Chocolate Chip Cake with Ganache Drip

This towering chocolate chip cake combines a soft vanilla cake crumb and sweet whipped vanilla buttercream with oodles of mini chocolate chips. For a finishing touch that elevates this cake to showstopper status, top it with a chocolate ganache drip. Watch the video tutorial for a complete walk-through of the recipe and demonstration of how to do the ganache drip topping.

One reader, Traci, commented: “This cake is a triple threat! Amazing cake, decadent frosting, and ganache! Wow! So fun and easy to make! Huge hit! ★★★★★”

Another reader, Lora, commented: “Made this cake for my daughter’s birthday and it was delicious! The cake had wonderful buttery but light flavor, and the ganache layer was perfectly rich. ★★★★★”

Q: How do you improve on the perfect white cake? A: Add chocolate chips! Because after all, why let the chocolate chip cookies have all the fun? Chocolate chips are great in cakes, too! (And both can be true at once: have you made this chocolate chip cookie layer cake before?)

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In today’s version, we’re adding chocolate chips, and portioning the batter between 3 8-inch round cake pans. You can, of course, stick with 2 9-inch round cake pans like the original version. But no matter what you do, don’t skimp on the fluffy buttercream and decadent chocolate ganache drip!

Key Ingredients for Your Chocolate Chip Cake

1. Cake Flour: Cake flour is almost 30x finer than all-purpose flour. Using it is a surefire way to achieve a delicate, soft-as-silk texture. It’s sold in the baking aisle and you can use the rest of the box in any of these recipes that use cake flour, including my popular confetti cake.
2. Proper Room-Temperature Butter: To achieve a good rise, properly cream the butter and sugar together. You have the crutch of baking powder and baking soda, but the cake’s crumb truly sings when that creaming process steps in. You need softened, room-temperature butter, which is actually still cool and firm to the touch. Butter that’s too cold or too warm won’t mix properly. If you’re interested in learning more, here’s a helpful video and tutorial for how to cream butter and sugar.
3. Egg Whites: Do not use egg yolks. Using only egg whites ensures that the crumb is not weighed down by the fat in egg yolks. Think about it: lighter confections such as angel food cake require only the egg whites. Same is true here. Use 5 large egg whites in this cake. If you need an idea of how to use the leftover egg yolks, try making a batch of lemon curd!
4. Pure Vanilla: Reach for pure vanilla extract—a full Tablespoon goes in the cake batter, and then you’ll use it to flavor the buttercream frosting, too. You’ll really taste it in this recipe, so I don’t recommend using imitation vanilla here.
5. Sour Cream Instead of Egg Yolks: Sour cream is the cake’s security blanket. While it contains fat like the egg yolks would, it won’t weigh down the crumb. It adds moisture and richness, and makes for a creamy, tender texture in every bite.
6. Mini Chocolate Chips: For the best texture (and the most chips in every mouthful!), use mini chocolate chips in the cake and frosting. If using regular chocolate chips, they are more prone to sinking in the cake layers.

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Start by Making the Chocolate Chip Cake Layers

The cake batter follows a simple, familiar process. Whisk the dry ingredients together, then work on the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in egg whites, then the sour cream and vanilla. Pour in the dry ingredients and then with the mixer running, slowly add the milk. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips by hand or with the mixer on low speed.

Expect a creamy, slightly thick batter, and then divide between your cake pans:

Use Parchment Paper Rounds for Cakes

Lining cake pans with parchment rounds is the trick I use every single time I bake a round cake, whether I’m making a 1-layer sprinkle cake, a 9-layer Smith Island cake, or today’s recipe. Store-bought pre-cut parchment rounds are convenient, but it’s really easy to just make them yourself. You can cut the exact pan size you need, whether you’re making a 6-inch cake, an 8-inch cake, or a 9-inch cake. If you don’t make a lot of round cakes, just cut them as you need them. If you bake a lot, cut many at a time and store them with your baking pans, ready for the next time you bake.

Very lightly grease the cake pan with butter or nonstick spray. Place the parchment paper round inside, and then grease the parchment, too. Yes, you grease the pan and then also grease the parchment. This creates an ultra-nonstick environment for your cake. The cake won’t stick to the pan, and the parchment round won’t stick to the cake. For more tips on this method, see Parchment Paper Rounds for Cakes.

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Once the cakes have baked and cooled, trim the tops using a cake leveler or a large serrated knife to create an even surface. A flat top ensures a sturdier and more stable layered cake. Check out this detailed how to assemble and decorate a layer cake post for helpful tips!

Whipped Chocolate Chip Buttercream

To fill and assemble today’s towering cake, I took the whipped vanilla buttercream from my vanilla sheet cake recipe and scaled it up to coat this 3-layer 8-inch chocolate chip cake. And since this is a chocolate chip cake, I couldn’t resist folding chocolate chips into it. Taste testers (and there were dozens after making about 6 of these!!!) didn’t seem to mind the extra chocolate. 😉

It’s whipped, fluffy, and positively loaded with chocolate chips:

Success Tip: If you want to save some buttercream for piping on top (like the photos and video show), set some aside before you beat in the mini chocolate chips. You wouldn’t want to try to pipe the chocolate chip buttercream because the chips could clog the piping tip.

Assemble the cooled cake layers with the frosting. I use about 1 cup of frosting between each layer—just eyeball it.

Absolutely No Need for a Crumb Coat

In most of my layer cake recipes, I recommend applying a crumb coat: a thin layer of frosting on the exterior of the cake that locks in any loose crumbs and helps stabilize the layers. However, for this chocolate chip layer cake, we’re skipping that step. Because of the lumpy chocolate chips, it would be hard to spread the frosting thin enough to make a crumb coat. The other thing we’re doing differently today is not running a bench scraper around the sides of this cake to smooth out the frosting, because it would only drag the chocolate chips around. Instead, I use a large flat icing spatula to apply the chocolate chip buttercream on the sides.

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2-Ingredient Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Ganache Drip Cake Decoration How-to

Refrigerate the cake for at least 20 minutes before adding the chocolate drip. You want the frosting to be fairly cold before you top it with the warm chocolate ganache, so the chocolate begins to set as it drips down the sides of the cake.

Make the chocolate ganache in a glass liquid measuring cup with a pour spout, to make it easy to transfer it into the squeeze bottle.

Go around the perimeter of the top of the cake in a zigzag motion, squeezing the bottle so the chocolate comes out and drips down the sides of the cake. Work quickly, because as the ganache cools, it begins to thicken, and we don’t want that happening in the squeeze bottle. After you’ve gone all the way around the edge, squeeze the remaining chocolate ganache on top of the cake, and use an offset spatula to smooth it out.

Refrigerate the cake again for at least 20 minutes to set the ganache before slicing.

I reserved some buttercream to pipe on top of the cake as an optional garnish (before adding the chocolate chips). I used a Wilton 1M piping tip. You can absolutely do that, or you can top with more chocolate chips, fresh berries, or crumble up the cake scraps you leveled off the top of the cake layers.

Make This as a 6-Inch Cake, 9-Inch Cake, or a Sheet Cake

This is a tall, rich cake that serves a lot of people, and I know that many bakers don’t want to make such a large cake. Instead, you can use 6-inch cake pans and make this chocolate chip layer cake as a 6-inch cake; or you can make a 9-inch 2-layer cake, or a 9×13-inch quarter sheet cake. Here are instructions for each:

• 6-Inch 3-Layer Cake: Follow all the same directions for the 6-inch vanilla cake recipe in the recipe card here, and add 3/4 cup (135g) mini chocolate chips (still tossed in a Tablespoon of flour) to the batter, and 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips to the frosting. For the ganache drip topping, decrease the amounts to 4 ounces (113g) chopped chocolate and 1/2 cup (120g/ml) heavy cream.
• 9-Inch 2-Layer Cake: Make the cake batter as instructed below, and divide between 2 greased and lined 9-inch round cake pans. Extend the bake time to 26–28 minutes. Keep the frosting and ganache amounts the same.
• 9×13-inch Sheet Cake: Make the cake batter as instructed below, and pour/spread it in a greased metal or glass 9×13-inch baking pan. Bake for 34–36 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. For the frosting, use the whipped vanilla buttercream amounts from this vanilla sheet cake recipe, and add 3/4 cup (135g) mini chocolate chips. For the ganache topping, you can make it as written below, or decrease the amounts to 4 ounces (113g) chopped chocolate and 1/2 cup (120g/ml) heavy cream for a thinner layer. Follow the same instructions for the ganache, including refrigerating the cake before and after topping, but instead of transferring ganache to a squeeze bottle, simply pour and spread it evenly over the frosting.

Here’s the sheet cake version:

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