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Home » Recipes » Chocolate Cake Recipes

Chocolate Upside Down Cake

Published: Jul 30, 2015 · Updated: Sep 17, 2023 by Marye

A buttery yellow cake that makes its own dark, fudge frosting while it's baking. This is a quick, easy cake that is just as delicious as it sounds.
Total time for the recipe to be finished.Total Time 40 minutes minutes
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A slice of yellow cake with a fudgy frosting on top.
A slice of yellow cake with a fudgy frosting on top.

You'll love this light, tender yellow cake that makes its own frosting as it bakes! The cake is buttery with a dense, fudge-like topping.

It's quick and easy, too!

Chocolate upside down cake is an easy recipe . Buttery, tender yellow cake makes its own fudge frosting as it bakes! So good and so easy! restlesschipotle.com

Paging through one of my vintage cookbooks (circa 1950) I spied this recipe and knew that it was a good one.

How could it not be?

A yellow cake topped with a thick fudge that was ready in less than an hour? I knew I was going to try it.

I've always been a fan of a classic yellow cake with fudge frosting and if it can be made super easy?

I am in with both feet!

Chocolate upside down cake is a pecan flavored cake that makes its own dense fudge frosting as it bakes. It's super easy and fast... from restlesschipotle.com

I've updated the recipe a bit from the original.

I also chopped pecans between the topping and the cake.

Next time I do it I am going to add the pecans to the cake pan first and then pour the chocolate over them so that is how I am writing the recipe.

By adding the chocolate first the pecans were not visible when the cake was turned out and I had to add more of them to the top afterwards.

Chocolate upside down cake makes its own fudge frosting. So easy and fast! RestlessChipotle.com

You probably have all of the stuff for this in your pantry. This would make a great sweet treat to tuck into a school lunch or as an after-school snack.

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📞 The last word

I had a friend whose family was much different than mine. First of all I was an only child and she had four sisters.

My mom was a clean freak but her mom didn't mind stacks of books, projects, and stuff all over the house. Most of all my friend could bake whenever she wanted to without even asking!

This is the kind of cake one of those kinds of moms would have prominently displayed in her recipe box.

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.

If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Recipe

A slice of yellow cake with a fudgy frosting on top.

Chocolate Upside Down Cake

5 from 1 vote
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A buttery yellow cake that makes its own dark, fudge frosting while it's baking. This is a quick, easy cake that is just as delicious as it sounds.
Course Dessert,Dessert - Cake
Cuisine American - Vintage
Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes minutes
Servings:8
Calories:529
Author:Marye Audet-White

Ingredients

  • ½ cup chopped pecans
  • 2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate
  • 1 ⅓ cups (1 can ) sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 ½ cups cake flour
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ⅓ cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
  • ½ cup milk

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350F.
  • Spray a 9 inch, high sided cake pan with cooking spray.
  • Cover the bottom with a parchment circle and spray again.
  • Sprinkle parchment with the chopped pecans.
  • Set aside.
  • Pour the sweetened condensed milk in a microwave safe bowl.
  • Add the chocolate.
  • Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and then microwave a few more seconds until the chocolate is melted.
  • Stir the mixture to make it smooth and carefully pour over the pecans in the cake pan.
  • Set aside.
  • Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a mixer.
  • Beat until light and fluffy.
  • Add the eggs, one at a time.
  • Add the vanilla -- beat thoroughly.
  • Mix the flour with the salt and baking powder.
  • Add the flour and milk alternately to the butter mixture beginning and ending with the flour.
  • Spoon the batter over the top of the chocolate.
  • Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick pushed in the center comes out clean.
  • Do not overbake.
  • When cake is done remove from the oven and let stand for around 5 minutes.
  • Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan.
  • Place a cake plate over the cake pan and then invert to remove the cake.

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 529kcal | Carbohydrates: 76g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 81mg | Sodium: 222mg | Potassium: 424mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 57g | Vitamin A: 464IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 228mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.

✍🏻 A note from Marye...

I know y'all don't always like the stories bloggers tell so when I have one I try to put it at the very bottom so you can read or skip as you like.

Oh my gosh, y'all. The first time I made a cake was a disaster. I was about 10 and had stayed home sick from school. My mom had some errands to run so she reminded me not to answer the doors and headed out. I walked around the empty house sort of aimlessly for awhile and then I decided I was going to make a cake. Apparently I wasn't all that sick but I don't remember the details.

Anyway, I got my mom's 1940 edition of Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and turned to the cakes chapter. I decided to make the hot milk sponge cake. I don't remember the details of that either other than my  mom coming home to a smoky kitchen covered in cake batter. I wasn't allowed in the kitchen again for years. I am pretty sure she never quite got over the horror of that day. I do know that she kept cake mixes in the house from that point on.

Now, had I come across this recipe the story probably would have ended much differently.

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About Marye

Meet Marye Audet, a wizard in the kitchen and a storyteller at heart. Marye is like your eccentric but fun aunt who knows all the secret recipes and isn't afraid to spill them.

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  1. Linda says

    September 16, 2023 at 11:33 am

    Miss Mary
    The recipe instructions say 'add vanilla and pecan whiskey' but I don't see pecan whiskey in the recipe or the article??

    Reply
    • Marye says

      September 17, 2023 at 11:39 am

      It was an ingredient I removed because so many people couldn't find it. I took it out of the instructions. Thanks!

      Reply
  2. Carol B says

    August 22, 2023 at 11:31 am

    I'm going to try this and if I like it - I have ideas! lol.
    I'm thinking a spoon of espresso powder in the cake. Or maybe sprinkle in a box of dry strawberry or cherry jell-o?
    I take a white cake mix, sprinkle in a box of strawberry/banana jello and a box of orange jelll-o and it tastes like a fruit punch cake, so I'm just thinking........

    Reply
  3. Jacque says

    January 30, 2020 at 1:45 pm

    My grandmother used to make a yellow butter cake with the chocolate fudge frosting on the bottom, gooey almost like a pudding - you flipped it over when you served a piece, like an upside down cake. I've been searching for the recipe. Every one says it's probably a poke cake, but I don't remember her poking holes and pouring pudding on it. I hope this is close to what she made!

    Reply
    • Marye says

      January 30, 2020 at 9:50 pm

      I don't think this is it but I hope it is! I'll keep my eyes open for a recipe like you describe Jacque.

      Reply
Marye Audet-White, founder of Restless Chipotle Media

Hey Y'all, I'm Marye

Welcome to my kitchen! ☕

NY Times bestselling author. 10 cookbooks. Mom of 8 kids. Homeschooling mom for 22 years. Addicted to Hallmark Christmas Movies. Collector of old cookbooks.

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