Milky Way Cake: If you’re a fan of Milky Way chocolate bars, you’re going to love this easy Milky Way cake recipe from scratch. With a simple caramel frosting and chopped Milky Way bars on top, this is one of our favorite ultimate cake recipes!
If you love Milky Way bars like I do, then you are going to LOVE this recipe. The chocolate cake is soft, spongey, and moist and it pairs wonderfully with the caramel frosting – it has all the flavor of Milky Way bars in delicious cake form!
This would be perfect as a Milky Way birthday cake, but this Milky Way layer cake is easy enough that you could also make it as a special weeknight treat. And if you have leftover Halloween candy kicking around, this is a great way to use up those chocolate bars that have been tempting you.
Why you’ll love this recipe
Chocolatey Goodness: Chocolate lovers rejoice! Eating this cake is like eating a deconstructed Milky Way bar, and I don’t know about you but that reason’s enough for me.
Simple Ingredients: Both the cake and the frosting are made with simple ingredients you can find at any grocery store!
Quick: You can have this moist cake ready in about an hour!
Easy: You don’t have to be a pastry chef to make this delicious, easy Milky Way cake. Trust me, if I can make it you can too!
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Ingredients
For a complete list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions, see the printable recipe card below.
Milky Way Cake Ingredients
- ¾ cup salted butter slightly melted
- 2 cups white granulated sugar
- 6 eggs
- ¾ cup whole milk
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 cups white flour
Milky Way Cake Icing Ingredients
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup salted butter softened
- 1 cup caramel sauce
- A few tablespoons of milk as needed
Instructions for making this Milky Way cake recipe
- Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and line two 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper. This will help prevent the cakes from sticking to the pan when you go to take them out.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and 2 cups of sugar until it is smooth and creamy.
- Add the eggs and milk to the creamed mixture and stir vigorously (or use a stand mixer on high speed) until the mixture is smooth and runny. You want to make sure that all the egg yolks are broken.
- Add the cocoa powder, baking powder, and flour to the butter mixture and gently mix on low speed until the flour mixture is fully incorporated into the cake batter.
- Divide the cake batter among the two cake pans and bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick can be cleanly removed from the center of each cake.
- While the cake cools, prepare the frosting by mixing together the powdered sugar, butter, and caramel sauce using a stand mixer or electric mixer. Mix these ingredients until they are smooth and homogenous. If your frosting is too thick, slowly mix in just enough milk (one tablespoon at a time) until it has reached the desired consistency.
- Remove the cooled cake from the pans and place one on a cake stand. Frost the top of the first cake, place the second cake on top, frost the top of that one, and then frost the sides to your liking.
- Place the cake in the fridge to allow the frosting to set, top with caramel drizzle, chopped milky ways, and enjoy! This would make a perfect birthday cake with a scoop of ice cream on the side.
Substitutions
Need to substitute an ingredient in this easy Milky Way cake? Here are a few suggestions.
- Butter – You can replace the butter in this recipe with margarine or a dairy-free butter. If you use margarine, dairy-free butter or unsalted butter, be sure to add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the recipe.
- Flour – I prefer to use white flour for cake recipes, but you could use a blend of white flour and whole wheat flour. I would not recommend using only whole wheat flour, though, as the flavor and texture will not be quite the same.
- Milk – Instead of whole milk, you could use any milk you have on hand. The higher the milk fat content, the richer your cake will be. You could even use heavy cream if you like!
- Dairy-Free – If you are looking to create a dairy-free cake, you can replace the butter with a dairy-free alternative and use a dairy-free milk. For the best results, try something thick and creamy like coconut cream or a thick coconut milk. The flavor will be slightly different, but it will still be delicious!
Variations
If you’re looking for a creative way to change this easy chocolate cake recipe up, try the variations below!
- Add Chocolate – Stir some chocolate chips or chopped Milky Way bars right into the cake batter!
- New Shapes – See the equipment section below for ideas on how to bake this cake without round cake pans.
- Add Toppings – Pipe some whipped cream or marshmallow fluff on the top, add some sprinkles, shave some chocolate curls onto it. Garnishing the top of a cake is the best part!
Equipment
This recipe calls for 2, 9-inch round cake pans like these. If you don’t have cake pans, here are some other ways you could make this cake…
Milky Way Sheet Cake – You can bake this cake in a 9×13 pan and frost it to turn it into a sheet cake! You could even poke holes in your baked cake and cover the whole thing with extra caramel sauce before frosting to turn it into a Milky Way poke cake.
More poke cake recipes: Our pumpkin poke cake is amazing!
Milky Way Bundt Cake – Instead of round cake pans, you can bake your batter in a bundt pan! Personally, I think bundt cakes are adorable. Just be sure you don’t fill your bundt pan more than 2/3 full so it doesn’t spill over.
You will likely need to bake the cake an additional 15 minutes as well since there will be more cake in this one pan. Bake it until the toothpick comes out clean, just like the recipe says.
To frost, make your icing just thin enough that it can be poured onto the bundt cake.
More bundt cake recipes: If you’ve had enough chocolate, this tart and sweet creamy lemon bundt cake might hit the spot!
Storage
Your Milky Way cake will keep for 3-4 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Here’s a tip though – this cake tastes amazing when it’s chilled! Try storing it in the fridge and see for yourself (it will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge).
Alternatively, you can store this cake in the freezer for up to two months in an airtight, freezer safe container. Or you can freeze the cake layers on their own (tightly wrapped in plastic wrap) and assemble the cake when you are ready to serve it. Simply let it thaw in the fridge before assembling/serving.
Expert Tips and FAQs
There are plenty of great tutorials out there on how to assemble and frost a layer cake. Basically you want to put some frosting on the top of the cake and spread it to cover the entire top, then over the sides and down to the bottom of the cake. A small offset spatula like this works best, but you can use any spatula you have on hand.
This is actually an interesting question. These three chocolate bars are all produced by the same company and are very similar!
In the US, we would call the bar in this recipe a Milky Way bar. If you are in Canada or other parts of the world, you would call this a Mars bar! If you aren’t from the United States, the Milky Way bar you are thinking of is what we here call a 3 Musketeers bar.
You could chop up either of these bars to go on top of this cake and they would both be delicious!
Absolutely! You can grab your favorite chocolate cake mix (I like Betty Crocker’s devil’s food cake) and bake it following the instructions on the recipe box. Then make your frosting and assemble it as this recipe says.
Pro Tip: Add 1 more egg than the cake mix asks for, and swap out the oil for melted butter or sour cream. This will give you a more moist, dense cake!
Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rating below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!
If you enjoyed this old fashioned Milky Way cake, you will also love this chocolate toffee peanut butter cake, this Ding Dong Cake, and this hot fudge cake!
📖 Recipe
Milky Way Cake
Equipment
- Two 9-inch cake pans
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup salted butter slightly melted
- 2 cups white granulated sugar
- 6 eggs
- ¾ cup whole milk
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 cups white flour
Frosting
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup salted butter softened
- 1 cup caramel sauce
- A few tablespoons milk as needed
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and line two 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper. This will help prevent the cakes from sticking to the pan when you go to take them out.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until it is smooth and creamy.
- Add in the eggs and milk and whisk (or stir with stand mixer paddle) vigorously until the mixture is smooth and runny. You want to make sure that all the egg yolks are broken.
- Add in the cocoa powder, baking powder, and flour and gently mix until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated into the cake batter.
- Divide the cake batter among the two cake pans and bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick can be cleanly removed from the center of each cake.
- While the cake cools, prepare the frosting by mixing together the powdered sugar, butter, and caramel sauce using a stand mixer or electric mixer. Mix these ingredients until they are smooth and homogenous. If your frosting is too thick, slowly mix in milk one tablespoon at a time until it has reached the desired consistency.
- Once your cakes have completely cooled, remove them from the pans and place one on a cake stand. Frost the top of the first cake, place the second cake on top, frost the top of that one, and then frost the sides to your liking.
- Place the cake in the fridge to allow the frosting to set, top with caramel drizzle, chopped milky ways, and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Diana says
Made this for my son’s birthday and it was a big hit!! He said it was the best cake ever, thanks to your recipe!
wilhelmina says
Wow! This cake was phenomenal! I made it for my husband and he hasn’t stopped talking about how much he loves it!
Paula K says
My kids love milky ways (especially my oldest) and they went crazy for this cake! It is truly amazing, thank you.