This week was my birthday and I turned a ripe 36 years old.  Every year for my birthday I make this Better Than Sex Cake because it’s my favorite sheet cake!

Also, my Mom used to make a version of this cake for me when I was a kid and yes she still called it the same name. I had many questions, I’m sure, but I never questioned the deliciousness of this cake!

Of course, the irony is that I wouldn’t find out for a good many years that this cake is not, in fact, better than sex.  Some of my high school friends still might not get it…

Anyway, it’s a very delicious cake and one that will be a show-stopper at any party you take it to. I will always call it my Better Than Sex Cake. You could call it a Better Than Anything Cake if you want, but no matter what you call it, it must be made!

Better Than Sex Cake

5 from 4 votes
Author: Nick Evans
Servings: 12 Servings
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
A rich chocolate cake laced with caramel sauce and topped with whipped cream. My favorite birthday cake and possibly better than sex!

Equipment

  • 1 9×13 baking pan

Ingredients 

  • 1 recipe chocolate cake, below
  • 1 recipe caramel sauce, below
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream, whipped
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, for whipped cream
  • 1 tablespoon sugar, for whipped cream
  • 2 cups crumbled Heath bars or chocolate chips

Caramel Sauce: Adapted from My Baking Addiction

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon corn syrup
  • ¼ cup water
  • ½ cup cream, warm
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt

Chocolate Sheet Cake: Adapted from a Pioneer Woman recipe

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup cocoa powder
  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • ½ cup buttermilk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Butter and cocoa powder for the pan

Instructions

For Caramel Sauce:

  • Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 2 quart pot (you need a much bigger pot because it will expand). Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently.
  • Once sugar is dissolved and mixture is bubbling, turn heat down to low and let simmer, without stirring, until mixture turns a dark amber color, about 8-10 minutes.
  • Once sugar is the dark amber color, immediately remove from heat and carefully stir in warmed cream. It will bubble and fizz like crazy.
  • Stir until smooth, scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan. Add in butter and stir until smooth.
  • Stir in pinch of salt and vanilla. If mixture has any chunks in it at all, return to heat briefly (low heat) and stir until the mixture smooths out.
  • Cool and set aside until needed.

For Chocolate Cake:

  • In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt.
  • In a saucepan, melt together butter and cocoa powder. Once smooth, stir in boiling water.
  • Add cocoa powder mixture to dry ingredients and stir to combine.
  • In a separate bowl, whip together eggs, buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla.
  • Stir buttermilk mixture into batter. Try not to overmix it but make sure all the flour is mixed in.
  • Prepare your baking pan by buttering it lightly and dusting it with cocoa powder.
  • Add batter to 9×13 baking pan and bake at 350 °F for 30-35 minutes until a tester comes out clean in the center of the cake.

Finishing the Cake:

  • When cake comes out of the oven, poke a bunch of holes in it with a chopstick.
  • Mix the sweetened condensed milk with the caramel sauce and pour the mixture over the cake. Use a spatula to scrape the sauce back and forth so the sauce gets completely absorbed by the cake.
  • Let the cake sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
  • Chill cake for at least an hour, but preferably a few hours.
  • Whip cream with sugar and vanilla until it forms stiff peaks and then frost cake with fresh whipped cream. Top with crumbled heath bars or chocolate chips!

Nutrition

Serving: 1piece | Calories: 941kcal | Carbohydrates: 123g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 49g | Saturated Fat: 29g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 139mg | Sodium: 357mg | Potassium: 241mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 105g | Vitamin A: 1259IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 150mg | Iron: 1mg
Course: Desserts
Cuisine: American

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @crunchtimekitchen

Caramel Sauce for Better Than Sex Cake

Ok. So the original recipe for this Better than Sex Cake just used an entire jar of the store-bought caramel sauce.  You can definitely just use one of those if you want, but you know I’m a sucker for homemade.

Making this sauce is actually pretty easy as long as you can avoid burning your sugar (something that I almost did).

Just start it off by adding the sugar, corn syrup, and water into a large 2 quart pot.  It might seem like a ridiculously huge pot for that much stuff, but it bubbles up a lot so you need the room.

Melt all this stuff together over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is all dissolved.  Once it starts simmer, turn your heat down to medium-low and then just let it cook down.  There’s no need to even stir it. In fact, if you do stir it, it’ll all stick to your spoon!

When your sugar is an amber color, it’s done.

Starting Caramel Sauce - Better Than Sex Cake
Caramel Start

Immediately take it off the heat and slowly stir in the warm cream.  This is kind of a crazy step because it will bubble like mad, but just stir it and it will eventually calm down and smooth out.

Next, fold your butter into the sauce.  There should be enough residual heat to melt it.

Caramel Sauce - Better than Sex Cake
Looking good.

Then add in the salt and vanilla and you should have a very smooth sauce.  If there are any lumps in the sauce, just put it back over low heat and cook it slowly, stirring constantly, until the lumps cook out.

When the caramel is cooled, go ahead and stir in the sweetened condensed milk and set it aside for later.

Caramel mix - Better than sex cake
Ready for cake!

This is some addictively sweet and delicious sauce!

How to Make Better Than Sex Cake

I’m pretty positive that my mom used boxed German chocolate cake mix for my childhood version of this Better than Sex Cake.  And trust me… that works.  It’s easy and very delicious.

I decided to go with a great chocolate sheet cake recipe that I’ve been meaning to try for a while.

Start by mixing the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.

Then in a small pot, melt the butter and cocoa powder until the mixture is very smooth.  Then stir in the boiling water.  I was skeptical of this step, but it worked!

Then pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients.  This will cool down the wet ingredients.  Mix it all together, but, as with any cake, try not to over-mix it.

Batter - Better Than Sex Cake
Starting the batter

Then in a separate bowl, stir together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and baking soda.

Next, fold the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture.

Batter for Better Than Sex Cake
Finished Batter

Pour this into your baking pan and you’re all set.

Normally, for cakes, I recommend coating the pan really well in butter and then dusting it with flour, but for a chocolate cake, use cocoa powder instead of flour or you’ll have a weird white ring around the edge of your cake.

The Secret Step to Better Than Sex Cake

Bake the cake at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.  A tester should come out clean from the center of the cake.

Now for the fun part!

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, poke a bunch of holes in it while it’s still warm.  I used a chopstick or the end of a mixer blade for this, but anything round will work really.

How to Make Better Than Sex Cake

Then take your caramel sauce mixture and pour it all over the cake!

Use a spatula to kind of smooth it around so it seeps evenly into the cake.

Better Than Anything Cake
Action.

Let it sit for about 10 minutes and all of the caramel mixture will disappear into the cake!

As you might imagine, this makes the center of the cake a bit on the gooey side which is just delicious.

Better than sex cake
Ready to frost!

Frosting the Better Than Sex Cake

Before you top this cake, chill it for at least an hour in the fridge.  You just don’t want to add fresh whipped cream to a hot cake or it’ll melt all over the place.

Speaking of fresh whipped cream, just whip together the cream with the sugar and vanilla until it forms stiff peaks.  You could use a mixer for this, but I prefer to rock it out by hand.

Then just spread this all over the cake!

I really like using the whipped cream as a frosting because it’s really light when the rest of the cake is pretty rich and heavy.

How to make Better Than Sex Cake
Frosting the Cake

I topped mine with some crumbled Heath bars or Chocolate chips.

It might look like a normal cake, but trust me, it’s magical.

Better Than Anything Cake

You can kind of see it in a cross-section piece of cake, but there are these veins of caramel all through the cake that are surprising and wonderful.

Better Than Sex Cake

So I’m not sure that this Better than Sex Cake is actually better than sex, but I can promise you that it’s very, very good!

Here are a few other great cake recipes!