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 tiny layer chocolate cake.
— This post was originally published on April 24, 2012. It has been updated with new photos and additional information.
Recipe Snapshot
Cuisine: Southern, Vintage
Cooking Method: Oven and Stovetop
Total Time: 1 hour, 50 Minutes
Servings: 24
Primary Ingredient(s): Baking chocolate (see notes), sugar, flour, butter, evaporated milk
Skill Level: Intermediate
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING …
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Oh how I miss these cakes. All my family is from south Georgia and someone was always bringing one when we had big get togethers. And there was always some older lady who sold these cakes.”
— Marie
“I’m so glad to see this recipe! My aunt … made this cake many times, and it was always a hit and one of my all-time favorite desserts!!”
— Lucy
A Heritage Recipe
For as long as I can remember, these beautiful multi-layer cakes have 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 a 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 a ten-layer cake. 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.
What You’ll Like About This Recipe
- It has a unique boiled chocolate icing.
- It tastes great and is pretty 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.
The complete ingredient list with detailed measurements is included in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
You’ll also find this recipe in my cookbook!
You can see this recipe on pages 268-269 of my cookbook, My Southern Table! Get your signed copy today.
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 saucepan 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 the mixture 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 (an offset spatula is great for this job). 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 wire 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.
More Popular Cake Recipes
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.
Have a question or thought to share?
If you have a question about the recipe or if you’ve made it and want to share how it turned out, I would truly enjoy hearing from you. Just scroll down to leave a comment or add your star rating.
Thank you for stopping by. It means a lot to have you here.
Recipe
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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.Solid shortening for greasing pans
- 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.3 cups sugar, 3 ½ ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, 10 ounces evaporated milk, ½ cup butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 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.1 cup butter, 1 ½ cups sugar, 6 eggs, 3 ½ cups self-rising flour, 1 ¾ cups water, 1 teaspoon 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 healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
I’m Lana Stuart, an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, and lifelong cook raised deep in Southwest Georgia. I started Lana’s Cooking in 2009 to share the tried-and-true recipes I grew up with. Around here, the food is full of flavor, the traditions run deep, and there’s always room at the table.
Here in Maryland they are known as Smith Island cakes. Smith Island is located in the Chesapeake Bay.
My grandmother made these using a cast iron pan. South Georgia…Wiregrass Country. They were common growing up and even though the cake itself isn’t chocolate I called it the chocolate cake.
Hi Mary – I’ve seen people make these little cakes one layer at a time in a skillet. Whichever method you choose, they’re just delicious aren’t they?
Hi great site-especially love the layer cake. It brings back so many happy memories. I’m from the Piedmont area of SC and my family always had these cakes during the holidays. Layer cakes are bragging rights for many ladies, aunts and grannies. The taller the better. Sadly I never made one but I just might give it a try and surprise my family.
Hi Stacy and thanks for your kind comment. These cakes are such a part of our heritage. Let’s keep making them and passing down our recipes to younger cooks!
I am from eastern South Carolina…we have a few ladies that make these upon request. I actually just finished eating a slice…this time our cake had 23 layers!!! (cake only)
My grandmother in Hahira Ga. Used to make this cake every time we would come to visit from Alabama. I recently ask my Aunt Marynell for this recipe!
My 81 year old mother has been making these for years. She gets 18 layers out of hers. She has 20+ cake pans, she greases 18 of them at a time, puts the cake batter in all and then bakes 3 at a time. Everyone loves her cakes! We live in the Sandhills of North Carolina.
Love this beautiful mile-high layer cake, Lana. It’s stunning. The icing is perfect and lovely dripping down the sides tempting me since I saw it the other day. I grew up eating a similar multi-layered cake from Hungary (Dobos Torte). I can’t wait to see if you get up to 14 layers!;)
Wow, what a cool recipe! Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
I regret I don’t know the name of the southeast Georgia town we traveled through about four years ago, or the restaurant that served several of these magnificent cakes in two different locations. I took a lot of pictures and tried everything I could to figure out how the cakes were made. The restaurant had some information handy that insisted the cakes were truly baked in separate layers, not split, but I couldn’t believe it — until now. I am so excited to know how this is done. And may I second Bakeaholic’s abject plea for the caramel version? Could it be done in 7 – 14 layers using your recipe? I made a caramel cake from a recent Saveur last week, and it all worked beautifully, but just in two layers, with a most strange and interesting boiled icing. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Your cake looks delicious. It reminds me of a Dobosh Torte we made in cooking school. A lot of work for sure!
Hmmm…Please, please, please! I absolutely love caramel. Plus, I’m pregnant and a caramel cake sounds fabulous about right now! ;) I bet you have some readers that are caramel fans too. Yum!
Well, you could always make my Caramel Layer Cake. Recipe’s here: http://www.lanascooking.com/2010/05/06/caramel-layer-cake/
Here in a very small town in upstate South Carolina it is still being
made. The wonderful lady who always brought it to all our church gatherings has passed on, but a couple years before, she invited my oldest married daughter to come over and spend the day learning to make it and bringing home the result! I think it was 17 layers that day, but thats the fun of it, you never know how many layers you will end up with. Thats a cake that is always asked for at special occasions. Good to see others are making it.
Hi Cindy – It’s been fun to read all the comments from people who know about these little layer cakes. So glad your daughter learned to make it and is keeping this little piece of our heritage alive.
I’m from the west (now living in the midwest), we didn’t have anything like this gorgeous little cake out there. This looks wonderful. Will you be making the caramel version soon?? That one sounds delicious too. Thanks for posting.
I hadn’t planned to make the caramel one since the chocolate is my favorite. However, I might be persuaded…
I’ve seen it with the white frosting (I assume it’s a 7 minute?) with the lemon cheese between the layers, but I have only had it where the layers were filled and the cake was frosted on the outside with the Lemon Cheese. I cannot wait to see what you come up with! I remember my grandmama Harris making hers, and thinking that 9 egg yolks was an obscene anount of eggs to use. LOL That was in the eighties when everyone was concerned about eggs and cholesterol. Her recipe came from a Mitchell EMC fundraiser cookbook, which disappeared.
Yes, it’s the 7-minute frosting. Mama always leaves hers just plain layers with filling and that’s the way I like it, too, but seems like most people want the frosting. Just kind of takes away from the lemon cheese to me :-)
Oooh! I have a LOT of Southern recipes I’m looking for. Lately, I’ve been craving Lemon Cheese Cake. Not to be confused with Lemon Cheesecake. I know you know what I’m talking about.
I know *exactly* what you’re talking about and I actually have my Mama’s lemon cheese cake recipe that I’ve been meaning to cook and photograph for the blog for the longest time. You’ve just given me the inspiration I needed to get that one done this weekend. Look for it next week. By the way, do you like your lemon cheese with the white frosting or just the layers with filling?
I don’t see the recipe for the lemon cheese cake in the recipe section. Did you ever make it?
I never did post that recipe, Lynda. Thanks for reminding me that I need to do it!
Hi Lana,
I would love to have that lemon cheese cake recipe.
My mother-in-law made a cheese cake that wad absolutely delicious.
This was not your typical cheese cake.
This cake had grated cheddar in the batter and the frosting had the cheddar in it as well.
I tried my best to get her to tell me how to make it but she took the recipe with her to her grave.
If you are any of your followers know of a cake such ad this, I would very much appreciate it if you would share it.
Thanks in advance.
Wow! I’ve never heard of a cake like that. I’d like to see that recipe, too!
Have you ever hear this called Smith Island Cake? I just happened to pick up a Feb. 2009 issue of Cook’s Country, and they had this featured as their Great American Cake. Apparently, it was made the official dessert of the state of Maryland.
Yes, I’ve read quite a bit about the Smith Island Cakes and I think it’s similar but not exactly the same as ours. Theirs have fewer layers, if I recall correctly.
Lana,
I’ve been looking for a recipe like this forever. My grandmama made one of the that was 16 layers for my 16th birthday. She died last year without writing any of her recipes down, and I am pretty sure this recipe is close, if not the one, that she used. Thank you for posting this! I love your blog! I’m a Worth County girl, transplanted to PA via NJ and miss good Southern cooking.
Hi Missy – I hope this recipe will be similar to the one your grandmother made. It’s the traditional one used in my home area so hopefully it’s close to hers. I’d love to know if there are any other southern recipes you’d like to see on the blog. Thanks for stopping by.
Beautiful cake!
Oh my gosh, this looks divine! I have been mildly obsessed with layer cakes lately and will have to give this a try. I too remember them growing up. Boiled fudge icing is one of my favorite things in the whole world. Thanks for sharing!
Lana, I’m from South West Georgia and my mother has been making this cake for as long a I can remember. I’ve never seen it anywhere else and she does bake each thin layer like this. Her recipe says it make 16 layers, but to hear her tell it she has only accomplished all 16 layers once. She usually breaks or burns a few layers, which is pretty easy since they are so thin. So her’s are usually 12-14 layers, but no one really cares what the exact number is or if it’s a little lop-sided, they just want to eat it :)
Hi Connie – weren’t we lucky to grow up in a place with fantastic recipes like these little layer cakes? I’ve got to keep practicing so I can get up to at least 14 layers from my batter :-)