tasted like eggs. Any advice?
That’s strange! I can’t imagine that the substitution of butter for Crisco would make it taste egg-y, but I don’t ever bake with skim milk, as the fat content isn’t high enough. Maybe that could have been the issue.
can i make this as a layer cake?
I don’t really think with the poured frosting, but if you’re just making the cake itself, yes!
The icing turned out all right, too much powdered sugar for my taste though. The cake would not cook in the centre at all. I left it in for over thirty minutes and it still would not cook. Very disappointed as I was looking forward to making this cake.
i used a metal pan instead of glass, and it was still not cooked at 23 minutes….wonder if i did something wrong?
All ovens are different, if even slightly, and yes the baking dish will also make a difference. I am sure you didn’t do anything wrong, just give it a few more minutes in the oven!
fyi. it took a while, but i pulled it out at about 28 minutes. it tastes delicious. i hope i can freeze it?
could you please put the oz and pounds or even grams it takes so long to work out the ingredients and i so love all your recipes thankyou x
This cake is really awesome, but I was scared to put 5 cups of powdered sugar into the icing. I made it with just one cup. It was still tasty, but of course looks completely different 🙂 My son loved the cake and so do I 🙂
I just did the same. 5 cups of sugar was too much. In went just 1 cup Sugar just was yummy.(It was the frosting that drew me to this cake though) Will make it again for church.Also, I had Dutch processed cocoa so I went with Self Rising flour.
★★★★★
Yummy! looks really good!
Hi,
But where is the recipe? The link after your explanation does not work….
Thanks!
Ahh so sorry!! I just switched all my recipes over and it looks like that one didn’t get transferred! All fixed!!
Hi, i want simple vanilla sponge cake recipe…
Looks terrific! I’d double the amount of cocoa (from 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup) in the cake recipe – I like my cake more chocolatey 🙂
Hi. Can u please tell ehat if i want to use oil omstead of butterand shortening? How much oil should I use.
★★★★
You would replace it in equal amounts
I saw this post on Facebook, had everything on hand, so I made it. It looks just like yours, my family will love it! Thanks for sharing.
Awesome!!
Do you think I could make this a day in advance? I’d like to make it for Easter Sunday lunch, but I’d need to make it ahead on Saturday morning. Store in the fridge or out on counter?
Yep! You definitely could!
Made the Sunday chocolate cake and oh man was it a hit!!!! Kids loved it and loved it will make this again for sure
It won’t cook in center at all 🙁
That’s very strange! I haven’t ever had that problem.
I made this with a few tweaks (mostly because I messed up) and it is the best cake I have ever made. I am not a fan of chocolate but this will be craveable. My icing ended up having almost instead of vanilla and I topped it with coconut. So yummy I debating hiding it from the rest of my family.
★★★★★
I do not know when..and I do not know how but one day I started follow your facebook profile…………..and last saturday I prepared this cake for my family……it has been a SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WONDERFUL……today my mum asked me to do it again…………… my sister asked me your receipt and my son confirmed me it was very good!!!!!!!! thank you!!!!!
haha! Well I’m glad you found me!!
Made it today, came out really well. My children loved it. It took around 28 mins in a fan oven plus the only substitution I made was, that I made it on a Tuesday, oops!!
★★★★★
So, I found this recipe and have been wanting to make it. I followed the recipe to a T & put it in the oven for 15 minutes, checking it still Very runny in the middle, 5 more minutes, still not done another 5, still not done, now I’m thinking I messed it up, another3 minutes, I made the frosting and poured it on the hot cake. Let it cool and it was like a dence brownie with frosting? It tasted good, but did not look like the pictures at all. I am an experienced baker, my oven is good, but don’t know what happened??
Same thing happened to me. It came out like a dense brownie with frosting. The taste was good but not at all cake like and didn’t look like the pic.
I am making right now, and after 20 minutes in the oven the cake is really wet in the center. Going to let it cook another 10 minutes, and re-check, and cook a little longer if needed. Hopefully it doesn’t dry out.
Should be fine if it takes a little more time! Ovens can vary how they bake! Let me know how it turns out!
I am going to make this right now, have a chocolate craving going on today. I have tried the frosting on my Texas cake recipe, I agree that it is the best frosting you
Could ever use on a chocolate cake, hmm, wish I had some vanilla ice cream to go with this
I have just now seen the recipe and read the post. Interesting about the Crisco/Oleo comment in the post. Both of my parents grew up on a farm where fresh butter was the norm. Raising four children in town during the 50’s/60’s, real butter was not an option. My mother had to resort to “fake” butter–Oleo margarine. So, in my mind Crisco and Oleo are two different ingredients. I haven’t made the cake, yet, but 15-20 minutes for a 9″ x 13″ sheet cake doesn’t sound long enough. Most of my sheet cake recipes call for at least 30-35 minutes. Hope to give the recipe a try soon.
I remembered that I didn’t have cocoa powder when I took the cake out and now it’s cooled, can I pour the boiled icing on cold cake?
yes absolutely! The only thing that will change is, when the cake is warm the icing partially melts into the cake. When the cake is cooled it will sit more on top, like a regular frosting, which is completely delicious as well!