Best 1-2-3-4 Cake with Chocolate Icing

The 1-2-3-4 Cake wears its recipe in its name: one cup of butter, two of sugar, three of flour, four eggs. Generations of American bakers have leaned on this ratio because it never fails. This version stacks three layers and finishes them with a cooked chocolate icing that puts every canned frosting to shame.

The icing is the unsung star. Unsweetened chocolate squares melt with butter in a double boiler, then powdered sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla blend in for a cooked frosting that sets to a satin sheen. It is richer, less sticky, and far less sweet than buttercream.

The whole-egg version of the cake (this recipe skips the yolk-and-white separation step) trades a bit of lift for ease. Beat the eggs in one at a time, beating well between additions to compensate. The results are still tender, just slightly less ethereal.

Three layers means doubling the icing recipe. The recipe note says so explicitly. Plan for it before you start melting chocolate.

Bake the layers on a single rack or rotate them halfway through. Stacked racks bake unevenly and you end up with one paler, taller layer.

Pro Tips

• Use real unsweetened chocolate squares (Baker’s, Ghirardelli) rather than cocoa powder. Cocoa-based icing tastes thinner and lacks the deep chocolate body of melted squares.
• Watch the icing carefully as the egg goes in. The chocolate-butter mixture must be cool enough not to scramble the egg, so let it sit for a minute off the heat first.
• Tap the layer pans on the counter once before baking to release big air bubbles trapped in the batter.
• Trim domed tops with a serrated knife for clean stacking. Even a slight dome creates a wobble that compounds across three layers.

Variations

• Add a teaspoon of espresso powder to the icing for a mocha-leaning depth.
• Stir half a teaspoon of orange zest into the cake batter for a chocolate-orange combination.
• Spread a thin layer of raspberry jam between the cake layers and the icing for a fruit-forward classic.