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Moist and exploding with chocolate flavor, this classic chocolate cake features 2 cake layers plus chocolate buttercream! The chocolate buttercream frosting is rich and creamy and completes this chocolate cake recipe. Chocolate sprinkles are optional but are a fun garnish. If you like my chocolate cupcakes recipe, you need to bake this cake.
Famous Chocolate Cake Recipe
In my family, I’m “famous” for 4 recipes: chocolate chip cookies, brownies, lasagna, and chocolate cake. But it’s the chocolate cake that is the most popular and requested!!! From birthday parties to dinner parties, it’s always a huge hit! Here’s why I think this classic chocolate cake recipe is the best:
- Abundant chocolate flavor thanks to cocoa powder in the cake batter and real chocolate in the chocolate buttercream frosting!
- The cake layers are soft, fluffy, and melt-in-your-mouth moist.
- Decadent and rich, it’s a classic dessert everyone loves.
- This recipe uses basic ingredients, and I provide some ingredient substitutes below.
- My chocolate buttercream frosting is rich, fudgy, and packed with chocolate flavor!
You can make cake layers in advance, wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze for up to 2 months.
Ingredients for Chocolate Cake
- Sugar: This recipe uses granulated sugar, light brown sugar, and confectioner’s sugar.
- Flour: The most important of the dry ingredients. I only suggest using all-purpose flour, but for a gluten free chocolate cake, a 1-for-1 gluten free flour may work.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: This should not be replaced with Dutch process cocoa.
- Baking Soda: Helps the cake batter spread evenly in the cake pans, ensuring even cake layers.
- Baking Powder: Helps the cake batter rise in the cake pans, avoiding overly dense cake layers.
- Salt: Enhances the chocolate flavor and balances sweetness in both the cake batter and chocolate buttercream frosting.
- Eggs: You’ll use 2 large eggs plus an egg yolk. Make sure your eggs at room temperature before use in the cake batter.
- Sour Cream: In a pinch, this may be replaces with full-fat plain Greek yogurt.
- Milk: Whole milk works best, but reduced fat milk will work in a pinch. I don’t suggest subbing plant based milks. But if you must, coconut milk will work best. But it will add a subtle coconut flavor.
- Oil: For a neutral flavor, use canola oil or vegetable oil. If you don’t mind a subtle flavor from the oil, you may use a mild olive oil or coconut oil (melted).
- Vanilla Extract: Real vanilla extract adds rich flavor and enhances the other flavors in the cake.
- Hot Coffee: Or freshly boiled water. You can read the pros and cons of each below.
- Chocolate: For a sweeter chocolate buttercream frosting, use semi-sweet chocolate. For a darker buttercream frosting, use dark chocolate or bittersweet chocolate. I suggest a less sweet chocolate since the buttercream has a lot of sugar.
- Butter: You can’t make chocolate buttercream frosting without butter! Use a quality butter brand you enjoy the taste of and be sure to bring it to room temperature before use.
Cake Batter
- Oven Prep: Preheat the oven to 350 at least 30 minutes before you plan on baking.
- Prep Cake Pans: Use parchment paper rounds to line your cake pans! Be sure to spray each pan generously with nonstick baking spray.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: Combine the sugars, all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking power, baking soda, and salt. Use an extra large bowl here!
- Combine Wet Ingredients: In a separate large bowl whisk the eggs, egg yolks, milk, sour cream, oil and vanilla extract. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients. Add the hot coffee to the cake batter and mix until combined.
- Bake Cake Layers: They’ll take about 26 to 30 minutes, depending on your oven. Pull the cake pans when a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake layer comes out clean.
- Cool Cake Layers: Cool in the cake pans for 10 minutes. Then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Don’t attempt to trim the cake layers or frost until the cakes have cooled completely.
Hot Coffee vs Hot Water
When it comes to this wet ingredient, you have an option. Here are the main pros and cons of hot coffee versus just using hot water:
- Hot coffee enhances the chocolate flavor in the cake batter.
- Hot coffee also adds a subtle mocha flavor without making the cake taste like coffee.
- However, if you’re sensitive to coffee or absolutely hate the flavor, you may want to leave it out.
- The pro of using hot water is it’s free and always on hand, assuming you have a kettle and running water.
- The con of using hot water is it won’t enhance the chocolate flavor or add any flavor dimension to the cake batter.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Melt the Chocolate: Using a double boiler or microwave, melt the chocolate. Allow the chocolate to cool to room temperature before use.
- Make the Frosting: Use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment – or a large bowl and a handheld electric mixer. Beat the butter until creamy then gradually add the confectioner’s sugar, beating well after each addition. Once you add all the sugar, beat for 2 minutes on medium-high. Finally, add the vanilla and melted chocolate and continue beating until well combined and creamy!
- Spread: Use a large frosting spatula (or a butterknife, whatever you have on hand!) and spread the frosting on the cake. I like to place one cake layer on a cake stand, add frosting, add another cake layer, then frost the sides and top of the cake.
Since the chocolate buttercream frosting has a lot of chocolate, I recommend making it no more than 1 hour ahead.
How to Store Chocolate Cake
- To store leftover chocolate cake, wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Ensure the plastic touches the cake and that no spots remain exposed to air.
- You can store this cake at room temperature or in the fridge. It’ll stay fresh for up to 2 days.
- If you’d like to bake the cakes in advance of frosting, you can. Bake them and cool completely, then wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 24 hours. Or freeze for up to 2 months.
Best Cake Pans for Chocolate Cake
- You’ll need (2) 9-inch cake pans for this chocolate cake recipe.
- For best results, use metal or steel pans.
- Glass pans or ceramic pans will take longer to bake, and may yield uneven cake layers.
- If you don’t have 2 cake pans, you can bake these cakes in batches, but it’s more time consuming.
- You’ll need to let the cake pan cool completely before using it to bake another cake, otherwise the cake batter won’t bake evenly.
- You can wrap the baked cakes in plastic wrap to keep them moist while you bake the other cakes.
- You can bake this cake in a 9×13-inch baking pan. The baking time will be different, most likely it’ll take closer to 35 minutes. If you decide to use this size pan, keep an eye on the cake and know it’s ready when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Please not the last 3 tips above are in reference to baking the cakes in the same cake pan (if you don’t have 2 cake pans to use).
More Classic Chocolate Cake Recipes:
17 Chocolate Cake Recipes for Chocolate Lovers Only
Chocolate Cake with Mocha Buttercream Frosting
Legendary Chocolate Cake Recipe (with THE BEST Chocolate Buttercream Frosting)
Moist and exploding with chocolate flavor, this classic chocolate cake features 2 cake layers plus chocolate buttercream! The chocolate buttercream frosting is rich and creamy and completes this chocolate cake recipe. Chocolate sprinkles are optional but are a fun garnish. If you like my chocolate cupcakes recipe, you need to bake this cake.
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cake:
- 1 cup (199g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (213g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1 and 3/4 cups (210g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (84g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk room temperature
- 1 cup (227g) sour cream
- 1/4 cup (57ml) whole milk
- 1/2 cup (113ml) oil canola, vegetable, or refined coconut (melted)
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (227ml) freshly brewed coffee or freshly boiled water
For the Chocolate Fudge Frosting:
- 8 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1 and 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 and 3/4 cups (426g) confectioner's sugar sifted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
For the Chocolate Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°(F). Generously spray two 9-inch round baking pans with non-stick baking spray and set them aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, combine both sugars, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt on low until ingredients are thoroughly combined. Set aside.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolk, sour cream, milk, oil and vanilla, beating until well combined. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until just incorporated. Carefully add in hot coffee (or water) and continue beating until completely combined; about 1 minute. The batter will quite thin.
- Divide batter evenly into prepared pans.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 32 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of a cake comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached.
- Cool cakes for 10 minutes in the pan (placed on top of a cooling rack) before removing from pans and transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
For the Chocolate Fudge Frosting:
- Place the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl and place it over a pot of barely simmering water. Heat, stirring frequently, until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove the pan from heat, then carefully remove the bowl from the pot. Set chocolate aside to cool for a few minutes.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the confectioner's sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Once all of the sugar has been added increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla and melted chocolate and continue beating until well combined and creamy.
Assembly:
- Using a long serrated knife, level the top of each cake.
- Transfer one layer to a large plate or cake stand. Using a long offset spatula, spread a thick layer of frosting on top, then top with the second layer. Continue frosting the top and sides of the cake. Decorate with chocolate chips, sprinkles, chocolate shavings, or leave as is!
- Store in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for up to 2 days.
Notes
This post was updated and republished 4/12/2017.
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Hey Just wondering, I was planning on making one later instead of two layers. How would I be able to do that in terms of the recipe? Thanks,
Making cakes has always been a breeze for me, but this cake came out incredibly dry and dense with little flavor. The only thing that saved it was my frosting which was my own recipe, not this one.
Can you substitute anything for the vanilla extract in the icing? Just tryi to avoid another trip to the store.
Hi Sara. You can just leave it out 😉 It won’t change the taste too much.
Hi, im first time baker, what milk do you use in this recipe? Do evaporated milk is good? I want to try this, thank you
Hello! lovely recipe! it tastes amazing! I had recently tested out this cake last night. I separated the batter in two 9 inch pans and cooked it at 350 degrees. But as my cakes cooked, the dome on the top grew really big to a point it cracked on the top. After I cooled the cakes to transfer them to a plate, it COMPLETELY spilt in HALF and did not stay together at all. Please tell me what I did wrong and what I could do to fix it as it tasted so good but did not hold up at all 🙁
Ive made a chocolate cake with coffee before because i read all over the internet the coffee couldnt be tasted. The cake was really good but everbody could taste the coffee. Wish i could find a really good choco cake without coffee
Hi Misty. You can substitute all of the coffee called for in this recipe with hot water 🙂
I do not often like cakes that I make as I find they are dry, but this one was so good!! However, next time I will have to make the mixture in two lots, as it was falling out of the bowl that goes with my kitchen aid! Makes a massive amount of batter! Other than that, absolutely love it (although I didn’t make the frosting, I just made a vanilla buttercream). It was so rich and reminded me of a lighter mud cake – YUM!
So happy to hear it, Bronte!
I love to bake. Reminds me of being in the kitchen with my grandmother and great-grandmother. Thant said, chocolate cake from scratch is always a difficult cake for me because they seem to always be lacking something. Always off balance!
I work as the only woman with 10 men and I bake each a desert of choice for their birthday. I’m baking this cake for one of my guys’ birthdays tomorrow.
I followed the recipe to a tee, only I sift all dry ingredients after measuring (unless specified to sift prior), just a habbit my grandmothers taught me. I was very worried about the thickness of the batter after adding the milk and sour cream… but I kept going. I was holding faith in my fellow baker! Adding the next set of wet ingredients did wonders! It was slightly thinner than a box mix to me, but not so thin I worried about it.
My problem was a had A LOT of batter! I filled 2 9″x1.5″ rounds 3/4 full, a 4″ round spring form 3″ deep, 6 cupcake liners, AND had some left I dumped into a corning ware 3.5″ square baker. Holy moley this recipe makes CAKE!
It bakes BEAUTIFULLY! I had to keep checking on all my small cakes, so my times were all messed up, but everything baked evenly. AND TASTES FABULOUS! I dug into a warm cupcake a d it is great! A nicely balanced flavor, light and airy and moist.
I haven’t even iced these yet, I was so excited about how well these baked up after seeing such an unconventional batter while I mixed! If that icing is as good as this cake is, the boys are going to be asking for ine every week!
Beautiful recipe! Thanks for sharing!
Hi I want to try this beautiful cake but am just stuck how much coffee granules should I put in 11/2 cup of water I have only Nescafe coffee pl guid so I can try it as soon as possible thanks.
I would say add two tablespoons of coffee to the water, for a strong coffee flavor. You could also leave the coffee out and just use hot water.
Hey there.
I wanna bake this cake as it looks awesome. Im nit such a good baker but i wanna give it a try.
I have a few questions
Can i bake it in a microwave as i dont own an oven? If yes, at high speed or low speed? And for how mucch time? Plus can i substitute butter for oil and readymade chocolate for homemade cocoa, milk and buttrr made chocolate? And yes about the milk, can i use full fat milk?
Help would be appreciated. Tx
Hi Rabia. You cannot bake this cake in a microwave. You cannot sub oil for the butter without changing the taste and texture. Full-fat milk will work fine. Good luck!