Portillo's Chocolate Cake Knock Off Dessert Recipe (2024)

Check out this knock-off recipe for Portillo’s Chocolate Cake. Find a free cake banner printable at the bottom of this post.

I sure love Portillo’s! My mouth is watering just thinking of their Tuna Steak Sandwiches. That thick charred fishtopped with lettuce, tomato, red onion, and their tartar sauce on a sweet bun. YUM!! I want one right now!!!

My family, on the other hand, loves Portillo’s Chocolate Cake. It’s so rich, thick, and moist. It is one of those cakes that leave you thinking about it long after you’ve finished your meal. You may not have heard of Portillo’s, but you can make this amazing cake at home. It’s super easy and delicious. Your family and guests will be asking for more! I let them eat it before I reveal the ingredients.

KnockOff Portillo’s Chocolate Cake

The ingredients for this cake are quite simple. So simple that it uses a premade cake mix. Yes, you get a restaurant-quality cake using a cake mix. I even use a store-brand cake mix.

Portillo’s serves this as a double layer cake. I make it as a sheet cake and it tastes just as good. I really do take the easy way out! Use this recipe to make a copycat Portillo’s Cake Shake.

While this cake would taste great as is, I top it with a basic chocolate buttercream frosting.

Easy Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) of softened butter
3-4 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1-2 tablespoons of whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

Mix the butter until fluffy. Add 3 cups of the powdered sugar, the cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon of milk, and the extract (I prefer Almond) and mix until fluffy. Add in more powdered sugar or milk for desired consistency. Frost when cakewhen it has cooled.I just frosted mine in the dish I baked it in.

Have you ever eaten at Portillo’s? Even if you haven’t, you should try this out for your next get together and reap the compliments!

How to Make a Pinata Cake

Come see how easy it is to make a pinata cake with a cake mix and candy. Surprise someone special!

Each week we get together at a friend’s house to watch The Bachelor. A couple in our group recently got engaged, so I decided to make them a congratulations pinata cake. I took the cake to this week’s viewing party.

This cake is very easy to create! Bake a cake mix into two round cake pans to create a double layer cake. I used a devil’s food cake mix. When the bottom layer was placed on my cake plate, I cored out a circle in the middle of that layer and filled it with Valentine’s M&Ms as I assembled the cake. I wanted to make sure that there were a lot of M&Ms spilling out, so I overfilled the hole. Then I scooped a little cake out of the bottom of the top layer before assembling. The cake was held together and topped with a whipped chocolate canned frosting. I put a large cookie cutter on the top of the cake and put Valentine’s colored sprinkles inside of it. It looked really nice against the brown of the frosting.

Next, I cut some diamond shapes out of some scrapbook paper for my banner. I knew I would not be able to cut nicely, so I made a pattern that I printed on the back of the paper. My banner pieces were too big, so I adjusted the template to offer as a freebie for you. Just click the image below to get to the image, and then right-click to download.

Free Cake Banner Printable

I just hand wrote the banner letters, used some double sticky tape to string them on a small rope, and then tied it to straws. Even though it was a little big, it was a very cute cake.

The bride to be was very surprised by the cake. She and her father really appreciated the gesture. She was even more surprised when she cut into the cake.