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Earthquake Cake gets its name from the dramatic cracks and craters that split the top as it bakes, every fault line revealing gooey sweet cream cheese and melted chocolate underneath, and when I pulled one from the oven on a rainy Sunday, Lizzie asked why the cake exploded and then asked for the biggest piece. It is the chocolate sibling of our famous strawberry earthquake cake.
A boxed cake mix and a five ingredient cream cheese swirl are the entire trick, no frosting, no layers, no skills required.
Earthquake Cake Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 15 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 40 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 55 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 12 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 473kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Deep gooey chocolate with sweet tangy cream cheese pockets
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, same dump and swirl method as our strawberry dump cake
Quick Answer
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 pan. Mix a box of Devils Food cake mix according to the package directions, pour it into the pan, and sprinkle a cup of chocolate chips over the batter. Beat melted butter, softened cream cheese, and vanilla until combined, mix in the powdered sugar, then spoon dollops over the cake and swirl gently with a knife. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, the top will crack and crater as the layers shift, and serve warm or cooled with whipped cream.
Jump to:
- Earthquake Cake Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Earthquake Cake
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Earthquake Cake FAQs
- Other Recommended Easy Cake Recipes
- Earthquake Cake (Chocolate Cream Cheese)
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- The cracks are the whole point. The dense cream cheese mixture sinks while the lighter cake batter rises around it, splitting the surface into crevices and pockets, no perfect looking cake required.
- Cream cheese sinks by design. Its weight pulls the sweet swirl into the middle of the cake as it bakes, creating cheesecake like veins in every slice instead of a frosting layer on top.
- A box mix is the right base here. The cake needs to be light enough to rise around the heavy swirl, and a Devils Food mix delivers that reliable lift with deep cocoa flavor.
- Chocolate chips melt into fudge pockets. Sprinkled between the batter and the swirl, they turn into molten seams of chocolate that keep the center gooey even after cooling.
- No frosting is a feature. The cream cheese swirl bakes into the cake, so it travels, serves, and stores without any icing to smudge, chill, or slide.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The messier it looks, the better it tastes, this is the most forgiving cake you will ever bake.
- Boxed mix plus five pantry staples, there is no frosting, leveling, or decorating.
- Every slice has gooey cream cheese pockets, like our better than sex cake, it is impossible to serve without someone asking for the recipe.
- It has earned a permanent spot in our rotation, right up there with our chocolate tres leches cake.
- It has earned a permanent spot in our rotation, right up there with our chocolate peppermint poke cake.
- It earns a spot in the rotation right next to our chocolate pudding cake.
Key Ingredients
A boxed mix and a handful of staples make the gooiest chocolate cake going.
- Devils Food cake mix: The deep chocolate base, prepared with the eggs, oil, and water listed on the box.
- Cream cheese: Softened so it beats smooth, it becomes the sweet tangy pockets the cake cracks open around.
- Chocolate chips: Semi sweet chips melt into fudgy seams between the cake and the swirl.
- Powdered sugar: Sweetens the cream cheese layer into a frosting like ribbon.
- Unsalted butter: Melted into the cream cheese mixture so it bakes silky instead of stiff.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
The crack and swirl method takes every flavor direction.
- Make it the classic southern way by sprinkling a cup of shredded coconut and a half cup of chopped pecans over the batter before the chocolate chips, the original earthquake cake texture.
- Swap the Devils Food mix for german chocolate cake mix for a lighter, caramel toned chocolate.
- Use white chocolate chips and a yellow cake mix for a golden earthquake cake.
- Stir a half teaspoon of espresso powder into the cream cheese layer to deepen the chocolate.
- Craving fruit with your gooey swirl? Our strawberry earthquake cake is the berry version of this exact method.
- Craving a different flavor next time? Our easy chocolate cake delivers the same easy comfort with its own twist.
- Craving a different flavor next time? Our flourless chocolate cake delivers the same easy comfort with its own twist.
- In the mood for something different? Our black forest cake scratches a similar itch.
How to Make Earthquake Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 inch pan. Mix the cake according to the package directions in a large bowl.
- Pour the prepared batter into the greased pan and spread it evenly to the corners. Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the batter.
- In a separate bowl, add the melted butter, softened cream cheese, and vanilla.
- Mix the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla together until fully combined and smooth. Add the powdered sugar and mix until incorporated.
- Spoon dollops of the cream cheese mixture all over the top of the cake batter, then swirl gently with a knife, do not overmix the two layers.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the top is cracked and the cake is set around the gooey pockets. Remove from the oven and let cool before slicing.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Soften the cream cheese fully. Cold cream cheese leaves lumps that never smooth out in the oven, give it 30 minutes on the counter.
- Swirl gently, 4 or 5 passes max. Overmixing blends the layers together and you lose the dramatic pockets that make it an earthquake.
- Do not overbake it. The center should look set but soft, the gooey factor is the entire personality of this cake.
- Test in a cake spot, not a swirl spot. A toothpick in a cream cheese pocket will always look wet, aim for the cake between the cracks.
- Let it rest 20 minutes before slicing. The molten pockets settle just enough to slice cleanly while still warm.
- Grease the pan corners well. The cream cheese swirl loves to weld itself to any bare spot.
- Make it a spread. When you are feeding a crowd, round out the table with our chocolate espresso cake.
- Make it a full spread. Our yellow cake rounds out the table.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Still filling out the menu? Readers love pairing this one with our chocolate chip pound cake, marble cake, and strawberry cheesecake dump cake.
Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator up to 4 days because of the cream cheese, and rewarm individual squares for 15 seconds in the microwave to bring the gooey pockets back to life. It also freezes well for 2 months, wrapped tightly.
Earthquake Cake FAQs
Because the top cracks, shifts, and craters as it bakes, like fault lines opening in the surface. The heavy cream cheese swirl sinks while the cake batter rises around it, and those collisions split the top dramatically. The uglier the cracks, the better the slice underneath.
A cracked, uneven, crater filled top with glimpses of cream cheese and melted chocolate showing through the fault lines. It is intentionally rustic, there is no frosting or smoothing involved, and every pan cracks in its own unique pattern.
The original southern version includes coconut and pecans scattered under the batter, and you can absolutely add them here, a cup of coconut and a half cup of chopped pecans before the chocolate chips. This version skips them for a pure gooey chocolate and cream cheese experience the whole family agrees on.
Some sinking is normal and correct, the cream cheese pockets weigh the center down. If the whole cake collapsed, it was underbaked, keep it in the full 40 to 45 minutes and test the cake sections between the swirls with a toothpick.
Yes, the cream cheese swirl means leftovers belong covered in the refrigerator, where they keep up to 4 days. Serve refrigerated slices cold like a cheesecake hybrid or microwave them for 15 seconds to revive the warm gooey texture.
Yes, it is a great make ahead dessert. Bake it the day before, cool completely, cover, and refrigerate. The flavor deepens overnight, and you can serve it cold or rewarm squares as needed. It also freezes for up to 2 months wrapped tightly.
Made this Earthquake Cake? Leave a comment and a star rating below, and tell me how dramatic your cracks turned out!
On the celebration end of the cake family, my pinata cake hides a candy surprise inside.
Love gooey cakes? Make our funfetti earthquake cake next.
Earthquake Cake (Chocolate Cream Cheese)
Ingredients
- 1 box Devil’s Food cake mix 15.25 oz, plus ingredients listed on box
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2½ cups powdered sugar
- Whipped cream optional for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease a 9×13″ pan, set aside.
- Mix cake according to package directions.1 box Devil’s Food cake mix
- Pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Sprinkle with chocolate chips.1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Mix the melted butter, cream cheese and vanilla together until combined.8 oz cream cheese, ½ cup unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the powdered sugar and mix until incorporated2½ cups powdered sugar
- Spoon dollops of cream cheese mixture over cake, swirl gently with a knife.Whipped cream
- Bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Notes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease a 9×13″ pan, set aside.
- Mix cake according to package directions.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
- Mix the melted butter, cream cheese and vanilla together until combined.
- Add the powdered sugar and mix until incorporated
- Spoon dollops of cream cheese mixture over cake, swirl gently with a knife.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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These look and taste amazing – Thanks for the recipe!