This Homemade Robin Egg Chocolate Cake Recipe is so easy and perfect for Easter or a spring dessert! You're going to love this moist, delicious cake and how easy it is to decorate for a family dinner or baby shower.
Homemade Robin Egg Chocolate Cake Recipe
The best part of this cake is that the decorating is super easy - even an amateur can do it! And nothing screams spring more than a Robins Egg dessert!
So let's get started!
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Ingredients
- Sugar - granulated white sugar
- Cocoa Powder - I love fancy, rich cocoa powder but the best, easy-to-find brand is Hershey's and it makes a delicious cake!
- Butter - unsalted butter is the preference here, but salted works as well
- Buttermilk - I have an entire post about buttermilk here and if you don't have any on hand, make a perfect substitution with this recipe.
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking Soda - check the expiration date on your baking soda because if it's expired, your cake will not rise like it should
- Eggs - large eggs are best and be sure to set them out so they're at room temperature
- Vanilla Extract - I only use homemade vanilla extract, but any real quality vanilla will work
- White Frosting - I don't share a recipe in this post, but you'll find my favorite vanilla buttercream here, or cream cheese frosting here. You can also use store-bought frosting for this recipe
- Blue Gel Food Coloring - I only use Americolor gel colors (Electric Blue is my favorite!) but Wilton brand is easily found at your local Walmart or grocery store and works just as well.
Equipment You Need to Make this Cake
- Mixing Bowls and Electric Hand Mixer
- Or a Stand Mixer
- 8-inch Cake Pans
- Silicone Spatula
- Offset spatula (or you could use a butter knife)
- Bristle Pastry Brush
How to Make a Homemade Robin Egg Chocolate Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Start making the cake batter by adding your sugar, butter, cocoa, and water to a large mixing bowl. Mix until combined.
- Add in buttermilk, flour, baking soda, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Beat until well combined.
- Divide evenly and pour into two prepared, round cake pans.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- If you're going to use homemade buttercream frosting, make it while the cake is baking. I recommend this vanilla buttercream or this cream cheese buttercream.
- If you're using store-bought frosting, pour it into a bowl and use your hand-mixer to whip it up to a smooth, fluffy consistency.
- Flip the cakes out onto wire racks to cool.
- While the cake is cooling, add food coloring to your frosting and stir, until you achieve a robin egg blue. I started with 3 small dots and slowly added more.
- Once your cake is cool, assemble it and cover the cake with robin's egg blue frosting.
- In a small bowl add cocoa, and slowly add water until it is paint consistency.
- Dip your brush in and flick the mixture onto your cake to create a speckled effect.
- Serve and enjoy!
How to Assemble the Cake
- To assemble the cake, trim the rounded edge off the first cake layer and place it cut-side down on a cake board or cake plate.
- Then spread a layer of frosting on top of it. While normally I'd tell you to repeat this for the top layer, this time we'll do something different.
- Without trimming the second layer of cake, place it on top of the first layer with right-side-up so that the rounded top gives it more of an egg shape!
- Last, cover the entire outside of the cake with the robin's egg blue frosting.
Video
Pro Tips
- Chill the cakes before assembling to lower the risk of breaking or tearing a cake while frosting it.
- As a cake professional, I have tons of frosting spatulas and cake tools but if you're an amateur, using a butter knife to frost this cake is just as effective as a fancy tool. There's no need for a flawless finish on this cake.
- If you want, you can further decorate this cake by making a nest on top with some toasted coconut and filling it with candy eggs (Cadbury Mini Eggs are my fave!!).
- To prepare the cake pans, you can line them with parchment paper, spray them with cake release (such as Baker's Joy) or make a homemade version!
- The blue frosting color will develop and darken over time so if you want a light blue, be careful to not add too much gel coloring in the beginning.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this cake as dessert for a Spring or Easter Celebration, or for a sweet baby shower. There's really no wrong occasion to serve chocolate cake!
Of course, any cake is always better with a tall glass of ice-cold milk or steaming cup of coffee 🙂
Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top for the ultimate splurge!
Make-Ahead, Storage, and Freezing Tips
Here are my best tips for keeping this cake moist and fresh.
Unfrosted Cake Layers:
If you want to bake the cake ahead of time and decorate it closer to your event, wrap the cake layers tightly in plastic wrap and store them at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To bake them more than 3 days ahead, wrap the layers in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil, and freeze them for up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before you decorate the cake, then allow it to come to room temperature at least an hour before serving.
Decorated Cake:
The Homemade Robin Egg Chocolate Cake can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days but it must be covered in a cake carrier or on a cake stand with a lid.
You can also freeze the decorated cake. Start by freezing it, uncovered for 3-4 hours. Then take it out and wrap it in plastic wrap, followed by aluminum foil. If you have a box that will fit in your freezer, place it in the box as an added layer of protection against it being damaged. Freeze for up to one month. Thaw in the fridge overnight, then allow it to come to room temperature at least an hour before serving.
FAQ
Of course not! If you want to make Robin's Egg cake with another flavor of cake, go for it! You can bake any flavor you like and decorate it the same way for the adorable look of a robin's egg. Aside from chocolate, my favorite cake flavors are vanilla bean cake, white almond sour cream, and chocolate chip cake.
I highly recommend this homemade vanilla buttercream or this homemade cream cheese frosting. You will need 3-4 cups of frosting, depending on how thick you make your layers.
While I'm sharing a from-scratch recipe for this post and linking to my favorite buttercream recipes... a beginner baker could easily use a boxed mix or a doctored cake mix recipe and store-bought frosting. Do whatever is easist for you - you can't go wrong with cake!
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Printable Recipe:
PrintRecipe
Homemade Robin Egg Chocolate Cake Recipe
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 20 1x
Description
This Homemade Robin Egg Chocolate Cake Recipe is so easy and perfect for Easter or a spring dessert! You're going to love this moist, delicious cake and how easy it is to decorate for a family dinner or baby shower.
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 tablespoons of Cocoa
- ½ cup of Butter
- 1 cup of Hot Water
- ½ a cup of Buttermilk
- 2 cups of Flour
- 1 and ¾ teaspoons of Baking Soda
- 2 Eggs
- 1 teaspoon of Vanilla
- White Frosting
- Blue Gel Food Coloring
- 2 tablespoons of Cocoa
- Water
- Bristle Pastry Brush
Instructions
- Start by adding your sugar, butter, cocoa and water to a large mixing bowl. Mix until combined.
- Add in buttermilk, flour, baking soda, eggs, and vanilla.
- Beat until well combined.
- Pour evenly into two well greased and floured, round pans.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- While the cake is cooling, add food coloring to icing and stir, until you achieve a robin egg blue. I started with 3 small dots and slowly added.
- Once your cake is cool, ice it with blue icing.
- In a small bowl add cocoa, and slowly add water until it is paint consistency.
- Dip your brush in and flick the mixture onto your cake to create a speckled effect.
- Serve and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 25
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Elizabeth
I really love this recipe,very nice and easy to get...but I wish the white frosting recipe was included.. I've tried a lot of recipe for white frosting but none of it comes out the way i want it to
Susan
Hi Elizabeth! We're glad you love the recipe. Rose linked a couple of frosting recipes that would pair well with this cake under the FAQ section of the post. Hopefully you'll love those, too!
Cheryl
Beautiful Cake! For Easter to match my tablescape I am going to do yellow and I think it will be great. Thanks for continuing to share so many great recipes! Happy Easter to you and yours.
Marla Heath
Hi I’m wondering for you or Robinson a chocolate cake recipe you mentioned the cocoa powder. I have iodized Dutch processed cocoa. Will I need to switch over the baking soda to baking powder? Because your recipe calls for baking soda Dutch processed cocoa, does not react with baking soda. If the answer is yes, substitute for baking powder with Dutch processed cocoa, then how much should I substitute? Thanks a bunch Marla.