The BEST Chocolate Cake Recipe
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One of my all time favorites, this is my moist, fudgy, and completely from-scratch best chocolate cake recipe. It comes together in one bowl and pairs well with any frosting! Recipe includes a how-to video!
Why This is THE Chocolate Cake Recipe You Need:
- Ridiculously moist, even days later: Most cakes dry out by day two… not mine! Thanks to a strategic combo of buttermilk, oil, butter, and an extra egg yolk you’ll get a moist, tender crumb that stays soft, fudgy and rich, even straight out of the fridge!
- Bold chocolate flavor. No flat cocoa flavor here. By blooming the cocoa with hot coffee we unlock its full intensity. While the cake doesn’t actually taste like coffee, it has a deeper, more complex chocolate flavor in every bite.
- No mixer, no fuss, no fail! Made in one bowl with no special equipment required, this cake comes together so easily (though of course feel free to use your stand or hand mixer, if you feel so inclined!).
- This is the chocolate cake recipe you’ll come back to. This is the one I make for birthdays, holidays, or any time I need a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. It’s reliable, richly chocolatey, and just plain better than the rest (if I do say so myself). If you don’t believe me, here’s a recent 5-star review:
“Perfect as is no changes needed! This cake yields a tender, moist crumb packed with flavor. I used the hot coffee as suggested and it really helps the flavor pop. I topped it with the oreo icing and and even our picky eaters came back for seconds. Thank You!“
– Elayna
What You Need
Each ingredient in this chocolate cake recipe was carefully chosen to make for a moist and flavorful chocolate cake. Let’s go over the key players:
Note: This ingredient photo does not include ingredients for the frosting, as you can use your favorite (suggestions below!).
- Buttermilk gives my chocolate cake recipe intense depth of flavor and keeps it soft and moist. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can use my easy buttermilk substitute in a pinch–but real buttermilk is best!
- Oil and butter give us a moist cake with great flavor. This combination is especially important if you need to refrigerate your chocolate cake (which could dry out your cake). I originally used canola or vegetable oil in this recipe, but have learned avocado oil works just as well and this is my current go-to.
- An extra egg yolk contributes to the tender, fudgy, melt-in-your-mouth crumb. If you don’t want to waste your leftover egg white, save it to make some candied almonds.
- Cocoa powder. I recommend using natural cocoa powder for best results.
- Hot water/coffee will “bloom” your cocoa powder, fully developing its flavor. Note that using coffee won’t make your chocolate cake taste like coffee, but it will enhance the chocolate taste even more than plain hot water would (which is why I prefer it to water). On the other hand, if you really like coffee and want a coffee flavor, you can always frost this cake with my coffee frosting (I actually like to use the variation in that recipe to make a mocha frosting with this cake)!
Remember, this is just an overview of some of the key ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
SAM’S TIP: The best way to keep this chocolate cake recipe (or, any cake) moist is to not over-bake it. Make sure that your oven temperature isn’t running hotter than it is leading you to believe (I keep two thermometers in my oven to make sure the temperature is accurate), as an oven that’s too hot will over-bake your cake in your hurry.
How to Make The Best Chocolate Cake
Step 1: Reverse creaming (sort of!)
We are essentially using a modified version of the reverse creaming method (previously shown in my caramel cake!) for a super moist crumb. This means we first combine the dry ingredients (and the sugar, which is technically a wet ingredient) and then add oil and melted butter. The mixture will be thick and crumbly, but stir until all of the dry ingredients are completely moistened. An electric mixer makes this a bit easier, though I’ve done it by hand before with just a spatula.
Step 2: Add the rest of the wet ingredients
Eggs, an extra yolk, and a healthy pour of vanilla extract go in first. Make sure the eggs are room temperature, or they can make it difficult for the batter to combine, resulting in a wonky, uneven cake. Next stir in the buttermilk, the batter will thin a bit here, but it really becomes thin once you add the (hot!) coffee.
You can use hot coffee or hot water for this step, but the most important thing is that it’s, well, hot! The heat from the warm liquid “blooms” the cocoa, as mentioned in the “Ingredients” section above (see that section again if you’re curious about why I prefer coffee to water, too!).
Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of your bowl here so the batter is smooth and uniform. And it will seem thin! This is absolutely normal!
Step 3: Bake & cool (then decorate!)
Divide the batter into 8″ round baking pans and bake. I recommend using circles of cut out parchment paper on the bottom of my pans (in addition to greasing/flouring them) to ensure there will be no sticking when it’s time to remove the cakes from the pans (makes things so much easier and less stressful!). Once they’ve finished baking, let them cool in the pans for a few minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack to cool completely before decorating.
If needed/desired you can level your cake layers (this is the inexpensive cake leveler (affiliate) I like to use) and then decorate with your favorite frosting. I have a post on how to decorate a cake if you need help with this step (but you can see I kept things pretty simple here).
SAM’S TIP: A crumb coating is always a good idea! To do this, apply a thin, even layer of frosting to catch all of your crumbs and then place the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes. Remove and finish frosting for a crumb-free finish!
Frequently Asked Questions
The secret to a truly moist, fudgy chocolate cake recipe comes down to a few key ingredients and techniques. Buttermilk (full-fat, and better if it’s the real deal and not a substitute) gives the crumb a soft, tender texture while a combo of oil and butter gives you the bet of both worlds — lasting moisture and rich flavor. An extra egg yolk adds a luxurious fudgy bite, and most importantly don’t overbake it! Pull the cake out of the oven when there are a few moist crumbs on your toothpick (but no wet batter), that’s when the magic happens.
Final tip: I recommend if you haven’t already, learn how to use a kitchen scale to consistently have best results with all of your baked goods.
I typically use chocolate buttercream or my favorite chocolate frosting; however my chocolate fudge frosting works just as well (and that’s what I used in the photos here!). The fudge frosting is thicker, richer and, well, fudgier, while the “favorite” frosting is lighter, sweeter, and more buttercream-esque.
Chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream, coffee frosting, brown butter frosting, peanut butter frosting, caramel frosting, or even Oreo frosting would also be good as decadent options, or lighten things up with fresh fruit and try my strawberry frosting, raspberry buttercream or even my blueberry frosting!
Yes, you can use my chocolate cake recipe for cupcakes, but my recommendation is to make my easy chocolate cupcake recipe instead; it yields a light, springy texture that suits the cupcake form so well.
However, if you want to make this cake as cupcakes, know you’ll get approximately 24 cupcakes. Fill your liners ⅔ of the way full and bake for 16-18 minutes.
Perfect Frosting Pairings:
This chocolate cake recipe has already earned hundreds of 5-star ratings, but I’d love to hear what you think of it! Leave me a comment and a rating once you try it (please!).
Enjoy!
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The BEST Chocolate Cake Recipe
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale recommended
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cup (208 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (75 g) natural cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (118 ml) neutral cooking oil, (use avocado, canola, or vegetable oil)
- 2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (236 ml) buttermilk
- ½ cup (118 ml) hot coffee or hot water
- 1 batch chocolate frosting, see note
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare two 8" round cake pans by lining the bottoms with parchment paper and lightly greasing and flouring the sides. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) stir together flour, sugars, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined.1 ⅔ cup (208 g) all-purpose flour, 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, ¾ cup (75 g) natural cocoa powder, 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
- Add melted butter and oil, stir well. Batter may be thick, this is fine, just stir until all of the dry ingredients are moistened.½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, ½ cup (118 ml) neutral cooking oil
- Add eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir until well combined. Pause occasionally to scrape sides and bottom of bowl.2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Gradually add buttermilk and stir well.1 cup (236 ml) buttermilk
- Add hot coffee or water, stirring carefully until ingredients are well-combined (be sure to scrape sides and bottom of bowl to ensure batter is uniform).½ cup (118 ml) hot coffee or hot water
- Evenly divide batter between prepared pans. Transfer to center rack of 350F (175C) and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with moist crumbs.
- Allow to cool for 15 minutes before inverting onto cooling rack to cool completely before frosting with your favorite frosting (I recommend the one linked in the recipe above, or one of my favorites linked in the notes below!).1 batch chocolate frosting
Notes
- Two 9″ pans: Cakes will need to bake for less time, start checking at 27-30 minutes. Please keep in mind that if your pans are dark-colored the cake may need less time to bake.
- Three 8″ pans: Bake approximately 23-26 minutes.
- Three 9″ pans. Cake layers will be quite thin. Bake approximately 20-23 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Recipe originally published 02/27/2017. I’ve updated the post to have new photos, a new video, and more helpful information, but the recipe has been extensively tested and was not in need of improvement, so it remains the same!
Can I use this chocolate cake recipe for a black forest cake?
Absolutely! Enjoy!
Hi I don’t know why my batter is too watery? What should I do? I just substituted 1/4 of butter with canola oil? 😕
Hi Lale, is it more watery than in the video?
My go to chocolate cake. Love it ❤️
I am so glad that you loved the cake, Dzenana! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
I made this yesterday as a Mother’s Day treat for myself. It’s definitely the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made! Very moist and decadent. The icing was a bit fluffy for any kind of piping/decor, but tastes delicious!
I am so glad that you enjoyed your special Mother’s Day treat, Jessica! Thanks for trying my recipe! I hope that you had a wonderful day. 🙂
I tried it today for mother’s day!! It was a hit! Had to do a lot of substitutions tho since some of the ingredients weren’t available in nearby stores. Did the buttermilk susbstitute, used all purpose cream instead of heavy cream, and used dark chocolate bars for the frosting. The frosting was kinda runny but My family (especially my mom and grandma) loved ittt. Thank you!
I am so glad you were still able to enjoy the cake! 🙂
Hi first of all i want to thank you for your great recipes I have tried many of your great recipes love it.
I want to ask that i don’t have brown sugar can i substitute it with sugar please guide me thanks in advance!😊
Hi Aaron! Yes, you can substitute regular granulated sugar. Enjoy! 🙂
This is our favorite cake in the house. I know my MIL would love it too, but she’s got a house full of diabetics. Do you think this would work with sugar substitutes? 😁
I am so glad that you have enjoyed this cake recipe, Chey. Unfortunately, I do not have experience using sugar substitutes so I can not provide you with any personal recommendations. I am hoping others who have made this kind of adjustment to this recipe will chime in. 🙂
I haven’t used a sugar substitute with this specific cane but I have used monk fruit MANY times is other cakes/cupcakes/etc and it works wonderfully.
The ‘Lakanto’ brand is my favorite. It so happens that they also make a brown sugar substitute as well.
I ordered mine from amazon.
It doesn’t leave an aftertaste like so many other sugar substitutes do.
The only thing you have to be careful of is the conversion. You will likely not need as much of the substitute as you would with regular sugar. Just be sure to check the packaging.
Good luck!
Hey Sam – I have made your amazing banana muffins before and the banana loaf and my family love them so I decided to make this cake for my husband’s birthday today. It turned out great! He was blown away! Obviously not as professional as yours but I had a good go! I really struggled to get my sprinkles up the sides like you did. Is there a specific technique you can recommend for that? Also how long will the cake last stored at an ambient temperature? It’s going to take us a while to get through it! Lastly I had quite a lot of buttercream leftover and I used amazing organic butter in it so I don’t want to throw it away! Is there anything interesting I can do with that? Can it be frozen?
Hi Lindsay! I’m so glad you have been enjoying the recipes! I take a large handful of sprinkles and then take my hand right up to the side of the cake and press them on, repeating until I’ve covered all that I want to. I lose quite a few sprinkles doing this so I like to lay out a few pieces of wax paper beneath the cake stand to catch the sprinkles I lose so I can reuse them with the next handful. The cake will last 2-3 days at room temperature in an airtight container. The buttercream can be frozen, keep it in an airtight container in the freezer for 2-3 months. Before using, let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then let it come to room temperature and you may need to whip it with a mixer again to get it back to the right consistency before using.
After finding and successfully baking the Best cheesecake from this site, I came back to make a chocolate cake at the request of my beloved. This is one of the best cakes I’ve ever had. I used the frosting, but had to create a substitute for the semisweet chips with cocoa powder…..it was simple amazon g and decadent. Sugerspunnrun is my go to now for all things sweet!
Thank you so much, Crystal. I am so happy to hear that you have enjoyed my recipes and my blog. I appreciate it. I am glad that this cake was loved by all. Thanks for trying it. 🙂
I only have dark brown sugar, is that fine?
Hi, Channy! Yes, that will be fine. 🙂
Just baked this today, the cake is very delicious ,loved it! just that while baking the batter rose like a mountain against my expectations of a slightly flatter cake. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
I am so glad that this recipe exceeded your expectations and that it rose beautifully, Sibyl. I am happy that you enjoyed the cake. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
can we use sugar instead of brown sugar
Hi, Aditya! You can use all granulated sugar however it will alter the taste of the cake. It will not be as rich in flavor. Keep me posted on how it turns out. 🙂
Hi! Would it be okay to reduce the sugar in the frosting by 1 cup if we want a less sweet frosting? Thank you!
Hi, Joanna! You can try to adjust it, however, it will not be as thick. Let me know how it turns out.
The best so far!
I am so glad that you enjoyed the cake, Susana! Thank you for trying my recipe. 🙂
Would sunflower oil work instead of canola/vegetable? I’m trying to only shop when absolutely necessary and have lots of sunflower on hand but my canola has gone rancid. The recipe looks delicious!
Hi Lisa! That should work just fine. 🙂
Thank you so much for your recipes. Made your delicious chocolate cake. My granddaughter requested pink frosting so we substituted white chocolate chips and added 4 drops of red food coloring. I had a lot of help with the frosting so the appearance was a bit rough. The color and flavor were fantastic. The memories precious. Thank you again!
I love that you and your granddaughter had such a great time making this cake together, Sue! Thank you so much for trying my recipe and for commenting. Enjoy! 🙂