Chocolate Little Layer Cake
Part cake and part confection, this heritage recipe for Chocolate Little Layer Cake is made by home cooks throughout southwest Georgia. The cake consists of tiny yellow layers baked individually then filled and topped with old fashioned boiled chocolate icing.
I really love the way technology connects us. It makes it possible for us to share special recipes like this Chocolate Little Layer Cake beyond our closest circle of friends and family What we used to do through cards and letters, newspaper and magazine clippings, or simply by word of mouth, we can now accomplish within seconds.
Just a quick internet search and virtually any recipe ever thought of appears on your screen. I’m even more grateful that technology is helping us to preserve our old heritage recipes like this beautiful little layer cake.
📋 A Heritage Recipe
These beautiful multi-layer cakes have, for as long as I can remember, always been a part of family reunions, church dinners, and most holidays in the southwest corner of Georgia where I grew up. You might think at first glance that they’re standard cake layers that have been split and filled, but they’re not. Not at all. Each little thin layer is baked separately.
To make it even more different from traditional layer cakes, it’s iced with warm boiled chocolate icing while the layers themselves are still warm. Totally goes against the conventional method, doesn’t it?
Years ago, Kim Severson of the New York Times did a story on these little layer cakes. I had the pleasure of hearing Kim speak once at food blogging conference. She’s a very accomplished food writer and has received numerous accolades, including several James Beard Awards.
In her NYT story, she talked about how the cakes were made only in one area in Alabama and on Smith Island near Maryland. Well, I can assure you that they are part of the fabric of at least one small southwest Georgia town as well :-)
In the small town where I grew up, lots of ladies make these cakes for a little extra income on the side. They come in two versions – chocolate or caramel. Some of them make a fairly brisk business of it, especially around Christmas.
Way back when, the thin layers for these cakes were made by cooking each layer in a hoecake pan or iron skillet on top of the stove, but now most everyone cooks the layers in the oven. It just goes faster when you can bake three or four layers at one time, you see.
If you’re really experienced with little layer cakes, you can get as many as fourteen layers from your batter. I usually get about ten. I need to practice more. If you’ve never made this cake before, aim for about seven layers your first time and gradually increase as you improve your technique.
😎 A Modernized Recipe For You
The original recipe that I have for little layer cakes is so typical of old-time recipes. It assumes that the cook pretty much knows what to do and only the bare essentials are given.
For instance, the instructions for making the batter read “Mix well. Grease 8″ pans with Crisco. Put 2 large cooking spoonfuls in each pan. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.” That’s it.
And the instructions for the boiled icing are “Place over low heat until all is dissolved. Do not boil. Be sure all sugar is melted.” Well, alrighty then!
In the recipe below, I’ve tried to re-write and modernize the instructions a bit for you.
❤ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The delicious and unique boiled chocolate icing.
- Tastes great and is easy to make once you get the idea.
- It’s a very old, sentimental part of southern foodways.
🛒 Ingredient Notes
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- Granulated Sugar – This is just plain old white sugar. We tend to use Dixie Crystals in the south.
- Baking Chocolate – It’s really important to use the right kind of chocolate for this recipe. You’ll need to purchase Baker’s Premium Unsweetened Baking Chocolate which produces the distinctive look, texture, and taste required for this recipe.
- Evaporated Milk – Be sure you’re buying evaporated milk NOT sweetened condensed milk.
- Butter – Like most old-fashioned southern cooks, I use salted butter in everything including this recipe. I can’t remember the last time I purchased unsalted butter.
- Vanilla Extract – Use a quality extract such as McCormick’s.
- Eggs – The fresher the better.
- Self Rising Flour – Southerners love our White Lily flour for any type of baking. It’s made from soft winter wheat and produces very tender baked goods.
You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe at the bottom of this post.
🥄 How to Make Chocolate Little Layer Cake
Prep the Pans and Ingredients
- Before starting your baking, make sure to have all the ingredients at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and go ahead and prep several 8-inch cake pans with shortening and set them aside.
👉 PRO TIP: How many layers you bake at once depends on how many pans you have and can fit into your oven without them touching. Some people use disposable cake pans for this, but I don’t see the need. I just wipe the pans out and re-grease between each set of layers.
Make the Icing
Unlike other cakes, you actually start your little layer cake by making the icing first.
- Place a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-low heat. The heat should be barely medium-low. If in doubt, go lower.
- Add the sugar, baking chocolate, evaporated milk, butter, and vanilla all at once. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, stirring occasionally. It is important that the icing does not boil and that you make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved so that no grainy texture remains.
Make the Batter
- Meanwhile, make the batter. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs all at once and beat until well incorporated. Add the flour and water alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Mix in the vanilla.
👉 PRO TIP: The batter will appear to be curdled after each addition of water – this is normal.
Bake the Layers
- Pour approximately 3/4 cup batter into each prepared pan. Smooth the batter to the edges.
- Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until the layers are barely golden on top. Remove from the oven and turn out onto cooling racks.
- Clean the pans, grease them, and repeat baking.
- When the second set of layers goes into the oven, begin icing the first set.
Frost the Layers While Warm
- Place a still-warm layer on a cardboard round set on a cooling rack inside a baking sheet. Spread 1/4 cup of icing on the layer smoothing it gently to the edges. Top with the next layer and repeat.
👉 PRO TIP: Note that the icing will be thin and fairly runny. It will drip down the sides of the layers. This is to be expected. Any excess icing should be scraped up and returned to the pan and all of it used in icing the cake. This is why I strongly recommend doing the icing of the cake on a cooling rack set inside a baking pan.
- When all the layers have been stacked and iced, spread the remaining icing over the top and sides of the cake. If the icing becomes thick, return the pan to very low heat until it returns to spreading consistency.
- Smooth the icing around the sides of the cake, but realize that the contours are supposed to be visible on the outside of the cake.
🔀 Variations
- Many cooks around my hometown also make this cake with a caramel icing. I don’t have the original caramel icing recipe, but the version I use for my Southern Caramel Layer Cake should work well.
- I’ve also seen commercial versions of the little layer cake done in coconut, red velvet, and even lemon. I prefer the chocolate and caramel versions.
🍽 What to Serve With Chocolate Little Layer Cake
This cake is the perfect dessert for practically any occasion. I’ve served this for Sunday night family dinner, birthday parties, family reunions, and even bridal showers. It’s the perfect ending to a traditional southern meal of country fried steak, old fashioned green beans, fried okra, cornbread, and a fresh cucumber salad!
🍚 Storage
Store the cake in a covered container at room temperature for three or four days.
This cake freezes very well. To freeze, wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap followed by a layer of aluminum foil. Place the wrapped cake in a freezer container and freeze for up to three months. Allow the frozen cake to thaw in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
❓ Questions About Chocolate Little Layer Cake
As mentioned in the post, this icing is really thin and runny. It’s not the consistency that you usually think of for icing. The way I handle it is by placing a wire cooling rack inside a baking sheet and setting my layers on that to start. As I add icing, it drips off into the baking sheet. Keep scraping it up and adding it back to the pan. You’ll eventually use all the icing.
There are a few reasons that the icing can turn out grainy. A few tips are to make sure you have all the ingredients at room temperature before you start and to make sure all the sugar is completely dissolved.
The best way I’ve found to keep the layers from shifting is to insert two or three very thin bamboo skewers when you get about halfway up the stack. Keep layering and frosting and cut your skewers off before you put the last layer on so they don’t show on the outside.
🧾 More Popular Cake Recipes
- Chocolate-Chocolate Cake
- Caramel Layer Cake
- Skillet Pineapple Upside Down Cake
- Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache
- Honey Bun Cake
- Glazed Pumpkin Pound Cake
- Never Fail Pound Cake
HAVE YOU TRIED THIS RECIPE?
I’d LOVE to know what you thought!
Leave a rating below in the comments and let me know how you liked it!
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📖 Recipe
Chocolate Little Layer Cake
Ingredients
- Solid shortening for greasing pans
For the icing:
- 3 cups sugar
- 3 ½ ounces unsweetened baking chocolate see notes
- 10 ounces evaporated milk
- ½ cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the layers:
- 1 cup butter
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 6 eggs
- 3 ½ cups self-rising flour sifted
- 1 ¾ cups water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Have all ingredients at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease 8” cake pans with shortening and set aside.
- Make the icing first. Place a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-low heat.
- Add the sugar, baking chocolate, evaporated milk, butter, and vanilla all at once. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, stirring frequently. Do not boil. It is important to make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved and no grainy texture remains.
- Meanwhile, make the batter. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs all at once and beat until well incorporated. Add the flour and water alternately, beginning and ending with flour. (Note: the batter will appear to be curdled after each addition of water – this is normal.) Mix in the vanilla.
- Pour approximately 3/4 cup batter into each prepared pan. Smooth the batter to the edges.
- Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until layers are barely golden on top. Remove from oven and turn out onto cooling racks.
- Clean the pans, grease them and repeat baking.
- When second set of layers goes into the oven, begin icing the cake.
- Place a still-warm layer on a cardboard round set atop a cooling rack inside a baking sheet. Spread 1/4 cup icing on the layer spreading it gently to the edges. Top with the next layer and repeat.
- When all layers have been stacked and iced, spread remaining icing over top and sides of the cake. If the icing becomes thick, return the pan to very low heat until it returns to spreading consistency.
- Smooth the icing around the sides of the cake, but realize that the contours are supposed to be visible on the outside of the cake.
Notes
- The specific type of chocolate traditionally used for this recipe is Baker’s Premium Unsweetened Baking Chocolate. This chocolate produces the distinctive look, texture, and taste of this recipe.
- Store your cake in a covered container at room temperature for three or four days.
- To freeze, wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap followed by a layer of aluminum foil. Place the wrapped cake in a freezer container and freeze for up to three months. Allow the frozen cake to thaw in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your health care provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
— This post was originally published on April 24, 2012. It has been updated with new photos and additional information.
Hi, I’m from Southeastern NC, and this type of cake has been made my by grandmother’s family for generations. She made it slightly different, but the idea is still the same. A few years ago I tried to make this cake. I didn’t have her exact recipe, but it turned out very close to the way hers always did. The number of layers always depended on how she was feeling, and the reason for the cake. She could get up to 19 layers!
I also am from the southeastern part of North Carolina.
My mother use to bake this thin layer cake every Christmas.
It is one of my most fond memories of the holidays.
Great recipe.
Hey Miss Lana! Laura used to be my good friend, and I spent the night with you several times growing up! How neat that I found you by this cake recipe! My daughter (age 13) has made a little business selling old fashioned 14 layer chocolate cakes like this, and I was online trying to find tips for keeping the layers from sliding around during the icing process. Do you have any tips?
Hi Shanna! Good to hear from you!! I think it’s great that your daughter is making a business out of these little layer cakes. They’ve always been a big part of the foodways in south Georgia.
About keeping the layers from shifting — the best way I’ve found is to insert two or three very thin bamboo skewers when you get about half way up the stack. Keep layering and frosting and cut your skewers off before you put the last layer on so they don’t show on the outside.
Hope that helps!
This cake is a staple of church gatherings & town meetings in our little hometown of Pelion, SC. There are few and far between who can really master this delicious cake. Thank you for sharing your version & tips to go along with it.
My pleasure, Katie.
My great aunt made this cake but her recipe is A little different. For one thing she used buttermilk instead of water. Her daughter upgraded her recipe. I have used both. We live in NC.
Do you have the recipe for the caramel version of this cake?
We live in the Central Savannah River Area of Georgia, and these cakes are very popular. There is also a lemon version we call lemon cheese, even though there is no cheese in it!
I make the Lemon Cheese Cake, too Amanda, but not with the little layers. It’s delicious!
I’m going to try this recipe. I grew up in Albany, GA and my grandmother would make this frequently. I live in Iowa now, but last summer I visited family in Alabama, and we had this! It’s one of my favorite cakes!!
I lived in Albany for 22 years – grew up in a little town just south of there. Small world!
I’ve made 18 thin layer chocolate cakes for years. I’m right beside you guys in Sylvester GA born, raised and growing old.😀
I’m from Southeast Louisiana and have been making this cake for 20+ years. In my family, the 14 LAYER cake originates from my granny in North Alabama :)
Yes, it’s pretty much all throughout the southeastern states. Everybody knows and loves little layer cakes!
I was just googling an alternate icing recipe for my little layer cake because mine calls for cocoa powder and I’m out. To answer your question about the origins of the cake, this cake was a staple of my childhood! Little old ladies would make it and bring it to cover-dish meals. I lived all over the eastern half of North Carolina, and this cake turned up wherever I lived. Definitely not just a small part of GA!
Yes, they’re available all over my home area, too. And always delicious!!
We lived in Statesboro, GA for several years and these cakes were a staple! I wish I could find a caramel recipe as well!
Do you have the recipe for the caramel version of this cake?
Hi Donna. You’d use the same recipe for the layers and your favorite caramel icing recipe.
I made my first 14 layer cake today. It turned out so pretty. The recipe was close to mine but I used whole milk instead of water. I found that Bakers Joy is a handy spray for this cake. I cool the cake for a minute then flip the cake on my hand and then I place on stack and ice. This is not a difficult cake to do. Just need patience.
I’m glad to know your cake turned out pretty, Shirley! As you said, it just takes patience.
Just after i married my husband 26 years ago, his Nana decided to turn this recipe over to me. She taught me this cake wigh a few differences. I have made it for every christmas since. They are from the Columbus, GA area.
It just wouldn’t be Christmas without this cake!
The cake is delicious and have made it numerous times. I have question about the icing. Sometimes it will become ‘crinchy’. The recipe I use calls for boiling the icing for 2 minutes whereas your recipe says not to let it boil. Would boiling cause the icing to be grainy?
Sheryl in SC
Lots of things can make an icing grainy. It’s hard to say what happened without being there, but some tips are to make sure you have all your ingredients at room temperature before you start and to make sure all the sugar is completely dissolved.
Thomas County Ga area and this is a staple along with Milky Way pound cake at all of our family holidays for as long as I can remember! Our great grandmother(I’m sure her mother and grandmother were but I wasn’t alive for that) started making it and now the great grand daughters take turns each year!! Carmel cakes are also VERY popular during the holidays here!
I don’t think we could have Christmas without this cake and a caramel cake, too!
My grandmother taught us to make this cake and we have it for most holidays. She also made a Lane Cake every Christmas, which was my Grandfathers favorite. His birthday was Christmas Day, so that was his request for his birthday. I never mastered the Lane Cake. We live in the Florida Panhandle.
I love Lane Cake, too. I should post that one soon!
I grew up in Robeson County in North Carolina and this was a Christmas staple.
In my hometown, too, Kathy. This one and the caramel ones as well.
I’ m in the Dothan, Alabama area and this type of cake is a much-prized thing in the Wiregrass area of southeast Alabama, southwest Georgia and northwest Florida. I plan to master this technique for the holidays this year. This type of cake is a treasured part of our heritage. I’m also going to try this technique with “lemon cheese” filling 😋
I’m from the same area as you, Leah – southwest Georgia. We always had these cakes in chocolate and caramel. I’ve never tried one with lemon cheese, but I bet it would be delicious!
Lana…. I have made your recipe a couple of times and it turns out perfect every single time. Thank you so much! We are from Dothan and Bonifay 😉 Question for you — one of our grandmothers used to make this cake alternating with peanut butter icing layers. Do you happen to have a variation for that?
Thanks and happiest of holidays to you! Thank you for sharing the recipe! We are happy to have found it a few years ago!
Wow, Cindy, that sounds delicious! This is the first time I’ve ever heard of it so, unfortunately, I don’t have a recipe for it. If you find one, do let me know!
My grandmother always made a 5 layer, however, after a funeral yesterday I had this 7 layer. I was so intrigued and glad to find your ariticle. It was amazing and could certainly tell it was homeade.
Thanks for the recipe !!! I live in S. Carolina !
You’re welcome! Hope you enjoy making one for yourself.
Hi! I made this one day in advance. Do I need to fridge it overnight or is an air tight container at room temp okay?
You can safely store it covered in an airtight container at room temperature.
My Grandmother also made this cake quite often. I have never made the cake myself but intend to real soon. She was originally from Alabama but lived in Florida most of her life. I do remember her making an orange cake using the same layers. Thanks for the recipe, it definitely brought back some wonderful memories.
That’s the first time I’ve heard of a little layer orange cake! Very interesting. I’ll bet it’s delicious :-)
I live in a small town in middle Georgia. My Mawmaw always made many 10-14 layer little layer chocolate cakes during the holidays for the family and she also sold the for a little extra money. She made coconut and orange slice too. I’m very fortunate to have cooked in the kitchen with her as a child and now I make them for the family during the holidays. Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome, Sharon!
I’ve made this cake as a birthday cake a few times from recipes/instructions given by my Atlanta-born husband’s relatives, but never have felt comfortable with the process since I did not grow up with this type of cake in Texas. Thanks to your recipe and detailed instructions, now I can prepare this cake with confidence. Got ten layers and am thrilled! I might even be brave enough to make it more than once a year!
Once it’s presented for his special day, I’ll post a pic on IG with your #
Thank you again!!! :D
So glad I could be of help, Cathy! I can’t wait to see the photo of your finished cake :-)
This sounds really great and fun to try. This seems to make a 10 layer cake so just keep baking with as many 8 inch pans you have? How many were you able to bake at a time?
People who are very experienced at making this recipe can get up to 14 layers from the batter. As you can see in the photo, I got ten on this attempt. You don’t need 10 pans, however, you just wipe the pans out and re-grease between baking each set of layers.
Words cannot express how excited I am to find this recipe! (And your blog!)
My Grandmother’s chocolate layer cake was a staple at every family get together, every holiday get together, and every church meal for as long as I can remember! She never measured ingredients and never used a written recipe, but every cake turned out perfectly delicious!! I watched her many times and tried to learn how to make this cake, but could not remember what she added to the Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate! THANK YOU SO MUCH for this post!!
To reply to your question about location, we are from right outside of Charlotte, NC in Belmont, NC. My grandmother was a native of Belmont. Her thin layer cakes were very well loved and often requested!! She used the same thin layers for her coconut cake, and also a confectioners’ sugar glazed – banana cake!
Thank you again!!
I’m so happy that I could be of help in restoring an old family recipe for you, Jayne. I’ve found out, too, that this cake is made all over the southeast — Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina — just about everywhere!