Marble Sheet Cake with Fudge Frosting
Marble sheet cake topped with fudge frosting is one of those nostalgic cakes that just tastes like childhood. The great thing with a sheet cake, it’s a rustic style and you don’t have to worry about getting perfectly smooth frosting or sharp edges.
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Simple Birthday Cake
For my birthday, I usually like to try out a new decorating technique (like cake stencils) or a delicious flavor I’m vibing with. This year, I went simple. I’ve been baking just about every week for eight years, yet I’ve never made a sheet cake!
After deciding to do a sheet cake, I stumbled across a cake recipe that was different than my normal creaming method cakes. I tweaked the recipe to suit my needs and was so excited to see how this marble sheet cake would turn out.
Marble Sheet Cake
Just like any marble cake, we need a portion of vanilla cake batter and chocolate cake batter. The danger here is over mixing. Only barely combine the batter, and only just fold the melted chocolate in until it is barely combined.
This is basically a creaming method cake, but with a little change. Instead of adding egg (whites, in this case) to the creamed butter and sugar, we’re folding the whipped egg whites into the batter at the end. The whipped egg whites give the cake even more lift!
Top Tips for Cakes
- Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This will help everything blend nicely and give your cake a nice texture.
- Scrape down your bowl often. Butter and sugar can hide out at the bottom of your bowl. Make sure everything gets blended!
- Do NOT over mix. Once you add the wet and dry ingredients, keep the speed on stir and only mix to combine.
- Wilton baking strips will give you a flat top and prevent the edges from caramelizing. (For a sheet cake, you’ll need to combine two strips).
- Use an electronic scale to divide your cake batter into the pans.
Easy Fudge Frosting
If you’re a Bakes & Blunders regular, this fudge frosting may look familiar. I used a smaller batch to frost my zucchini brownies! It is soooo rich and packs an intense chocolate punch.
This recipe makes just enough fudge frosting for the marble sheet cake, in my opinion. Because it is so rich, I don’t think you need a ton on the cake. If you disagree, feel free to scale this recipe up, or even choose a different chocolate frosting. This is your cake after all.
Related Reading: Lemon Raspberry Ripple Cake
Chocolate Frosting
- Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream with cocoa powder
- Chocolate Fudge Frosting or Filling
- Chocolate Ganache
- Dark & Black Cocoa Buttercream
- Chocolate American Buttercream
- Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream
- Chocolate Ganache Buttercream
- Easy Chocolate Buttercream
Simple Assembly
Even with a lower oven temperature and cake strips, my marble sheet cake was not flat on top. This really isn’t a big deal, but I decided to trim off part of the raised area so that I would have a flat surface to work with. You can absolutely skip this step if you’d like.
I don’t have a great serving platter for a 9×13 cake, so I placed my trimmed cake back into the cake pan before covering it with frosting. It’s a thicc cake layer. You could absolutely split it in half and add a filling, if that’s your jam.
Enjoy!
An elegant cake with elaborate decorations is a showstopper and can be super delicious, but sometimes simple just hits the spot. This marble sheet cake with fudge frosting is soft, moist, and absolutely scrumptious.
Send this recipe to a friend who loves easy, nostalgic baking! Maybe you can make it feel like the ‘90s again 😀
Marble Sheet Cake with Fudge Frosting
Ingredients
Marble Sheet Cake
- 14 oz cake flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 14 oz sugar
- 6 oz unsalted butter softened
- 2 Tbsp cake enhancer optional
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 12 fl oz whole milk room temperature
- 2 oz dark chocolate melted
- 1 tsp espresso powder
- ½ tsp water
- ⅛ tsp baking soda
- 6 egg whites room temperature
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
- 6 oz unsalted butter softened
- 6 oz cocoa powder sifted
- 4 fl oz corn syrup
- 4 fl oz boiling water
- 4 oz powdered sugar sifted
- 2 tsp vanilla
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
Marble Sheet Cake
- Lightly coat a 9x13 cake pan with baking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat the oven to 325℉.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine, then set aside.
- In a stand mixer, add the sugar, butter, cake enhancer (if using), and vanilla. Beat on a medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5- 8 minutes. Once or twice, scrape the bowl down so that everything combines well.
- Scrape the bowl down. Add a third of the dry ingredients and mix on a low speed until just combined. Immediately start drizzling in half of the milk. Once barely combined, stop the mixer and scrape the bowl down. Repeat with another addition of sry ingredients, then the last of the milk. Scrape the bowl down and add the final portion of dry ingredients. Mix until almost combined.
- Divide the batter into two equal portions. Set one aside. Add the melted chocolate. Combine the espresso powder, water, and baking soda. Add to the bowl. Fold gently until the chocolate is only just combined. Set aside.
- In a clean mixing bowl, whip the egg whites until you reach medium stiff peaks. Do not over whip. Divide the whipped egg whites between the two portions of cake batter. Gently fold until incorporated into each bowl.
- Alternate spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate cake batter to the prepared cake pan. Once all the cake batter is in the pan, give the pan a little jiggle to help level out the batter. Use a skewer or butter knife to slightly swirl the two flavors together.
- Bake for 40- 45 minutes, or until the edges pull away from the pan, the cake bounces back when poked, and a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs. I wrapped my pan in soaked cake strips. This is optional.
- Cool in the pan for 20 - 30 minutes. Carefully transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
- Beat butter and cocoa powder on a medium speed until smooth. Scrape the bowl down and add the corn syrup. On a medium speed, beat until smooth. Scrape the bowl down.
- With the mixer on a med- low speed, slowly pour the boiling water into the bowl. Continue mixing until well combined. Scrape the bowl down.
- Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat on a low speed until mostly combined, then increase to med- high speed and beat for 2 minutes.
Assemble
- Once cool, you can level off the top of the cake if you'd like. It can help to chill the cake for 30 minutes to an hour first so that it is a bit firmer.
- Add the fudge frosting to the cake and use an offset spatula to smooth it into an even layer.
Notes
- You can easily get 20- 24 good sized slices from this sheet cake, but even smaller portions would be satisfying.
Colleen
Hi there! I’m Colleen, a novice baker with a passion for learning and improving my bakes… and blunders. On Bakes and Blunders, you can find all sorts of tasty recipes that range in difficulty, but most importantly, I’ll try to explain the reason behind important steps. If you know why a recipe works, you can tweak and adapt it to suit your unique tastes, and you’ll be able to reliably produce some very delicious treats. If you love baking and want to expand and grow your skills, or if you are a casual baker and just need some pointers, my blog is right up your alley! Join me on my baking journey and we’ll learn how to make more impressive recipes together.
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