Finish off any celebration with the festive and fabulous Sour Cream Yellow Cake with Chocolate Icing. This recipe comes from Anne Byrn, aka The Cake Mix Doctor. Since her books were written in yesteryear when cake mix boxes yielded more ounces than today’s versions, I listed the calculation for adding in 3 more ounces of cake mix to set this recipe right. Be sure to buy two boxes of yellow cake mix when getting your ingredients in gear.
My husband’s fam loves this cake when it’s a birthday or anniversary sitch. It’s really very easy, and it is a hit with the young and old and all in between.
Sour Cream Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy16
servings20
minutes10
minutes60
minutes60
minutesIngredients
- For the cake
Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
18.25 ounces plain yellow cake mix (As of 2026, the standard cake mix box size is 15.25 ounces, so you need to add 6 Tbsp. of cake mix from a second box)
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/3 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean or sunflower
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- Martha’s Chocolate Icing
1 cup granulated sugar
5 Tbsp. butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
- For the cake
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly mist a 10-inch tube pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside.
- Place the cake mix, sour cream, oil, water, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look thick and smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.
- Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 50 to 55 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a wire rack, then invert it again onto another rack so that the cake is right side up. Allow the cake to cool completely, 30 minutes more. Frost as desired.
- For Martha’s Chocolate Icing
- Place the sugar, butter and milk in a medium-size saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until the mixture comes to a boil, 3-4 minutes. Still stirring, let the mixture boil until the sugar dissolves, 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Stir in the chocolate chips and continue to stir until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate has melted.
Spread icing over cooled cake.
