Mom’s EASY Chocolate Cake, with chocolate frosting, is a delicious dessert for the whole family, and can be made from scratch in practically no time at all!
Today I want to share with you an old family favorite recipe for Mom’s Easy Chocolate Cake! It is super easy to make, and will be a big hit with everyone who gets to enjoy a piece I have such great memories of having this cake as I was growing up, and I have my sweet Mom to thank for that!
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Sweet Memories Of This Chocolate Cake
When I was growing up, occasionally my Mom would sneak back into the kitchen after dinner (while we were watching TV or doing homework) and whip up a delicious chocolate cake from scratch for our family of 5 as a surprise. We LOVED it! Within a few minutes of the cake going into the oven, the smell coming out of our little kitchen would alert us to the surprise treat ahead for us!
What a great memory! We didn’t have a lot of money or a fancy home growing up, but my Mom sure could cook and make wonderful meals with simple items from our pantry. I am grateful for the inspiration I have received from her, to this very day!
The cake is very simple to make, and so is the easy frosting! Instead of waiting for the cake to “cool down” after it was finished baking, Mom would poke holes in the cake when it came out of the oven, and pour/spread the creamy chocolate frosting all over the cake. The frosting would drip down into the holes in the cake, so we had small tunnels of chocolate throughout our slices when we would eat it! Oh boy… this is a GREAT tasting chocolate cake. Here’s how to make it!
How To Make Mom’s Easy Chocolate Cake Batter
Cream together sugar, vegetable shortening and eggs in a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer. Beat the ingredients well, for 2-3 minutes.
In a separate large bowl, sift together the all purpose flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
Add the dry, sifted ingredients to the wet ingredients, along with 1 cup of buttermilk. Once blended, slowly pour in 3/4 cup of boiling water, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Blend on low until batter is fully mixed together.
Time To Bake!
Pour the batter for Mom’s easy chocolate cake into a greased and floured 9×13 baking pan, and distribute the batter evenly. Bake the cake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into middle of cake comes out clean..
Make The Frosting
While the cake is baking, make up the frosting. Melt butter in saucepan on low heat. Add cocoa powder and mix well with a spoon. Add salt, vanilla, and milk; mix well. Add the powdered sugar to the frosting ingredients. Mix until the frosting is not too thick, but “pourable”. Add additional milk to thin… or add additional powdered sugar to thicken, as needed.
Frosting Mom’s Easy Chocolate Cake!
When Mom’s easy chocolate cake is done, remove the pan from the oven, and place pan on a wire rack. Let the cake rest for 2-3 minutes, then poke holes all over surface of cake every couple inches (I use a chopstick!). Pour the chocolate frosting over the surface of Mom’s easy chocolate cake, and spread it out, to cover.
When finished, Mom’s easy chocolate cake should look like this. The frosting will be fairly “fluid” since the cake is still hot. Continue to spread the warm frosting over the holes as they “re-appear”. As the frosting oozes down into the cake, the holes on top surface will open up again.
Time To EAT!
Let the frosting firm up and the cake cool down! Once Mom’s easy chocolate cake is at room temperature, you can slice and serve it up! It’s as simple as that! By the way, in the picture below the frosting looks darker than in previous photo. Don’t know what’s up with that- it IS the very same cake!.
I have such vivid memories of enjoying Mom’s easy chocolate cake from my childhood. That MUST be where I got my love of cake from, right? Ha Ha! Hope you will give this easy, simple and delicious recipe a try! The chocolate cake and creamy chocolate frosting taste fantastic! Thanks, Mom!
Looking For More CAKE Recipes?
You can find all of my recipes in the Recipe Index, located at the top of the page. My cake recipes are all delicious, and include:
- Easy German Chocolate Cake (with homemade frosting)
- Edie’s Carrot Cake
- Banana Crumb Cake
- Mom’s Lemon Jello Cake
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Recipe Source: My Mom
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable shortening
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 3/4 cup boiling water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 cube butter
- 4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- Dash of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 ounces powdered sugar (about 3/4 of a one pound box)
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk (enough to make frosting pourable, but not too thin)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a 9x13 cake pan.
- Cream together sugar, vegetable shortening and eggs, using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer. Beat well for 2-3 minutes.
- In a separate large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add dry, sifted ingredients to the wet ingredients, along with 1 cup of buttermilk, and mix well on LOW speed.
- Once blended, slowly pour in 3/4 cup of boiling water, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Blend on low until batter is fully mixed together. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9x13 baking pan, and distribute batter evenly.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into middle of cake comes out clean.
- While cake is baking, make frosting. Melt butter in saucepan on low heat. Add cocoa powder and mix well with a spoon. Add salt, vanilla, and milk; mix well. Add powdered sugar. Mix until frosting is not too thick, but "pourable". Add additional milk to thin... add additional powdered sugar to thicken, as needed.
- When cake is done, remove from oven. Let rest for 2-3 minutes, then poke holes over surface of cake every couple inches (I use a chopstick!). Pour frosting over surface of cake, and spread to cover. Let cake cool to room temperature, then slice and serve!
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards!