Easy Chocolate Cake Traybake

Tray bakes are currently in vogue – just look at the runaway success of Edd Kimber’s One Tin Bakes (an awesome baking book, highly recommended).

The reason? They are easy as pie, low effort, take mere minutes to prepare AND they can feed a crowd. Perfect for fuss-free birthday parties when you haven’t got the time to create a big layer cake.

This foolproof chocolate tray bake recipe is my go-to cake whenever my kids want to bring something to school to celebrate their birthdays. I can tell you that there’s never a crumb left 🙂

Here’s What You’ll Need

• Plain flour (all purpose flour) plus baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
• Sugar: ideally a mix of granulated and light soft brown sugar
• Cocoa powder: use the best quality unsweetened cocoa powder
• Espresso powder: this enhances the chocolate flavor but is completely optional
• Three large eggs at room temperature
• Softened unsalted butter or margarine
• Buttermilk or milk soured with a little lemon juice

Chocolate Frosting

• Softened unsalted butter (do not use margarine in the frosting)
• Sifted powdered sugar
• Cocoa powder
• Milk, heated in the microwave for 30 seconds until a little warm
• Chocolate: use good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips (and while you are at it, take a look at my Dubai Chocolate Bar Recipe!)

How to Make My Chocolate Traybake Cake

Make the Cake

1. Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature. Put the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and espresso powder in a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer). Use a balloon whisk or fork to stir so they are combined.
2. Add the softened butter, eggs and soured milk and beat together on low speed initially, increasing to maximum speed until batter is smooth. Make sure to use a spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure no sneaky dry pockets of flour lurk underneath!
3. Transfer the batter to a lined sheet pan (9×13 inches), level and bake in a preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. Test the cake is done with a skewer – it should come out clean and crumb free. The cake should be risen and just coming away from the edges of the tin.
4. Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes then use the overhanging paper to carefully lift onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make Frosting, Decorate and Serve!

1. Put the chocolate in a bowl and melt in the microwave, in short 30 second bursts, until it melts. Alternatively, set the bowl over a pot of simmering water and allow if to melt gradually using this double boiler method. Leave the chocolate to cool slightly.
2. Put the icing sugar and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer) and mix together to combine. If you can, sift the ingredients into the bowl. I must admit I am usually too lazy to do that!
3. Add the softened butter and start mixing on low speed, gradually adding the milk until frosting is well combined. Add the melted and cooled chocolate and beat together until the frosting holds soft peaks. Go ahead and taste it… try not to eat it all!
4. Use a palette knife to spread the frosting over the cake, swirling the surface. This cake has A LOT of frosting (if you haven’t eaten it beforehand).
5. Add sprinkles, chocolate buttons, M&Ms or leave plain. When you are ready to serve, slice the cake using a serrated knife, wiping the knife clean between each slice.

Storing and Freezing

• This chocolate cake will keep for 2-3 days at room temperature in an air tight container or cake carrier but it is best eaten when fresh.
• To freeze the cake unfrosted: allow the cake to cool down. Wrap tightly in a layer of plastic wrap and a layer of foil. Place in a suitable container or bag, label with the date and freeze for up to three months. Thaw the cake in the refrigerator overnight. Return to room temperature before adding any frosting.
• How to freeze a frosted chocolate cake: assemble the cake and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes so that frosting can harden. Wrap the cake in plastic wrap, then foil. Place the cake, whole or in slices, it in a freezer-safe container, date and freeze for up to 3 months.  Thaw in the fridge overnight and serve at room temperature.

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HAVE YOU MADE MY CHOCOLATE CAKE TRAYBAKE RECIPE? Please leave a rating, post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #Nusde and make my day!

You might also like my Chocolate Banana Cake.