Name: Cake Without A Mixer
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 2½ cups all-purpose flour (350g); 1½ cups granulated sugar (300g); 3 tsps baking powder; 1 tsp salt; 1 cup whole milk (227g); 1 cup vegetable oil (200g); 3 large eggs (150g); 1 tbsp vanilla extract; 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (170g); 12 oz cream cheese, softened; 6 tbsp butter, softened; 1½ cups powdered sugar (170g); 1½ tsp vanilla extract

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This Cake Without a Mixer is a super simple, moist yellow cake for beginners and experts alike, made in a 9x13 baking pan, without a hand mixer or stand mixer, with just one bowl and a spoon.

It takes 10 minutes to get in the oven and is topped with an optional chocolate cream cheese frosting also made by hand.

Cake Without A Mixer sliced into squares on a white marble serving board frosted with easy chocolate frosting and decorated with M&M's.

This recipe is designed specifically for those of us who have limited space, small kitchens, move frequently, are students, have limited budgets, and just don’t own lots of kitchen gear but still want to make a great cake.

Its a great for special snack, birthday celebration, or family gathering.

Want to make cookies, but don't have a mixer? Try Chocolate Chip Cookies Without A Mixer.

Cake Designed to Be Made By Hand

This cake is made with vegetable oil rather than butter, which keeps the cake light, fluffy, and moist, making it easy to mix by hand (rather than creaming butter and sugar, which is best done with a mixer).

You can also extra virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil if you have it on hand. It adds flavor (from the healthy fat) and moisture, like in Italian Olive Oil Cake, Lemon Berry Mascarpone Cake, and Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake.

Although I have over a dozen cake recipes, I tested this recipe 3 times to ensure I had the exact right proportions of wet to dry ingredients and quantities for a 9x13 pan to make baking this cake as simple as possible. If you don’t have a 9x13 pan, I have a number of variations in the recipe card below for different pan sizes and shapes.

Slices of cake sitting upright showing the tender crumb of the cake topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting made by hand.

Cake Ingredients

Below are the ingredients needed to make Cake Without a Mixer and Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting without a mixer.

The ingredients needed to make the Cake Without A Mixer.

Flour: Use all-purpose unbleached flour.
Granulated Sugar: This is a sweet cake perfect for a birthday or celebration (but not overly sweet).
Baking Powder: For leavening.
Salt: To bring out and balance flavor.
Milk: Use whole milk if possible, but 1 or 2% will work in a pinch.
Vegetable Oil: Use vegetable oil, not canola oil, which can have an off-putting taste in cake. Or use a neutral tasting extra virgin olive oil, which I do all the time (like in this Olive Oil Lemon Blueberry Cake).
Eggs: Use large eggs, pasture-raised if possible.
Vanilla Extract: Use real vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla. Wholesale stores, like Costco, sell a large bottle for a low price per unit volume.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

The ingredients needed to make the chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Chocolate Chips: Use high quality chocolate such as Guittard or Ghirardelli. I use bittersweet chocolate chips, but you can also use milk or dark chocolate chips, depending on your preference, or leave them out altogether for a vanilla frosting.
Cream Cheese and Butter: Ensure that these are quite soft to make them easier to combine by hand. To soften them quickly, microwave them at 20% power for 30 seconds at a time (separately from one another because they soften at different rates).
Powdered Sugar: Also known as confectioner’s sugar.
Vanilla Extract: Enhances the chocolate flavor.
Mini M&M’s: Optional for decorating. You could also use regular M&M’s, chopped M&M’s, or sprinkles.

See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.

If you love this frosting or have extra, use it for this Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting.

How to Make Cake Without A Mixer

Below are the step-by-step instructions and photos for how to make Cake Without A Mixer.

Note: The recipe card with instructions, ingredient list, and quantities is included further below these step-by-step photos.

A prepared 9x13 metal baking dish and a bowl with the dry ingredients combined.

Step 1. Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9x13 metal baking dish.

Step 2. Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt with a large spoon or spatula, or whisk if you have one.

The bowl with the wet ingredients before and after being combined with the dry ingredients by hand without a mixer.

Step 3. Wet Ingredients: Add the whole milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract and combine, scraping down the bowl as needed.

The cake batter in the prepared baking dish before and after being baked with the golden domed top on the fully baked cake.

Step 4. Bake: Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until the center is set and the top of the cake is a light golden brown.

Three steps in making the chocolate cream cheese frosting by hand.

Step 5. Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting: In a large microwave safe bowl, add the bittersweet chocolate chips. Microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between until melted. Add the softened cream cheese, softened butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract and combine by hand with a large spoon or spatula.

Tip: Ensure the butter and cream cheese are sufficiently soft and use a bit of elbow grease to combine the ingredients.

The finished Cake Without A Mixer with chocolate frosting and after being cut into serving slices and decorated with M&Ms.

Step 6. Frost the Cake: Once the cake has fully cooled, use a large butter knife or offset spatula to frost the cake with the chocolate cream cheese frosting. Decorate with M&M's or sprinkles.

Tips for Making the Best Cake by Hand

Measuring Flour: The best way to measure flour is with a kitchen scale, particularly for baking when precision is helpful. However, if you don’t have a scale, that’s perfectly okay (and cakes are more forgiving than cookies in this way). I use a ratio of 140g per cup of flour, which can be measured with the “dip and sweep” method used by America’s Test Kitchen.
Mix Dry Ingredients First. Use one bowl, but mix the dry ingredients together first before the wet ingredients. This ensures that the baking powder and salt are evenly distributed in the mixture and lessens the amount of mixing that is done when the wet ingredients are added.
Don’t Over Mix: Overmixing develops gluten, which is great in a chewy pizza crust, but not so much in your cake.
Don’t Over Bake: The more you bake a cake, the drier it gets, so pay close attention to the cake towards the end of the baking time. Look for a strong domed top that is lightly golden brown in color.
Toothpick Test: Use a toothpick to ensure that it comes out clean, but don’t use this as a foolproof method for checking doneness. As you remove a toothpick from a cake, the top of the cake can sometimes wipe the toothpick clean before it is totally removed. Color and firmness are better indicators. Or, create a larger (slightly bigger than a toothpick) hole in the cake to insert the toothpick.
Mixing Spoon: If you have a whisk, this makes it a little easier when mixing, but often I just use the largest spoon that I have on hand, and that works great too.
Let the Cake Cool: The cake actually tastes better after it cools. It’s also important to let it cool if you are frosting the cake, as a warm cake will melt the frosting.

Storage and Freezing

To Store: Store the cake covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil in the dish that it was baked in in the fridge for up to 1 week. This cake should not be stored at room temperature when frosted with the cream cheese frosting.
To Freeze: Cut into slices and freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months.