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Why This Chocolate Cream Cake With Is a Hit

• Light and fluffy. The fresh almond whipped cream in this cake is lighter than traditional buttercream frosting, stabilized with gelatin. My birthday is on New Year’s Day, and this cream cake was always a welcome break from all the sugar cookies and fudge we binged on over the holidays.
• Easy to make for any occasion. This is the ultimate crowd-pleasing dessert for birthdays, holidays, or to make just because. Everyone who tries it loves it! It’s beginner-friendly, too, even if you’re new to stabilized whipped cream.
• Save time with a semi-homemade version. I’ll always recommend homemade first, but if you need a last-minute dessert, make this cake with a box of your favorite chocolate cake mix instead. You can also replace the homemade stabilized whipped cream with a quick shortcut made from Cool Whip. No judgement here!

What You’ll Need to Make This Cake

My family’s original version of this chocolate cream cake might just be the easiest recipe ever. All you need is a box of chocolate cake mix and a tub of Cool Whip! I still make it that way when I’m short on time. On most occasions, though, I use my best chocolate cake recipe. It’s super simple, and you only need a handful of staple ingredients to make it. 

I’ve covered the important ingredients for the cake and frosting below. Scroll down to the recipe card for the printable list with amounts.

• Dry Ingredients – These are your pantry staples, like all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. I don’t recommend substituting other flours besides all-purpose here (I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flour, but if you do, let me know how it goes in the comments!).
• Cocoa Powder
• Sour Cream – Secret ingredient #1 for ultra-moist cakes. If you don’t have sour cream, Greek yogurt or plain yogurt are good substitutes.
• Oil – Secret #2 is vegetable oil. This can be any neutral-flavored oil, but I like to use canola oil.
• Eggs and Vanilla
• Hot Water – You can also use hot brewed coffee to enhance the flavor of the chocolate cake (don’t worry, your cake won’t taste like coffee!). Otherwise, stick with hot water to bloom the cocoa and deepen the flavor.

For the Whipped Cream Frosting

• Heavy Cream – Make sure to use full-fat heavy cream for the fluffiest, creamiest homemade whipped cream.
• Powdered Sugar
• Almond Extract – Almond extract is a unique twist, and it’s what makes this my all-time favorite whipped frosting! That being said, this can be replaced with any extract you’d like. Feel free to use vanilla extract for vanilla frosting, or different flavors, like peppermint, orange, etc.
• Gelatin – To further stabilize the whipped frosting. You’ll find unflavored gelatin, like Knox, in most baking aisles next to the Jell-O. You’ll need cold water to bloom the gelatin before you combine it with the other ingredients.

How to Make a Chocolate Cream Cake

I think what makes this the ultimate chocolate cake with whipped cream is that it’s just THAT easy. The whole thing is ready in under an hour, and it’s best served fresh. Follow the steps below to make it:

• Prepare the pans. First, while the oven preheats to 350ºF, grease and flour two 8-inch round pans.
• Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately. Next, whisk the flour with cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the sour cream, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
• Combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture slowly, stirring as the batter just comes together. Mix in the hot water (or coffee) last.
• Bake. Divide the batter between your prepared cake pans and bake at 350ºF for 20-22 minutes. The chocolate cakes are done when a tester, like a toothpick or knife, comes out clean.
• Cool. Leave the cakes to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely to room temperature. Don’t level the cakes before they’re cooled, or they may crumble.
• Level the cakes. This makes it easy to frost and stack the cake layers. Use a serrated knife, or a cake leveler if you have one, and carefully trim the tops of the cooled cakes so they’re flat and level. I always save the leftover cake trimmings and crumble them into a bowl to use as a garnish!

Prepare the Whipped Cream

• Bloom the gelatin. Start by sprinkling gelatin into cold water. Leave that to sit for 5 minutes, similar to how you’d activate yeast when making dough.
• Combine the other ingredients. Meanwhile, beat heavy cream with powdered sugar and almond extract until it starts to thicken. Stop beating just before you reach soft peaks.
• Add gelatin. Now, microwave the gelatin for 5-10 seconds. It should be liquid, but not hot, when you slowly add the gelatin to the whipped cream mixture. After, beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.

Assemble the Cake

• Stack the layers. Beginning with your first chocolate cake layer, spread over a generous layer of whipped cream. Place the second cake on top. 
• Frost the cake. Spread the remaining whipped cream evenly over the outside of the cake. Afterward, sprinkle the reserved cake crumbs from earlier over the cake, or decorate it however you’d like! Fresh berries, chocolate shavings, and sprinkles are also great options to top this chocolate cake.

Mom’s Semi-Homemade Version

As mentioned, you can make this cake with your favorite box of chocolate cake mix instead, just like my mom did! Don’t forget to pick up the other ingredients listed on the box that you’ll need to make the cake. Then, bake the chocolate cake as directed. After it’s cooled, level the layers using a serrated knife (see the How To section for details).

For the frosting, substitute a 16-ounce container of Cool Whip and mix in ½ cup of powdered sugar and 1 ½ teaspoons of almond extract. You’ll have enough whip to fill and frost the cake as written.

Tips for Success

• Let the cakes cool. It’s important to allow the baked cakes to cool fully before you level and frost them. If you try frosting the warm cakes, the whip will melt right off!
• Don’t overheat the gelatin. You want to microwave the bloomed gelatin until it’s slightly warm and liquid, but not hot. If it’s too hot when you add it to the whipped cream, the gelatin will melt the fat in the heavy cream. If it’s too cold, it’ll turn solid before it’s fully mixed in.
• Use fresh stabilized whipped cream. Make sure to apply gelatin-stabilized whipped cream to the cake right away, when the whipped cream is freshly made. This way, the gelatin sets after the cake is frosted and/or refrigerated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Store It

• Refrigerate. Store the finished chocolate cream cake at room temperature for 2-4 hours, or in the fridge until it’s time to serve. Keep any leftover cake refrigerated for up to 2 days. 
• Freeze. I wouldn’t freeze the fully assembled, frosted cream cake. However, you can freeze the baked cake layers wrapped airtight in plastic wrap for up to 2 months. Thaw the cakes at room temperature.
• Make it ahead. While stabilized whipped cream holds up better than traditional whipped cream, it needs to be used immediately. If you’d like to prepare your cream cake in advance, my advice would be to bake the cakes, cool them, and wrap them tightly to keep in the fridge or freezer. Prepare a fresh batch of whipped cream and frost the refrigerated or thawed cakes before serving.

More Chocolate Cake Recipes

• Zucchini Chocolate Cake
• Chocolate Dump Cake
• Texas Sheet Cake
• Irish Cream Chocolate Poke Cake
• Ding Dong Cake