Happy Friday, Friends!🎉
My very first birthday cake, or I should say the very first cake I have memory of, was a beautiful and traditional chocolate frosted 2 layer yellow cake. More than likely, of the Duncan Hines variety. It was so delicious looking, that I smashed my 4 year old hand right though it!
And I would have smashed this one too, except that my age has unfortunately brought with it civilized behavior—which is totally overrated, by the way. All kidding aside, this traditional yellow cake will bring you right back to your youth with it’s moist texture + buttery vanilla flavor along with an irresistible rich + velvety chocolate frosting. An absolutely delicious classic!😋
Tips for today:
-The Paleo recipe as well as the Vegan recipes are at the end of the post, just keep scrolling down.
-We used this 8×8 baking dish for the cake pictured.
-Make sure to let your cake cool first before removing it from the pan.
–Color Kitchen makes gluten-free, dye-free sprinkles.
-You can use a drop of yellow food coloring in the cake batter for a true yellow. Color Kitchen has a dye-free variety.
1/4cupegg white powder (Hoosier Hill Farms or any plain Egg White Protein powder will do).
2tablespoonscocoa powder
1/4teaspoonsalt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, tapioca starch, baking soda and baking powder.
Add almond milk, egg and extra yolk, melted butter, vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar to your flour mixture. Combine until batter is smooth. Use batter immediately
Pour batter into parchment paper lined 8×8 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, covered tightly with foil for the last ten minutes. (For cupcakes, bake just 20- 25 minutes uncovered). Cake will be firm yet springy when cooled completely.
Remove cake pan from oven and place pan on wire cooling rack. Let the cake or cupcakes cool completely in their baking dish.
While the cake is cooling, go ahead and start on the frosting. Melt the Baker’s Chocolate pieces in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. Then slowly stir honey into your melted chocolate. Mix in vanilla extract, set aside. In a medium/large bowl, sift together egg white powder, cocoa powder and salt.
Add your softened butter and melted chocolate mixture to your dry ingredients. Using a hand mixer, blend until smooth. Place frosting in the freezer for 15 minutes and the chocolate will harden, setting the icing. Remove from freezer and blend the icing on high speed one last time until fluffy, it will stay firm at this point. (If you desire an even creamier icing, you can blend in 1 tbsp of full fat coconut milk right before frosting your cake).
Spread frosting over cake, cut and serve! Store any leftovers in an airtight container. (Double the frosting recipe if you prefer a little extra to work with). Enjoy!
*Making these as cupcakes is a great option if you’re short on time–a pretty swirl of frosting on top and they are birthday ready! Make sure to let them cool completely before removing them from the cupcake tin.
Ingredients
Scale
2 + 1/4cupsalmond flour
3/4cuptapioca starch
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
2teaspoonsbaking powder
1/2cup+ 2 tbsp almond milk or coconut milk
1/3cupapple sauce
1/3cupmaple syrup (or honey if preferred)
1/4cupmelted Earth Balance Spread
1 1/2tablespoonsvanilla extract
1tablespoonapple cider vinegar
FOR THE FROSTING:
1/2cupEnjoy Life Chocolate Chips (or chunks)
4 1/2cupspowdered sugar (Wholesome! brand is grain-free)
3/4cupmelted Earth Balance Spread
3tablespoonsroom temperature almond milk
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
1/4teaspoonsalt
3tablespoonscocoa powder
Instructions
preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl whisk together almond flour, tapioca starch, baking soda and baking powder.
Add almond milk, apple sauce, melted butter, vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar to your flour mixture. Combine until batter is smooth.
Pour batter into parchment paper lined 8×8 baking dish. (Alternatively, you can make cupcakes). Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes (cupcakes 25 minutes). Cake will be firm yet springy when done.
Remove cake pan from oven and place pan on wire cooling rack. Let the cake or cupcakes cool completely in their baking dish.
While cake is cooling, start on your frosting. Melt Enjoy Life chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 30 second intervals until melted and smooth (stirring each time). Slowly add your 3/4 cup melted Earth Balance, stirring in a little at a time until smooth. Now add the almond milk and vanilla in the same manner, mixing the whole time until smooth. Set aside for a moment. In a large bowl whisk together powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Pour chocolate/butter mixture over powdered sugar mix and start to blend with hand mixer. Blend on high speed until fluffy and smooth. For a stiffer frosting, add more powdered sugar, for a creamier frosting, add additional almond milk.
Frost cake as desired, cut and serve! Store any leftovers in an airtight container. Enjoy!
I can’t tell you have badly I would love a piece of this cake right now! The texture looks incredibly perfect. The color speaks volumes about how delicious it tastes. And of course the chocolate frosting on top completes it all! You have outdone yourself with this one and I can’t wait for my family to try it 🙂
Oh you are the sweetest Noelle, thank you!! 😀 I wish I could send the whole cake over!! I was really excited that this turned out, I had missed that yellow cake flavor so much!! I hope you guys love the recipe!
Catherine, that gorgeous yellow cake looks so moist and I love that texture! Oh and that frosting is to die for! I want some like right now!!! Comin’ over my dear! Happy Weekend!
How kind you are dear Kim! Thank you so much! And come on over, I’ll put on a pot of tea but you have to bring your Irish Cream Chocolate Brownies with you!! 😀
This is probably a silly question but it’s late and my histamine intolerance has been in overdrive lately, so I’m itchy and super fatigued. For a layer cake I would need to double this recipe, correct? I’m baking a 5-layer 6″ round unicorn witch cake for my daughter’s 6th birthday this coming week.
That’s not a silly question at all! I would definitely recommend doubling the recipe. The batter rises well in the oven, so each layer can be pretty thin to start with. And what a great idea for a Halloween Birthday Cake! 😀
Thank you for such a quick reply! I’m looking forward to trying this. She and I made the funfetti cupcakes this morning to take to her class Monday and they look and smell fantastic. We’ll be piping short monster fur on half and mummy bandages on the other. The teacher requested as little sugar as possible so we’ll go for the magic shell for my older daughter’s birthday in December.
Oh how fun! 😀 I bet everyone will love the monster and mummy cupcakes!! I love baking the funfetti cupcakes too, they really do smell so yummy right out of the oven. I hope your daughter will love the magic shell version for her birthday and hope you guys love the yellow cake as well!!
I made the paleo version and the consistency was spongy-rubbery. There was no crumb to it. I wondered if adding 1 or 2 eggs would have improved the crumb?
Jill, thank you for your comment and I am so sorry, but there was a misprint on the paleo version of this recipe that must have occurred when changing our recipe card format. We are very careful to avoid these kinds of errors, I hope you’ll accept our apology. We’ve gone in and updated the paleo version of this recipe so that it is correct. You’ll find that there are a few changes and I can assure you this will be much better as well as delicious!! Thank you for bearing with us and we hope you’ll try it again if you have the chance and would like to.
Really excited to try the vegan version this weekend! It’s a friends birthday and he really wanted a classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Will definitely send an updated comment, once we’ve made it. 🙂
*This post may contain affiliate links, I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using these links. Income allows us to purchase products to test the recipes you see here!
I can’t tell you have badly I would love a piece of this cake right now! The texture looks incredibly perfect. The color speaks volumes about how delicious it tastes. And of course the chocolate frosting on top completes it all! You have outdone yourself with this one and I can’t wait for my family to try it 🙂
Oh you are the sweetest Noelle, thank you!! 😀 I wish I could send the whole cake over!! I was really excited that this turned out, I had missed that yellow cake flavor so much!! I hope you guys love the recipe!
Catherine, that gorgeous yellow cake looks so moist and I love that texture! Oh and that frosting is to die for! I want some like right now!!! Comin’ over my dear! Happy Weekend!
How kind you are dear Kim! Thank you so much! And come on over, I’ll put on a pot of tea but you have to bring your Irish Cream Chocolate Brownies with you!! 😀
This is probably a silly question but it’s late and my histamine intolerance has been in overdrive lately, so I’m itchy and super fatigued. For a layer cake I would need to double this recipe, correct? I’m baking a 5-layer 6″ round unicorn witch cake for my daughter’s 6th birthday this coming week.
That’s not a silly question at all! I would definitely recommend doubling the recipe. The batter rises well in the oven, so each layer can be pretty thin to start with. And what a great idea for a Halloween Birthday Cake! 😀
Thank you for such a quick reply! I’m looking forward to trying this. She and I made the funfetti cupcakes this morning to take to her class Monday and they look and smell fantastic. We’ll be piping short monster fur on half and mummy bandages on the other. The teacher requested as little sugar as possible so we’ll go for the magic shell for my older daughter’s birthday in December.
Oh how fun! 😀 I bet everyone will love the monster and mummy cupcakes!! I love baking the funfetti cupcakes too, they really do smell so yummy right out of the oven. I hope your daughter will love the magic shell version for her birthday and hope you guys love the yellow cake as well!!
I made the paleo version and the consistency was spongy-rubbery. There was no crumb to it. I wondered if adding 1 or 2 eggs would have improved the crumb?
Thank you.
Jill, thank you for your comment and I am so sorry, but there was a misprint on the paleo version of this recipe that must have occurred when changing our recipe card format. We are very careful to avoid these kinds of errors, I hope you’ll accept our apology. We’ve gone in and updated the paleo version of this recipe so that it is correct. You’ll find that there are a few changes and I can assure you this will be much better as well as delicious!! Thank you for bearing with us and we hope you’ll try it again if you have the chance and would like to.
Really excited to try the vegan version this weekend! It’s a friends birthday and he really wanted a classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Will definitely send an updated comment, once we’ve made it. 🙂
I hope you both will love it, thank you so much!! And a very Happy Birthday to your friend! ;D