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!
Hi! I love all your cake recipes and really appreciate all the tips you give. My family and I want to send a chocolate cake to a friend in another state and I was wondering if you have any experience with shipping cakes. Also, which cake recipe of yours would hold up the best in being frozen and shipped?
So far I have only made your Silky Chocolate Buttercream frosting, it works very well. Do you have any other recommendations for which frostings would hold up well and taste creamy and chocolatey ?
Unfortunately I don’t have much experience shipping cakes. All of my standard cakes will freeze well though as should the frostings.
PLEASEEE make a Dutch cocoa version of this!! I love it way too much 😀
Hi Ani! You should check out my Devil’s food cake. 🙂
I just made this cake yesterday using only 225grams of brown sugar, and Hershey’s extra dark cocoa powder and made the buttermilk using your recipe.
Amazingly moist. This is an incredibly dark and Moist chocolate cake.
I used your cream cheese frosting recipe and added a butterscotch flavoring and used only 2.5 cups of sugar instead of 4 cups.
Made a birthday cake for my daughter and she loves it
I’m so happy to hear this, Jen! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you, I appreciate it! 🙂
Made this on31 October last year for daughter birthday. Am gonna make it again tomorrow for party on Saturday!!
How fun! We hope she has a very happy birthday 🎉
I made this cake but when I was baking it sank in the center. What do you think happened? Did you use baking powder? Or just baking soda
Hi Aileen! We’re so sorry your cake sunk. 🙁 It sounds like your cake may have been underbaked. Typically that’s the #1 culprit for a sunken middle. The recipe calls for baking soda; if you used baking powder instead, that could also play a role.
Hi, I’m baking this cake recipe into a sheet cake, how long does it stay moist for? Cake is for Saturday could I bake it on the Thursday & frost it on the Friday for a birthday on Saturday evening.
Thanks for sharing your recipes love them
Hi Dana! The cake will last 2-3 days at room temperature in an airtight container.
wonderful, my family has said this is by far the best chocolate cake I’ve made thanks for sharing the recipes you are wonderful! I’ve made many of your recipes & they are a great hit in my house 🙂
Hi, I’m on a quest to find the perfect chocolate cake recipe so really looking forward to trying this one!. Would it stand up to being covered in fondant or would you only recommend buttercream?.
Thanks,
Debbie
Hi Debbie! This cake is pretty sturdy, so you shouldn’t have issues covering it with fondant. 🙂
Hi Sam,
I have made so many of your recipes and each one is just delicious! I have made this chocolate cake for family and friends and everyone says that this is the best! I really enjoy all your videos and learn a lot from watching them. Thank you.
We love hearing that, Rita! Thanks so much for trusting our recipes. ❤️
My son made this cake and it was one of the best cakes I’ve had. Now I want to make it into cupcakes for Halloween…and gluten free. Have you made cupcakes out of this recipe? If so, what is the cooking time? And have you done it gluten time And? If so, how was it?
Hi Cari! We’re so happy you loved this cake! As for cupcakes, we recommend using our easy chocolate cupcake recipe instead. This cake tends to fall apart when being made as cupcakes. We don’t have experience with making our recipes gluten-free, but we think substituting a 1:1 gluten-free flour should work just fine. 😊
Is the easy chocolate cupcake recipe as good and moist as this cake? Or could I use an extra egg? I’m doing it early, just I’m case the gluten free flour doesn’t work…lol Thank you!
Absolutely–they’re very moist. We talk more about their texture and flavor in that post. We think you’ll really love them 😊
Another perfect cake recipe you have shared! I love that you measure using weight – my recipes come out perfect every time. Absolutely delicious.
We’re so happy you loved it, Amanda! And yes, the weight measurements are SO helpful when trying to be precise. Enjoy! ❤️
Hi I made this cake as a present they loved it but I was just wondering if the cake supposed to be quiet brownie like inside
So glad everyone enjoyed, Karlaa!! I wouldn’t say it’s brownie-like, to me brownies are quite dense and very fudgy, while this cake is chocolatey but moist with a much lighter and very tender crumb. If yours was very dense and fudgy it may have just needed a bit more time in the oven, whereas if it was dense and dry it may have needed a bit less time in the oven. I hope that helps!
Ooooooh my word. I’m making this for someone else, first time baking a chocolate cake with multiple layers. When you said no fail, you weren’t kidding. This is chocolate perfection. Your recipes are just amazing and it’s a crime you don’t have a cookbook yet. Someone needs to remedy that.
Thank you so much, Jennifer!! I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake! <3
Well…. I’ve made this cake more times than I can remember but today for a friend’s charity village country fair it won best in category….yay. A prize winner that my wife bought back in the auction ?!
Not sure it’s a long term business model but I wanted to say thank you for your amazing recipe that continues to raise money for the charity each time I’m asked to make it, along with the ‘worst cookies’ and gave me a certificate!!!
Kev
I am so thrilled to hear this, Kev! Thank you so much for trusting my recipe and for letting me know how it turned out, I really appreciate it!
Hi! I’m 17 and I love baking. This recipe turned out amazing, my whole family loved it. Thank you Sam!
I’m so happy to hear this! thank you so much for trying my recipe and letting me know how it turned out for you, Kaitlynn, I really appreciate it! 🙂
I’d give this a million more stars if I could! Sam, you’re the best!!! I have tried over 20 chocolate cake recipes (I’m not kidding, just overly obsessive), and none compared to this one. My mom and and aunt, who are super critical and doesn’t eat cakes ever, LOVED this one. They said it’s the best chocolate cake they’ve ever had! This is it. I’ll never try any other recipes again. This one’s a keeper!
Thank you so much, Ani! I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Question I only have two 9 inch pans and a springform pan or three 10 inch pan could you advise me on best edits to make a cake for a chocolate lover crowd? Should I double the recipe and divide equally between one of these options?
Hi Kathryn! This will work just fine in 2 9 inch round pans. Your layers will be a little bit thinner and the bake time will be slightly reduced but it will work with no other adjustments needed. 🙂
Hi Sam,
I desperately want to make this cake for my stepdaughter birthday. But she has a severe dairy allergy, is it possibly to substitute anything dairy free for the buttermilk and butter
Hi Fiona! While I’m not very familiar with dairy free baking you could probably substitute the butter for more oil and for the buttermilk you can make my buttermilk substitute using almond milk. I hope it turns out. 🙂