Sour Cream Chocolate Cake
These days, it seems like everyone’s trying to eat healthier. So, throughout the year, I try to help out by supplying recipes for desserts that let you indulge in a healthy way – like my Cinnamon Pear Quinoa Parfaits, Banana Split Bites, and Slow Cooker Summer Fruit Compote.
This is not one of them.
This Sour Cream Chocolate Cake cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, pass as light or healthy. It’s a rich, sweet, chocolatey indulgence loaded with butter, sugar, and sour cream in both the cake and the icing. Maybe you could try to make a “lighter” version of it, but it wouldn’t have that lush, velvety moistness that only sour cream can provide.
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Now, a cake this rich, this decadent, certainly isn’t something you’d want to eat every day. But everyone deserves to indulge once in a while – and what better time to do it than Christmas?
Look at it this way: you’ve been good all year, eating your veggies and your light-but-healthy desserts. You’ve earned the right to one serving of pure, indulgent, chocolate bliss.
Will your waistline pay the price for it when the New Year comes around? Maybe. But is it worth it? Absolutely, totally yes.
Sour Cream Chocolate Cake
Cake Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
3 cups packed brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups sour cream
1 1/3 cup boiling water
Frosting Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
3 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped
5 cups powdered sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10×15 inch (4-4.5 quart) glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Add the wet mixture and sour cream to the dry ingredients and beat with an electric mixer just until well blended. Add the boiling water then stir until combined. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Set the cake aside to cool.
- Microwave the butter in a microwave safe bowl just until melted. Stir in the semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval, until the chocolate is melted.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted chocolate and butter mixture, powdered sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Beat with an electric or stand mixer until smooth.
- Spread the frosting evenly onto the cooled to room temperature cake.
Sour Cream Chocolate Cake
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Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 3 cups packed brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/3 cups sour cream
- 1 1/3 cup boiling water
Frosting Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate chopped
- 3 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate chopped
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10x15 inch (4-4.5 quart) glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine. Add the wet mixture and sour cream to the dry ingredients and beat with an electric mixer just until well blended. Add the boiling water then stir until combined.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Set the cake aside to cool.
- Microwave the butter in a microwave safe bowl just until melted. Stir in the semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval, until the chocolate is melted.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted chocolate and butter mixture, powdered sugar, sour cream, and vanilla; beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Spread the frosting evenly onto the cooled to room temperature cake.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer: Family Fresh Meals is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
Did You Make This Recipe?
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I used a different frosting recipe, but the CAKE recipe is fantastic. It’s is so moist. So easy and so good. Thanks for sharing.
Next time I will try it with your frosting recipe too.