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The Best Chocolate Cake
This one bowl chocolate cake is what decadent chocolatey dreams are made of. Frost this super moist chocolate cake with a rich chocolate buttercream for a sinfully delicious treat!
Looking for other decadent layer cakes? Try my famous s’mores cake or this rich caramel praline layer cake!
The Best Chocolate Cake
Hello, fellow chocolate cake fiends. Today I am sharing my absolute favorite recipe for the best chocolate cake you’ll ever eat. It’s rich, but not too rich; chocolatey, but not too chocolatey (if there’s even such a thing). It sits in that perfect sweet spot between dense and fluffy. Plus, it’s made in bowl (no mixer required!) with just ten ingredients.
Basically you’re going to love it.
Ingredients for Chocolate Cake
This chocolate cake recipe is made with pantry staples you probably already have in your cupboard. It only calls for ten ingredients, so there’s really no excuse to not make this chocolate cake.
- Granulated sugar – Plain old white sugar is the only sweetener you’ll need for this decadent chocolate cake.
- Cocoa powder – Cocoa Powder is what gives this cake its deep chocolatey flavor, so make sure you use a high quality cocoa powder. We always use Rodelle’s cocoa powder and cannot recommend it enough.
- All Purpose Flour – No fancy cake flour required! You can use regular ol’ all purpose flour to create that velvety crumb.
- Baking powder + Baking Soda – A combination of baking powder and baking soda will create a beautiful rise in your chocolate cake.
- Eggs – Use large eggs at room temperature for the best results!
- Buttermilk – Buttermilk is an absolute must when it comes to cake baking. It will give your baking soda a little extra oompf and really deepens the flavor fo your cake. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand (does anyone?!), you can make your own buttermilk at home!
- Strongly Brewed Coffee – Coffee will deepen the flavor of the chocolate. I promise you, your cake will NOT taste like coffee. Just deep, rich, velvety chocolate 🙂 Make sure your coffee is at room temperature to prevent cooking your batter!
Tips for the best chocolate cake
This chocolate cake tastes straight from a bakery, but a child could make it. Which is about the level of difficulty I can handle today lololololololol. In all serious though, you don’t even need a stand mixer for this recipe and it’s the perfect indulgent treat to whip up with your non-baker friends or a kiddo. Just follow these three simply steps and you’re guaranteed a gourmet cake.
- Use high quality cocoa powder: The quality of your cocoa powder will make or break your cake, so please splurge an extra dollar on the higher quality stuff. Your cake will thank you.
- Do not over bake your cakes: There is nothing sadder than a dry chocolate cake. Take your cakes out when a knife comes out mostly clean rather than waiting for it to come out completely dry. Your cake will continue to bake as it cools!
- Let the cakes cool completely before frosting: Sadly this is such an important step in homemade cake making. I know–I’m impatient too, but your cakes need to be fully room temperature before you start frosting or the frosting will melt and your cake will fall apart!
What size cakes can you make from this one bowl chocolate cake recipe?
This recipe will make a killer Matilda style two inch layer cake, but you can also use it to make some different sizes and shapes:
- 3 6 inch round layers
- 2 8 or 9 inch round layers
- 3 8 or 9 inch round layers
- 1 9 x 13 sheet pan
Follow my step by step video here!
Happy chocolate cake eating, my friends!
XXX
PrintThe BEST Chocolate Cake
- Prep Time 30 minutes
- Cook Time 30 minutes
- Total Time 2 hours
- Yield 16 servings
- Category dessert
- Method oven
- Cuisine american
The BEST Chocolate Cake
This one bowl chocolate cake is what decadent chocolatey dreams are made of. Frost this super moist chocolate cake with a rich chocolate buttercream and enjoy!
- Prep Time 30 minutes
- Cook Time 30 minutes
- Total Time 2 hours
- Yield 16 servings
- Category dessert
- Method oven
- Cuisine american
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 3/4 cups (364g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (84g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 2 cups (256g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (105g) vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup (227g) buttermilk
- 3/4 cup (178g) strongly brewed coffee
For the frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups (339) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (112g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 5 cups (560g) powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup (60g) milk, slightly warmed
- 1/4 cup (60g) heavy cream, slightly warmed
- 3 tablespoons corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and line two (or three for a three layer cake!) 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the oil, vanilla, eggs, and buttermilk into the well.
- Starting from the center of the bowl, whisk outward, pulling the dry ingredients into the middle. Whisk until no lumps remain—the batter will be thick. Pour in the hot coffee, whisking until the batter is smooth.
- Divide the batter evenly into the prepared pans and bake until the cakes are risen, the tops springs back to the touch, and a butter knife inserted in the center of the cakes comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes for two cakes or 20 to 25 minutes for three cakes.
- Once the cakes have cooled, make the frosting. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and cocoa powder on low speed for 30 seconds until smooth and no streaks of cocoa remain. Add in the powdered sugar, warm milk, heavy cream, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low speed, gradually increasing to medium, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed, until the frosting is fluffy and has lightened in color slightly, about 30 seconds.
- Place the first cake layer right side up onto a cake stand or plate. Spread a large dollop of frosting on top, using an offset spatula to spread a thick layer evenly to the edges. Repeat with the rest of the cake layers and frosting. Use the remaining frosting to frost the sides of the cake. Use the back of a large spoon to create swirls around the top and sides of the cake and decorate as desired. Enjoy!
- Prep Time 30 minutes
- Cook Time 30 minutes
- Total Time 2 hours
- Yield 16 servings
- Category dessert
- Method oven
- Cuisine american
Hi, can you freeze the cake layers in advance before icing? If so, grateful for any tips on maintaining freshness!
Hi Nat! Yes you can absolutely freeze the cake layers–we usually do just the break up the work of making a cake! Bake them off as directed and make sure to let them cool completely before wrapping tightly in plastic wrap and freezing. When you’re ready to assemble your cake let the cake layers thaw out before using so the frosting doesn’t seize when it hits the cold cake!
I changed the recipe a little bit to make it REFINED SUGAR FREE and it turned out surprisingly delicious!! I simply swapped the granulated sugar for the same amount of pitted dates. I also swapped the flour for whole wheat and the cake was super moist and fudgy! So I’m sure that using AP flour would also work. It had a rich chocolate flavour and a slight nutty caramel-like flavour from the dates!
To use the dates, I soaked them in hot water for 5 min and blended them with a splash of water, then I added the paste as another wet ingredient. I also added the zest of an orange, which gave the cake a nice citric touch.
Finally, I topped the cake with a refined sugar free cream cheese frosting combining cream cheese, honey, cacao powder, vanilla and instant coffee, just in case you are looking for a healthier frosting alternative.
Hope this helped and thank you Sophie for this incredible recipe!!! <3
I made this cake for my father in laws birthday, It was absolutely amazing! My mother in law has asked me to make another just for her. The only difference I made was that I used black coca 10/10 I’ll be making this cake a lot