Meet your new favorite snack cake. This ultra-simple, rich chocolate and buttermilk snack cake gets topped with a sage caramel Swiss meringue buttercream and swirled with homemade sage caramel.

I’ve been on a bit of a chocolate dessert kick lately and I’m not mad about it at all. As much as I love me a good fall squash dessert, it’s easy to get a little spiced-out during the holiday baking season and I tend to forget that chocolate desserts still exist. So I set out to cozy-up my very favorite chocolate cake recipe and it was quite the success.

a very simple chocolate snack cake

I am not lying when I tell you that this might be the simplest chocolate cake recipe you will find. It only dirties up one bowl, one measuring glass, a whisk, and a rubber spatula and utilizes pantry ingredients you probably already have on hand.

P.S. If you aren’t someone who keeps buttermilk on hand at all times, I highly recommend it. Buttermilk is one of my top 5 baking ingredients and it will transform the textures of your cakes and breads.

To make the cake, simply whisk together dry ingredients + sugar and set it aside. Then whisk together olive oil and buttermilk, add it to the dry, and whisk until the batter is smooth and lump-free. Transfer the batter to an 8” cake pan and bake it until the center is set and the sides begin to pull away from the edge of the pan. Let cool almost completely and then invert it onto a cooling rack. Voilà. You could totally stop there and just eat the cake frosting-free, maybe with a spoonful of crème fraîche or whipped cream.

But I suggest continuing on with a simple sage caramel buttercream.

homemade sage caramel and a caramel swiss buttercream

I won’t spend too long dissecting the steps of making homemade caramel because you can read about that whole process in-depth here, here, and here! But we are essentially making our classic dry caramel with a bit of added pizzazz. Before making the caramel, we’ll bring our heavy cream to a simmer and steep a handful of fresh sage leaves in the hot cream. Before using it, we’ll strain out the leaves and then that herbal, fragrant cream will get added to our caramel in place of regular cream. This is a really easy way to add flavor to your caramel and you could definitely experiment will all sorts of herbs and flowers (rose! lavender! cardamom!)

Now, for the buttercream.

Swiss meringue buttercream is the swoopiest and fluffiest of all of the buttercreams in my opinion, and it is fairy simple to make once you know the steps and what to look for. Let’s break it down.

1. Combine egg whites and sugar in a double boiler. You’ll cook this mixture over very even heat, stirring very frequently, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the temperature reaches 160° F. You can use a candy thermometer if you’d like, but I like to dip my finger into the bowl to test for readiness. The mixture should be warm and free of sugar granules.

2. Whip egg white/sugar to form a meringue. Once you’ve reached your ideal temperature, transfer the mixture to a stand mixer and begin whipping, starting on low speed and then increasing speed gradually, until you have a thick, glossy, room temperature meringue.

3. Add the buttah. With the mixer on, add your softened butter, one tablespoon at a time. When all of the butter has been added, switch to the paddle attachment and beat it until the light and fluffy and the consistency resembles that of a buttercream.

4. Stream in the caramel. With the mixer on low-speed, add half of the caramel (this should be room temperature too) and beat until it’s mixed in. Swoop it on your cake, drizzle with more caramel, and enjoy!