Mini Chocolate Cake

Mini Chocolate Sheet Cake is made in an eighth sheet pan and has a small batch chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream. This easy chocolate cake recipe is fast to make and always a crowd pleaser!

Mini Chocolate Sheet Cake

Hi hi! Just popping in to share the recipe for this mini chocolate cake with you. This is another in the series of mini sheet cakes I have been making - so far I have made this tiramisu cake, brown butter carrot cake and mini funfetti cake, and I have a few more up my sleeve!

This easy chocolate cake recipe comes together super quickly and bakes in an eighth sheet pan for a mini chocolate sheet cake. It is topped with a smooth and silky small batch chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream. This cake is super versatile - you can mix and match flavours however you like!

How to make Chocolate Cake

This mini chocolate cake is super easy to make - you just combine the dry ingredients, combine the wet ingredients, then mix them together and transfer to your cake pan.

The ingredient list is made up of the usual chocolate cake suspects - flour, sugar, milk, cocoa, baking powder, and oil for moisture. I much prefer an oil based chocolate cake over a butter one, as I find that the texture is much nicer and the cake doesn't dry out.

This recipe is baked at 325°f / 160°f as opposed to the standard 350°f / 180°c you usually see in baking recipes. When I was testing it, I found that baking at a higher temperature caused the cake to have a larger dome in the middle, which isn't ideal if you are making a sheet cake. Ideally you want it to bake up nice and flat.

After playing around with all the variables (bake temp, leavening agent, sugar, etc), I found that reducing the baking temperature was the most effective way to prevent this.

This is why it is so important to make sure that your oven is calibrated / that you have a thermometer in there. Some recipes aren't too sensitive, but for others it will make a huge difference.

Baking in an Eighth sheet pan

I made this mini funfetti cake in an eighth sheet pan, which is half the size of a quarter sheet pan. They are super fun to bake in - I own a bunch. I love them for small batches of bread rolls, or also for mini sheet cakes such as this recipe. They line perfectly with quarter sheet pan sized parchment (one of my favourite things), and are just so, so cute. I use them all the time for toasting nuts or baking up a single cookie.

If you can't get hold of an eighth sheet pan, this mini funfetti cake will also work perfectly made in a 9"x5" (23x13cm) loaf pan. You will just need to watch the bake time!

What is Dutch Process Cocoa and why is it important?

Dutch cocoa and regular aren't necessarily interchangeable due to the nature of them. Regular cocoa is acidic whereas dutch process cocoa has been put through an alkalising process, which means that it reacts differently in baking.

Regular, acidic cocoa powder will react more strongly with baking soda (which is basic), so the cake will behave differently. This is important to note when baking, especially when swapping in Dutch cocoa for a recipe which calls for regular cocoa - it may affect the rise.

I have only tested this mini chocolate cake recipe with dutch cocoa. It uses both baking powder and soda so you are welcome to try regular cocoa, I just don't know how you would get on. It is certainly worth tracking down Dutch cocoa if you can - I love the intensity and richness it gives to chocolate cake.

How to make Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I topped this mini chocolate cake with a small batch Swiss meringue buttercream. I often make a larger batch of my Swiss Meringue Buttercream in a stand mixer, but this small batch can easily be made with a hand mixer. It is my preferred way to make small batch frosting, as the stand mixer bowl is often too big to reach the buttercream.

This mini chocolate cake is also a great way to use up any leftover frosting that you may have frozen. To freeze frosting, just pop it into an airtight container then freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge or on the counter, then whip until light and fluffy and you are good to go.

Chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream is just vanilla buttercream with melted chocolate and a tiny bit of cocoa powder for flavour added in. I love chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream - the chocolate cuts through the butter, and it is rich without being too sweet.

Swiss meringue buttercream is easy to make by hand, here is how I do it:

• Combine the egg whites and sugar in a bowl, then place over a double boiler. This helps to dissolve the sugar, and it also brings the egg whites to a food safe temperature.
• Remove from the double boiler and whip the egg whites until thick. Usually you would look for a stiff peak, but as there is only a small quantity this can be hard to gauge. Swiss meringue buttercream you can get away with not having super stiff peaks, so look for something that holds somewhat of a peak.
• Add half of the butter, and mix to incorporate. Add the remainder of the butter and keep whipping. The mixture may look split but just keep mixing and it will come together. Continue to whip until light and fluffy.
• Fold in the cooled chocolate and cocoa and mix until combined. Your buttercream is now ready to use.

FAQ for Mini Chocolate Cake

For more small batch cake recipes, check out:

• Mini Chocolate Layer Cake
• Mini Funfetti Cake
• Vanilla Malt Snack Cake

Recipe For Mini Chocolate Cake

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