A gorgeous three layer Chocolate Chip Cake made from scratch. Buttery vanilla cake studded with chocolate chips and frosted with vanilla buttercream – it’s the perfect party cake.
All hail the chocolate chip.
This gorgeous three layer Chocolate Chip Cake is fluffy and moist, and filled to the brim with chocolate chips.
Covered in a milky vanilla buttercream, it’s a unique twist on the classic ‘cookies and milk.’
I’m so excited to share this cake recipe with you today. You know I’m mad for Chocolate Chip Cookies and cake (of course), so this is like the perfect marriage.
A delicate vanilla cake studded with chocolate, covered in a creamy frosting and topped with chocolate chips.
It’s simple and sweet and just the thing to make your day better.
Taking a leaf from my favourite Funfetti Vanilla Layer Cake, this Chocolate Chip Cake gets its buttery texture and rich flavour from oodles of vanilla and a dash of sour cream.
The rest is just, well, the icing on the cake, really. Once you take a cake that good and add a little frosting, well then, there’s no turning back.
Needless to say, I could not stop at one slice. No sir.
Tips for making a Chocolate Chip Cake
- If you’ve ever had trouble with chocolate chips sinking in your cake, can I suggest either using mini chocolate chips (if you can find them) OR finely chopping or grating chocolate by hand. You will get a similar effect.
- You can make this cake as either a 3 layer 6 inch cake as pictured here OR a 2 layer 8 inch cake. You may just have to adjust the cooking time slightly. I recommend checking the cakes every 5 minutes after 30 minutes of baking, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Finally, to achieve a semi-naked look with the frosting, as I did, cover the cake in frosting and use a cake scraper to get rid of the excess frosting around the sides.
- And YES you can change the colour of the vanilla frosting by using food gel colouring.
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Let's Bake
Chocolate Chip Cake
Buttery chocolate chip cake covered in vanilla buttercream.
Ingredients
Vanilla cake
- 230 grams (1 cup or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 200 grams (1 cup) caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 315 grams (2 and 1/4 cups) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 240 ml (1 cup) full fat or whole milk
- 2 tablespoons full fat sour cream
- 160 grams (1 cup) mini chocolate chips*
Vanilla buttercream
- 230 grams (1 cup or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 625 grams (5 cups) icing sugar or powdered sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons milk, room temperature
- 110 grams (2/3 cup) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Grease and line three 6-inch round baking pans (or two 8-inch round baking pans). Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the butter, sugar and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Sift in flour and baking powder. Add milk and sour cream and beat on a low speed until combined. Finally, chocolate chips and stir.
- Divide batter evenly between cake tins and bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Carefully remove the cakes and set on a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make frosting, beat butter with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, then add the vanilla. Add icing sugar, one cup at a time. Add a tablespoon of milk as needed. Continue until you have used all the icing sugar and milk and the frosting is smooth and creamy.
- Use a serrated knife or a cake trimmer to even the top of both cakes. Place one cake on a small cake board, then cover the top with buttercream. Place the second cake on top. Cover top with buttercream.
- Add third cake on top. Cover the entire cake, top and sides, with remaining buttercream. Use a cake scraper to remove excess buttercream on the sides. Sprinkles chocolate chips on top.
Notes
*Sometimes chocolate chips can sink to the bottom of a cake, which is why mini chocolate chips are recommended. Alternatively, finely chop or grate a block of chocolate by hand and use that instead.
Vicki says
Hi, I like the look of this cake. I’m wondering if the cake can be made a few days ahead and then ice it on the day?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Vicki, if you want to make the cake a few days in advance, I recommend freezing it to maintain freshness. Then you can just defrost it (bring it back to room temperature) and frost it on the day of serving.
Claire says
Have just finished a birthday afternoon tea with this cake as the star attraction and it was delish. I cooked in two 8 inch tins, used normal sized choc chips plus added another (!) 150 grams of reeses peanut butter chips. I had no problems with chips sinking. The cakes remained relatively flat but were beautifully fluffy and moist. They were fully cooked on the thirty minutes yet only very lightly golden. I thought they were probably not done but the skewer test said they were so out they came. I only had enough icing sugar to make about a half batch of the buttercream and it turned out that for us that was just the perfect amount of extra sweetness for the cake. A lovely recipe Jess, thanks.
Jessica Holmes says
I love hearing that Claire! And adding some peanut butter chips sounds divine. Thank you for your kind review.
Eve says
This is AMAZING! You must try this recipe! So moist chocolaty and creamy! Yum
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it Eve!
Eleanor says
Great recipe! I made it as an at home version of my sister’s wedding cake because we couldn’t be at the wedding in person. I had a bit of a false start when I didn’t cream the butter properly (it was too cold) so I started over and it worked perfectly in the end. The flavours were delicious and not too sweet! Definitely going to make it again. Thank you for posting this!
Jessica Holmes says
So happy to hear that Eleanor! Thank you for the lovely feedback!
Dotty says
My sister requested a chocolate chip cake, and this was the best looking recipe I could find. Came together very easily, I did two 8” layers because those were the pans I had. No problem with the mini chocolate chips falling to the bottom. The cake cooked for 32 minutes in my oven. I used half and half in the icing instead of milk. I don’t like super sweet icing and it was a little sweet, so I added a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and that fixed that!
I’ll deliver it tonight, not sure if I will get a piece, but it sure looks yummy, and I have been scraping the icing bowl for a little taste, Lol.
Jessica Holmes says
Awesome, so glad it went well for you Dotty! I’m sure your sister will love it!
Ria says
Hello Jess,
I look forward to baking this cake. Very excited. Although I have a question. Is it ok to leave the batter out for long? Coz I have an otg oven and three tins can’t go in together. Only one tin at a time. So would it be ok to leave the cake batter out for long?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Ria, I can’t say for sure as I haven’t tried myself. I would usually recommend baking cakes straight away, but it may be ok. If you try it, let me know how it goes.
M says
Made this recipe and the cake was moist and tasty; the icing excellent as well. Highly recommend chopping the chocolate chips up for a more even distribution. Thanks for posting!
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Jennifer Ennis says
Ive made a lot of cakes, I usually bake weekly. Ive had my eye on this cake for ages. I decided to bake it for a birthday cake, however, it was a disaster. It rose nicely, a little brown on top but not a problem however, all the tiny mini choc chips sunk to the bottom of my cake and when i turned it out of the pan it was so heavy on the bottom it immediately collapsed. Ive never had this before. Obviously it can turn out beautifully as in the pic above. I followed the recipe to the letter. I have no idea why my tiny weeny choc chips sunk. It actually tastes delcious but it just didn’t work. So disappointed. These things happen. Off to bake another.
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Jennifer, thanks for your review. Sorry to hear that your chocolate chips sunk, however this can be a common issue. It is usually a weight issue, where the chocolate chips are simply too heavy for the cake batter and sink as the cake bakes. This can happen if you added too much liquid to your cake batter or over mixed it or the weight of your chocolate chips just couldn’t be sustained by the cake batter. As I put in the recipe notes, it can happen so the best way to combat is to use mini chocolate chips or chopped or even grated chocolate. You can also toss your chocolate chips in a little flour before adding them to your cake but this only helps mildly. Thanks again for trying one of my recipes.
Josh says
This cake is great! Really soft and fluffy inside.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Josh!
Emma says
Hi Jessica, would this cake be suitable to cover with fondant?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Emma, yes I think that would be fine!
Stacey says
Not a fan. The icing was way too sweet for my liking- and the actual cake wasn’t anything special. It was I. Fact easy to make and assemble ! And it looked very pretty, just not a fan of the taste .
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Stacey, so glad it worked well for you, but sorry to hear you didn’t like the icing.
sanna says
HI what do you mean by ” VANILLA AND BEAT ” there are many things that is vanilla and what is beat
my eng is not my first language
Jessica Holmes says
Hi, I’m referring to the vanilla extract listed in the ingredient list. And beat with an electric mixer means mix or combine.
Ashley Lichenstein says
I made this cake for my son’s birthday, yesterday, and my cake ended up being flat and kind of hard, like I didn’t use enough baking power, or me batter was too thick, even though I followed the recipe exactly. Any idea what might have went wrong?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Ashley, I’m sorry to hear that! That doesn’t sound right. Did you take a photo at all? You could email it to me or DM me on Instagram. If your cake didn’t rise with 3 teaspoons of baking powder, it sounds like your powder must have expired. If it was hard, it sounds like you may have over-mixed the batter or over cooked the cake. The milk and sour cream usually ensure a lovely fluffy middle.
Ashley Lichenstein says
Thanks for your reply! No, I didn’t take a picture. 😭 But I thought I’d mention that my batter was VERY thick. Idk if maybe I should have used more milk than what the recipe called for? And I thought of the baking powder problem, so I tested my baking powder in some boiling water, and it seems good, still, though it IS in fact, expired, according to the print on the can. So, idk. I’m at a loss!
Jessica Holmes says
Oh the expired powder might be it!