Cake Without A Mixer
This Cake Without a Mixer is a super simple, moist yellow cake for beginners and experts alike, made in a 9x13 baking pan. It is made without a hand mixer or stand mixer, with just one bowl and a spoon, and 40 minutes start to finish.
Servings: 18 slices
Calories: 450kcal
Ingredients
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour 350g
- 1½ cups granulated sugar 300g
- 3 tsps baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole milk 227g
- 1 cup vegetable oil 200g
- 3 large eggs 150g
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips 170g
- 12 oz cream cheese, softened
- 6 tablespoon butter, softened
- 1½ cups powdered sugar 170g
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9x13 metal rectangular pan.
- In a large bowl, with a whisk, large spoon, or spatula, combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the whole milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract and combine until the dry ingredients are just incorporated into the wet ingredients.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until domed and lightly golden brown across the entire top of the cake.
- While the cake is in the oven, make the chocolate frosting. In a medium bowl, add the bittersweet chocolate chips and microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between and repeating until melted, about 1½ - 2 minutes total.
- Add the softened cream cheese, softened butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract and combine with a large spoon or spatula. Ensure that the cream cheese and butter are well softened to make stirring by hand easier, but you’ll need to use a little oomph to combine the ingredients.
- Allow the cake to cool fully, then frost with the chocolate frosting and decorate with M&M's or sprinkles if using.
Notes
- 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.
- Size Variations
- Divide the batter into two 8-inch cake pans and start checking at 20 minutes baking time.
- Use the following ingredient quantities to make the cake in an 8x8 or 9x9 square baker, checking at 25 minutes baking time.
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour 210g
- ¾ cup granulated sugar 150g
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup whole milk 170g
- ½ cup vegetable oil 100g
- 2 large eggs 100g
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Nutrition
Calories: 450kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 318mg | Potassium: 142mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 438IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 113mg | Iron: 1mg
