This Chocolate Chip Cake is 2 layers of moist and delicious vanilla cake loaded with mini semi-sweet chocolate chips and a sweet vanilla chocolate chip buttercream frosting to boot!
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This simple chocolate chip cake is two 8-inch layers of moist, fluffy white cake with mini semi-sweet chocolate chips topped with a creamy vanilla chocolate chip buttercream frosting.
It’s an easy recipe to make in advance (both the cake and the buttercream frosting), and you can even freeze it after frosting!
And if you love this recipe, check out my Moist Banana Cake (also two layers), Chocolate Oreo Cake (three layers), or my Single Layer Funfetti Cake!
Enjoy!
Table of Contents
Ingredients Needed
Chocolate Chip Cake
The following ingredients are needed to make this easy chocolate chip cake recipe. Items noted in the bulleted list are key ingredients that need a bit more explanation.
- All-Purpose Flour. Use your favorite brand of flour—I used King Arthur.
- Whole Milk. You can also use 1% or 2% dairy milk.
- Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips. I recommend Ghirardelli, as they’re lighter and less prone to sinking during baking. I would still coat them in a little flour before adding them to the batter, though!
Chocolate Chip Buttercream Frosting
The following ingredients are needed to make this simple chocolate chip buttercream frosting. Items noted in the bulleted list are key ingredients that need a bit more explanation.
- Powdered Sugar. I highly recommend sifting the powdered sugar to remove any clumps.
- Heavy Cream. You could also use whole milk in a pinch.
- Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips. You can omit the mini chocolate chips from the frosting if you prefer just the cake to have them, or you prefer a smoother frosting.
How to Make the Recipe
Below is a quick overview of how to make this two-layer chocolate chip cake recipe. For the full printable recipe, with US customary or metric measurements, visit the recipe card below.
Chocolate Chip Cake
Step 1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Reserve 2-3 tablespoons of this mixture to coat the mini chocolate chips in.
Step 2. Beat the butter and sugar together. Add in the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and whole milk, mix until well blended.
Step 3. Add the whisked dry mixture to the bowl of wet ingredients. Fold in the coated mini chocolate chips.
Step 4. Transfer the chocolate chip cake batter evenly into the two 8 inch pans.
Step 5. Bake the cake layers for 32-35 minutes at 350ºF.
Step 6. Let the cake layers cool for 10 minutes in the pans. Then invert them onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
Chocolate Chip Buttercream Frosting
Step 1. Beat the butter until nice and smooth. You can use your hand mixer or stand mixer.
Step 2. Add in the powdered sugar, then the vanilla extract and heavy cream.
Step 3. Stir in the semi-sweet mini chocolate chips.
Step 4. Frost the cooled cake layers, then enjoy!
Storage and Freezing Instructions
For the cake layers. If you are making your cake in advance, you can keep these chocolate chip cake layers at room temperature or in the refrigerator, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 3 days.
You can also freeze the cake layers for up to one month by tightly wrapping them in plastic wrap and placing them in a large freezer bag.
For the frosting. If making the chocolate chip buttercream frosting in advance, wait to add in the chocolate chips until you’re actually ready to frost the cake. If you add them in before, it will make it harder to revive the frosting when you mix it again in the mixer.
Keep the frosting in a tightly sealed food container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Bring it out 45 minutes to 1 hour before using, then give it a few whips with the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Then you can add the chocolate chips.
Helpful Tips
- Prep your cake pans. Whenever I bake cakes (including bundt cakes), I always use Baker’s Joy. It’s a flour-based baking spray that works super well, and I’ve never had any issues with a cake sticking to the pan. Generously coat both 8-inch cake pans. I also recommend adding a parchment paper circle to the bottom of the cake pan, then respraying the top lightly with more baking spray.
- Coat your mini chocolate chips. This is just for the cake part of the recipe. Coating them in a little of the whisked dry mixture before adding them to the batter at the end helps to keep them from sinking to the bottom while baking.
- Let your cakes cool. Before frosting your cakes, make sure they are 100% cooled.
Recipe FAQs
I used Wilton brand 8″ x 2″ cake pans for this chocolate chip cake recipe.
This is totally your call. I do, on occasion, like to use my Wilton bake strips when baking round cakes. They do an excellent job of preventing doming on your cakes. If you don’t have any, you can either cool the cakes upside down on the cooling racks or simply cut and level the domes off the top of your cakes. Make sure to use a serrated bread knife and wait until your cakes have cooled completely.
This helps to prevent the mini chocolate chips from sinking to the bottom during baking. Even with doing this, though, they still might sink, but I promise your cake will still taste just as good!
When fully assembled and frosted, this chocolate chip cake measures approximately 4 1/2 inches high (with each cake layer being 2″ tall).
If you tried this Chocolate Chip Cake recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know what you thought in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Chocolate Chip Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Chip Cake
- 2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 2 Large Eggs, room temperature
- 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 cup Whole Milk, 1% or 2% can also be used
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips
Chocolate Chip Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 4 cup Sifted Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
- 1/4 cup Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips
Instructions
Chocolate Chip Cake
- Adjust oven rack to the 2nd level position (just above center) and preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Spray 2, 8 inch cake pans with a flour-based baking spray and set aside. You may also wish to add parchment paper circles and/or cake strips.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Reserve 2-3 tablespoons of this dry mixture for the mini chocolate chips to be coated in before they're added to the batter.2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour, 2 tsp Baking Powder, 1/4 tsp Salt
- In a separate large mixing bowl, beat together the unsalted butter and granulated sugar. Add in the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and whole milk, mixing until well blended.1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, 2 Large Eggs, 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil, 1 cup Whole Milk, 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract, 1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
- Add the whisked dry ingredients (minus 2-3 tablespoons for coating the mini chocolate chips) with the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the coated semi-sweet mini chocolate chips. The cake batter will be on the thicker side, but easily spreadable in the cake pans.1 cup Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips
- Evenly scoop and spread the cake batter into the 2 prepared 8-inch cake pans and bake side-by-side for 32-35 minutes at 350ºF or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean (my oven took 35 minutes).
- When done, allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes before inverting the cakes onto wire cooling racks. Make sure the cakes have cooled completely before frosting.
- Cakes can be double wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and kept at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up 3 days. If planning to freeze, double wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and place them in a large freezer bag. Cakes can remain in the freezer for up to a month. When ready, take the cakes out of the freezer and frost.
Chocolate Chip Buttercream Frosting
- Using your hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the unsalted butter on medium-high speed until completely smooth (about 2-3 minutes).1 cup Unsalted Butter
- Switching the speed to low, add in the sifted powdered sugar one cup at a time until blended. Then add in the vanilla extract and heavy cream.4 cup Sifted Powdered Sugar, 1 tsp Vanilla Extract, 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
- Stir the mini chocolate chips using a spatula. If making the frosting in advance, wait to add the chocolate chips until you're ready to frost the cake.1/4 cup Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips
- When ready, frost the cooled cake layers, then serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information provided above is an estimate only and will vary based on specific ingredients used. See Nutritional Disclaimer for more info.
excellent recipe. classic cake. very sweet. I made it with 2 – 8″ cake pans and would like to try my hand at making it into a tiered cake as a gift for my friends anniversary party. Amateur baker here and am trying to work the math out for how to adjust the recipe for 6″ and 10″ cake pans. Do you have any suggestions?
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe; thank you for making it! I never tested this recipe using another cake pan, but it might work if you double the recipe and divide it between the 6, 8, and 10-inch cake pans (assuming one of each). If you make it as a tiered cake, I would love to see how it turned out!
I made this cake for my husbands birthday and it was a hit! Super yummy and beautiful! Will keep this recipe for another occasion!
So glad you and your husband enjoyed this cake, Michelle! Thank you for making it!
I have this cake in the oven right now!! Is it normal for the wet ingredients to separate when you add the cold milk to it?? Should I have set the milk out for awhile before I added it? It seemed to mix ok when I added the dry ingredients to it but it looked chunky and weird before that. Just wondering if I did something wrong?? Thanks.
So happy you’re making this; thank you! To answer your question, I don’t think you did anything wrong. It’s quite possible that was just some bits of the butter that maybe weren’t fully mixed in when you had added the milk. Have a great weekend, and hope you enjoy the cake!
Delicious! Made twice the amount of batter to ensure I had enough for 3 8” pans. Trimmed it up and added a little green to go with the peppermint extract; which I doubled for this recipe and it was great! Moist cake and the peppermint was a subtle compliment! Thanks!! Will make again! 😄
Awesome, Ginnie! Thank you so much for sharing your results. I’m glad it was a hit!
Haven’t made this yet, but looking at non chocolate cakes for a mint chocolate chip cake base! I see this cake has 1 tablespoon of vanilla. How would you incorporate peppermint extract into this recipe??
Thanks for your help!
Without having tested this, I would say to keep the vanilla extract amount as is, then add 1/2 tsp of peppermint extract. A little goes a long way when it comes to peppermint extract, so I wouldn’t go too much more than that. The other alternative would be to leave the chocolate chip cake part as is and add the peppermint extract to only the frosting. Hope this helps!
Thanks! I’ll test it out for ya! 😊 can’t wait to try this!
I appreciate that, thanks! Have a great weekend!
Hi !!! I’m going to make this recipe today. It looks so good and we love chocolate chips in almost anything dessert ☺️ I wanted to ask, Is it needed to sift the flour or you don’t sift for this recipe ?
Sorry for the late reply to your question! It’s totally not required, but it does help break up any possible lumps of flour.
turned out great!! the addition worked well, none of the chocolate chips sank. also, writing the measurements needed under each step is SUPER convenient, thank you so much 😀
You’re so welcome! I’m glad the cake was a hit!
Just took my cakes out of the oven. They turned out very well. I baked them for 32 minutes and they were a lovely golden color. I’m waiting for them to cool down so I can frost them. I used white chocolate chips instead of the dark chips and will be making a chocolate icing from the back of a Ghirardelli dutch process cocoa bag.
Also, thank you for the detailed instructions. I like the way you put the measurements in bold letters along with the step by step instructions. This was perfect for my 2 sided printer!
Would love to hear how it turned out with the white chocolate chips! That sounds lovely! And thank you (regarding the ingredients/instructions). I know what a pain it is having to scroll up or look up each time for the ingredient amounts, so I decided to include them below.
Any way I can get a copy of the old recipe? I tested a bunch of recipes to make my own wedding cake and we decided on that one but I never printed it. I haven’t tried the new one yet.
Hi! Yes, I can email it to you!
Flavor wise cake was decent. Chocolate chips fell to the bottom even with coating in flour which has never been an issue before.