Baking a cake from scratch can be a great, rewarding experience, but it’s not always practical if you need to make a dessert in a hurry. Using a cake mix as your base can be a good solution, but using pre-made cake mix also usually ends up leaving you with a pretty standard, boring cake that don’t look or taste like anything special. But we’re here to change all of that with this quick & easy chocolate layer cake recipe! We’ll show you how to turn a simple cake mix into a gorgeous, professional-looking layer cake that would make even the best pastry chefs jealous. And the best part? It just takes a few easy steps and your cake will be looking as fancy and delicious as can be. We’ve even added a cherry on top for good measure!
Quick And Easy Chocolate Layer Cake
Equipment
- 18 x 12-inch baking tray
- Oven rack
Ingredients
- 1 package chocolate cake mix
- 1.5 sticks butter
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup milk
- 3 canisters whipped cream
- chocolate syrup
- 6 maraschino cherries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Beat together the chocolate cake mix, butter, eggs, and milk in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer.
- Pour the batter onto the baking tray and spread it around evenly. Transfer the baking tray to the oven and bake the chocolate cake at 350°F for 15 minutes. Once the cake is done baking, remove it from the oven and let it cool for 30 minutes.
- Flip the baking tray over and remove the parchment paper. Cut the cake into 4 equally sized rectangles.
- Place 1 rectangular piece of cake on a serving plate, top it off with a generous layer of whipped cream, then place a second piece of cake on top. Repeat this layering process with the remaining pieces of cake. Smooth out the top layer of whipped cream, then use a knife to straighten out the sides.
- Drizzle the chocolate syrup in a zig-zag pattern on top of the layer of whipped cream. Carefully place a clean oven rack diagonally on top of the chocolate layer cake and gently drag it along the top of the cake in order to make a professional-looking design.
- Decorate the top of the cake with some additional dollops of whipped cream and place maraschino cherries on top.
VIDEO
Look at this absolute masterpiece of a cake! It’s super simple to make, but it looks like you spent a fortune in a bakery or hours slaving away in the kitchen to make it. It’s the perfect quick & easy recipe to have on hand in case you need to whip something up in a pinch!
Get the recipe for the Chocolate & Peach Bundt Cake featured in the bonus video.