Chocolate Cake

This tender and moist chocolate cake is surprisingly easy to make, and such a joy to eat! This recipe features layers of outrageously soft chocolate cake made from scratch and a rich and fudgy chocolate frosting. It's a dream dessert for chocolate lovers! The best part? It's a one bowl chocolate cake! This recipe is a revamp of my one-bowl chocolate cake - this post features all new photos, more detailed instructions, and a modified recipe.

Jump to:

• Chocolate cake ingredients:
• How to make chocolate cake with chocolate frosting:
• Chocolate cake storage:
• Check out these other chocolate recipes!
• Chocolate Cake Recipe

Moist and tender do not even BEGIN to describe this chocolate cake!! It's seriously the best chocolate cake recipe I've ever made, and hands down one of my all time favorite cakes.

The icing on the cake (pun intended) is the fact that it's so, so easy to make!

OH, annnnd I can't forget to mention what takes this cake over the top: a fudgy chocolate frosting.

It's very similar to chocolate buttercream frosting in terms of ingredients - but the method is what sets it apart.

The method used to make it is specifically crafted to yield a denser frosting (when compared to traditional chocolate buttercream), and it goes SO PERFECTLY with the light and tender cake!

Chocolate cake ingredients:

• flour
• sugar: granulated for the cupcakes and powdered sugar for the frosting. The frosting uses SIX. WHOOPING. CUPS. of powdered sugar. And while that may seem like a crazzzzy amount, it's pretty on par with basically any other buttercream frosting. The frosting is NOT sickeningly sweet though thanks to the cocoa powder (which adds a perfect bitterness) and the salt (which dials down the sweetness). That doesn't mean it going to be kind on diets.... but I'd say it's worth the extra pounds!
• cocoa powder
• baking powder & baking soda: the combination yields an ultra soft, moist, and airy cake!
• salt: to balance the sweetness in both the cake and the frosting

• eggs
• milk: for the cupcakes and the fudge frosting. While most of my frosting recipes give you the option of using milk or heavy cream, this frosting is best made with milk! We're going for dense, rich, and fudgy here, and heavy cream can fluff the frosting
• vegetable oil: you can also use any other neutral flavored oil like canola, mazola, peanut, etc.
• vanilla
• black coffee: what I'd argue is the key to a seriously. good. chocolate cake. The coffee itself won't flavor the cake, but it'll bring out the chocolaty flavor of it! Using boiling hot coffee is important because the heat will also yield a richer chocolate taste (when it melds with cocoa powder), but it also helps make the cake more moist, smooth, velvety, and airy
• butter

How to make chocolate cake with chocolate frosting:

Make the chocolate cake:

1. Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Add most of the wet ingredients. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients, and pour in your milk, eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla. (Basically everything besides the coffee.)

3. Whisk together. Start whisking from the center to break up the eggs slightly and gradually work your way to the edges. You'll have a thick batter at this stage.
4. Add hot coffee. Whisk together until combined. The batter will be super loose - that's what you want!

5. Portion and bake. Pour into your cake pans and bake until cooked through. If you only have one cake pan, you can bake the cake in batches. Let the cake pan cool completely to room temperature before baking your second layer. The batter can be left out at room temperature for about 1 hour.
6. Cool the cakes for about 10 minutes in the pans, then turn onto a wire rack and set aside to cool completely to room temperature before frosting.

Make the chocolate fudge frosting:

1. Sift together powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
2. Cut in butter. This is where this frosting differs from regular buttercream - instead of creaming butter to make it fluffy, we're cutting the butter into the dry ingredients. You'll have a crumbly mixture, which is exactly what we're looking for!
3. Add milk. Gradually mix in your milk until you have a creamy and spreadable frosting.

4. Frost + layer + decorate cake! Stack one of your cakes onto your serving platter and spread about ⅓ of the frosting overtop. Top with the second cake layer and frost the top and outside of the cake with the remaining frosting.
5. Slice & serve!

Chocolate cake storage:

Keep your cake stored in the fridge until ready to serve. Cover the cake with a cake dome or plastic wrap. If using plastic wrap, a nice trick for keeping your design intact is to chill the cake (uncovered) for about 1 hour to allow the frosting to set. Then, cover the cake with plastic wrap and chill until ready to serve!

This cake will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge.

Because the cake stiffens when cold, before serving, let the cake sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to allow it to soften. It just makes for a better texture.

You can also freeze the unfrosted cake layers if you'd like! To freeze, wrap each individual layer in plastic wrap, followed by aluminum foil (to prevent freezer burn). Freeze for up to 3 months.

You can frost and assemble the cake while it's still frozen (which I like to do either way because it makes it so much easier to work with!) Ooooor let your cakes defrost at room temperature before frosting and layering.

Check out these other chocolate recipes!

• Moist Chocolate Cupcakes
• Double Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake
• Chocolate Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache

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Enjoy!

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