No one can escape the chocolate cravings. They always sneak up on you while you’re watching TV or doing some work – and then suddenly you’re on your way to the store to bulk-buy whatever sweet treats you can get your hands on. You can save yourself the trip, however, by baking a quick and easy chocolate sheet cake!
What is a Sheet Cake?
Sheet cakes (also known as slab cakes) are simply baked in a rectangular pan, such as a sheet pan. They can be made in any flavor – but of course, we’re going to be focusing on delicious chocolate cakes!
Most often, they are made as a single layer of cake with a layer of icing on top. Some of them are decorated, depending on the occasion, but that is entirely up to you.
Now, read on to find our selection of the best chocolate sheet cakes. Fair warning though: they are entirely too irresistible and moreish, so prepare to indulge!
Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe: How to Make It (tasteofhome.com)
Difficulty Level: Medium
If you’re in need of a quick cake to impress, this is the recipe for you. With only a 20 minute cooking time (some users said it took 15 minutes), the sheet cake is speedy to complete.
An added bonus is you can put the icing straight onto the hot cake, so it doesn’t need any cooling time! This also means that the frosting will soak into the cake, making it extra soft and fudge-like.
The recipe recommends an easy decoration of some sprinkled nuts on top of the frosting, which will look lovely and give a contrasting texture.
Chocolate Sheet Cake I Recipe | Allrecipes
Difficulty Level: Medium
This classic chocolate sheet cake keeps it simple and delicious. It’s also often called Texas sheet cake. While you do have the option to add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, some users said that it is just as tasty without it.
If you would like to make a slight variation to this chocolate mixture and chocolate ganache icing, users also said that they added a few chocolate chips to the cake batter. These will then slightly sink to the bottom, and will create little pockets of melted chocolate as a surprise!
South Your Mouth: The BEST Chocolate Sheet Cake
Difficulty Level: Medium
This sheet cake is made a little differently, in that you have to separately make three mixtures, then combine them at the end to make the batter.
One of these does need to be made on a hob – it is essentially hot chocolate at this point – and then once it’s cooled down, you’d mix this with the flour mixture and a buttermilk mixture.
You have the option to use black coffee in this cake, which will make the finished product rich and delicious! The icing is more of a ganache, because you mix cocoa with hot milk and butter, which will create a beautiful finishing shine.
Chocolate Sheet Cake – Marsha’s Baking Addiction (marshasbakingaddiction.com)
Difficulty Level: Easy
This is an incredibly easy recipe for a chocolate sheet cake, with a couple of surprise ingredients. It has 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in the batter, which will help to counteract the sweetness from the chocolate and sugar, and it also has Greek yogurt in it to make it extra moist and spongy.
The recipe recommends leaving some of the buttercream frosting aside when it comes to decorating the cake. This means that after you’ve spread a layer of the frosting on, you can pipe little icing swirls on each slice of the sheet cake for a simple decoration!
Cherry Chocolate Sheet Cake | The Recipe Critic
Difficulty Level: Easy
This is one of the easiest – and tastiest – chocolate sheet cake recipes on the internet. All you need is a pack of Devil’s Food cake mix, a can of cherry pie filling, vanilla essence and some eggs, and you’ve got yourself a cake!
The addition of the cherry flavor gives this a slight Black Forest Gateau effect, adding to the sweetness, but the chocolate frosting remains very much the same ganache-style icing that these sheet cakes rely on.
Chocolate Mousse Sheet Cake – Love As Food
Difficulty Level: Medium
Don’t be deceived by its title – this cake doesn’t actually have chocolate mousse in it. That would defeat the point of the simplicity of a sheet cake! It does have a ‘fake’ mousse, however, in the place of frosting.
It’s made from marshmallows, chocolate, and milk, which is all heated together. This part needs to be done before you make the cake, so that it has time to cool to then be mixed with a whipped cream concoction.
The final product will be light and fluffy, and especially delicious when its dolloped on top of your chocolate sheet bake.
Chocolate Sheet Cake – Preppy Kitchen
Difficulty Level: Easy
If you’re looking for a fudgy chocolate cake, take a look at this recipe. The baker has included sour cream and buttermilk in the batter, making for a rich and moist bake.
The frosting also has ⅓ cup of fudge (or you can make a ganache of your choice if you don’t have access to fudge) to create a decadent and thick finish!
This sheet cake does take a little bit longer to bake than some of the other recipes (50 minutes), so make sure you put aside enough time to create your masterpiece.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake {Easy Sheet Cake} – Meaningful Eats
Difficulty Level: Easy
If you struggle with a gluten allergy or intolerance, take a look at this gluten-free chocolate cake recipe. The only change is from normal flour to gluten-free flour, so the texture and structure of the cake shouldn’t be affected at all.
This recipe also has a secret ingredient to achieve their rich, fudgy icing – almond extract! The slightly nutty flavor complements the chocolate tones very well, without overpowering it.
Chocolate Sheet Cake – World Cooking Recipes
Difficulty Level: Medium
This delicious chocolate sheet cake cooks in 20 minutes, making for a speedy finished product. However, it does need to have quite a long time cooling time before you pop any frosting on – make sure you don’t skip this step, or the cake can get quite soggy!
Similar to the other recipes, it uses pecans as an extra topping, but feel free to use whatever nut, fruit, or chocolate accessory you like. You could even add sprinkles for a fun color variation.
Layered Chocolate Sheet Cake – Lakeside Table
Difficulty Level: Medium
Now, this may slightly defy the point of a sheet cake because it is layered. However, you can just make this in one tray if you’d prefer, the recipe will be just as delicious in sheet form!
If you do want to do one layer, check the oven closely when you’re baking it as the timing may vary from this recipe.
However, if you do want to make it a layered sheet cake, the recipe also includes a quick cream cheese frosting to pop in the middle of the cakes. This will help to balance out the chocolate flavors and will make sure it stays soft in the middle.
Chocolate Zucchini Sheet Cake Recipe: How to Make It (tasteofhome.com)
Difficulty Level: Medium
Yes, you’ve read it right. This cake is made with shredded, fresh zucchini! It replaces buttermilk (or sour cream) in a typical chocolate sheet cake recipe, as zucchini naturally releases a lot of moisture when it is baked.
It is also very soft once it’s cooked, so you won’t be able to tell the difference between this cake and a ‘normal’ cake.
While it says to put the icing on the sheet cake when it’s still hot, some reviewers said they prefer to wait until it’s cooled because it seeps into the cake – but this is entirely up to your preference.
Chocolate Sheet Cake – Cooking Classy
Difficulty Level: Easy
This baker loves their chocolate, so they created a double chocolate topping! Obviously, this is optional – but if there’s a choice to have more chocolate, we’ll always take it.
To make the second chocolate whipped cream, they whisk heavy cream with cocoa powder, granulated sugar, and vanilla until it creates stiff peaks. This is then piped on top of the baked chocolate sheet cake and the other chocolate icing.
The baker also recommends putting strawberries on the whipped cream as an extra decorative (and delicious) element to the cake.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake – Chocolate Peanut Butter Sheet Cake (howsweeteats.com)
Difficulty Level: Easy
If you are looking for a bit of variation in your chocolate sheet cakes, it’s definitely worth giving this peanut butter cake a try. The cake batter is simply a chocolate cake like the other recipes, but the frosting is where this recipe truly shines.
It is a cream cheese frosting, with ⅔ cup of peanut butter and a pinch of salt. This savory flavor contrasts perfectly with the cake (can it get any better than chocolate and peanut butter?), and if you are craving even more chocolate the recipe says to melt down some chocolate chips and drizzle it over the frosting.
Make sure the drizzle isn’t too hot though, otherwise it could melt the icing!
Vegan Chocolate Sheet Cake – Nora Cooks
Difficulty Level: Easy
This recipe works exactly the same as the other sheet cake recipes, except for the fact that milk, butter, and cream are swapped out for vegan alternatives. It also uses some applesauce for extra sweetness.
The recipe recommends certain alternatives, such as soy milk, but oat or almond milk would work just as well! It says to use an 11×17 inch sheet pan, but this can turn out quite thin.
If you need a thicker cake, the baker suggests a 9×13 cake pan with a slightly longer cooking time. You can also very easily make this gluten-free by switching the all-purpose flour to a gluten-free alternative.
Bailey’s Chocolate Sheet Cake. (lemontreedwelling.com)
Difficulty Level: Easy
A brilliant way of spicing up your chocolate sheet cake is by adding cream – Bailey’s Irish Cream, to be exact. This recipe puts Bailey’s in the batter and the icing, creating a rich and delicious flavor.
As both of these components are cooked/boiled, it is unlikely that there will be much alcohol content left in the cake, but the taste will definitely still be there.
Serve this moist sheet cake with a dollop of whipped cream and you are certain to have a crowd-pleaser on your hands!
