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
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
Recommended Equipment
- Kitchen Scale recommended
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
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
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!
Matt D.
I don’t usually leave reviews, though I know I should. It has to be said:
This chocolate cake recipe is the very best out of a diverse universe of chocolate cake recipes. If you believe in a multi-universe theory, where for every possibility, there is a universe, this is still the best chocolate cake recipe. I use this as a base for white French buttercream/chocolate cake, a German chocolate cake, a chocolate chocolate birthday cake and, most recently, a Black Forest cake. Thank you for the endless tweaking of recipes and the fine tuning involved in sharing these recipes. —- Matt in PDX
Sam
Thank you so much, Matt! I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Danielle
I made this cake for my sisters birthday and my daughters 3rd birthday and both times it was a hit! For my daughters birthday she had a Paw Patrol theme so I made it into a Rubble digger cake with kit kats around it and Rubble with his digger on top and smarties falling down the side of the cake. My go to chocolate cake recipe, thank you for sharing! It’s so fudgy and moist.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds adorable, Danielle! We’re so happy you’re enjoying our recipe so much ❤
Jana McConkey
I made this cake and it turned out perfectly. It was a big hit for a family birthday party. (Daughter turned 24; mother-in-law turned 77.) Everyone raved about it. I used the suggested silky chocolate frosting. I will absolutely be making this again for anyone(family member) who requests it! Fantastic!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy it was such a hit, Jana! Thanks for trusting our recipe ❤
Bell
I love your chocolate cupcakes and would love to try this cake! Would I be able to make this into a 3 layer cake with a 10” pan? Or would I have to double it?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Bell! If you double the recipe, you should have enough batter for your pans. Enjoy 😊
Amanda
I have baked many cakes in pursuit of my go-to chocolate cake and have finally found it in this amazing cake! Will be used for many birthdays to come! Moist, tender and great chocolate flavour.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you found our recipe, Amanda! Thanks so much for your review ❤
Tiffany
Can I use Hershey cocoa powder instead abs if so, how much?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Tiffany! If your Hershey’s cocoa is plain, natural cocoa, it will be fine. We do not recommend substituting a Dutch process cocoa power in this cake (Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder is Dutch process!). Hope that helps 😊
Jessica
I made this for my boyfriend for his birthday this week and it really is the BEST chocolate cake! Chocolate cake is so difficult and it’s always dry, but this recipe made the most amazing moist cake. Thank you so much for this recipe, Sam. It will be my go-to chocolate cake for life!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you loved the cake, Jessica! Thanks so much for trying our recipe and coming back to leave a review–it means a lot to us. We hope your boyfriend had a wonderful birthday 😊
Chelsie
Hey Sam!
I am in love with every recipe of yours that I’ve tried thus far!!! I’m curious if there would be a substitute for the coffee in this cake? I realize it probably makes it rich but I’m not a coffee drinker and would prefer to not use it if there’s a way around it?! Thanks a bunch!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Chelsie! We’re so happy you’re loving our recipes–that’s great to hear! You can just use very hot water instead; we explain how to do this in the post and in the recipe notes. 🙂
Liz
Sam, I’m embarrassed to say I hadn’t tried this recipe until yesterday. I’m not a big fan of cakes, give me brownies, cookies, pie or anything else. I think part of the problem was, again I’m embarrassed to say, is that I was used to cake mixes, yuck!! My husband kept bugging me to make a chocolate cake and yes, I would make a cake mix but decided it was time to try your recipe, since I’ve never been disappointed in anything from you. I have to tell you, this cake is spectacular!! My husband raved about it all day. Because it’s just the two of us, I cut the recipe in half and made a 8×8, otherwise we’d probably eat the full recipe, and it turned out wonderful. I also used your chocolate buttercream recipe and it was just as delicious. I’m happy to say I have a new chocolate cake recipe and it was so easy to make. It was only 5 degrees here yesterday, and fortunately I had all the ingredients called for. Thanks again, for another outstanding recipe. I’ll never buy another cake mix!! P.S. Congratulations on your new son, he’s adorable!! My great nephew’s name is also Rhett.
Sam
I’m so glad you finally gave it a shot Liz! 5 degrees is too cold for me!!
Samuel
Hi Sam, can I use this recipe to make a 9 inch 3 layer cake? And for frosting, I would like to use Choc Cream cheese frosting instead.
Would the measurements for both the cake and the frosting be the same or should I add more of everything? Sorry, I am new to baking.
Thanks in advance.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Samuel! Increasing both recipes by 50% will give you enough for 3 layers. Hope that helps! Let us know how it turns out for you 🙂
Susan
Thanks for this lovely recipe…I have made this recipe many times and it is always turns out perfect:)
I am going to make this in 2 or 3 7″ pans instead of the 8″ pans and am wondering if you know approximately how much batter the recipe makes? I usually weigh the batter out evenly between them, but am wondering if there will be enough for 3 7″ pans or if I will just go with the 2 7″ pans. I also assume that my cooking time will increase if I decrease the pan size.
Sam
Hi Susan! I haven’t weighed the batter to be able to say for sure what the weights would be. I think if you were to stretch it into 3 7 inch pans the cakes would probably be pretty thin. The bake time would definitely change if you are putting it in a smaller pan.
Ridah
Could I substitute the half cup butter and half cup canola oil with 1 cup oil instead? What difference will it make?
Sam
Hi Ridah! You could, the cake will be more moist but will lose the flavor from the butter. Enjoy!
Karen
Do you think this will hold up as a 3 or 4-layer 9″ cake? Also, can you pipe this buttercream? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Karen! This cake should do just fine in a 3 or 4 layer cake. The frosting will pipe very well. 🙂
Kev
Hiya, I did a 3 layer recently and it held up perfectly.
Karen
Thank you!!
Rebecca
Is the natural cocoa powder you use in the cake recipe, unsweetened?
Sam
Hi Rebecca! It is unsweetened. 🙂
Steph
You were not lying! This is the BEST chocolate cake ever. I just made this delicious cake and everyone loved it. I also made your chocolate buttercream. 😋
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Steph! 🙂
Moly
Hello
Can I bake this cake in a 6.5 inches (16 cm) one pan ?
Do you have suggestions for baking time & temperature?
Sam
Hi Moly! It will make a lot more batter than will fit in that pan. You can use that pan but make sure you don’t overfill it. The temperature will remain the same, but without having tried it I can’t give you a good estimate on bake time. Make sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t get over-baked. 🙂
Aasima
Hands down this was the best chocolate cake recipe 😋😋
Mercy
Hi Sam,
Can I use ganache for this cake for fresh cream chocolate frosting for this ? Can u suggest ? Thanks … Mercy
Sam
Hi Mercy! A ganache will work on this cake. 🙂
Juliet
Hello, it’s me again😊. One question before I bake this recipe. I always use spatula to mix my chocolate batter because of the fear of overmixing and getting a dense/rubbery cake. I saw in the video that u confidently use a hand mixer almost all tru-any secret as to how ur cake is not dense after using a hand mixer?
Sam
You can use a hand mixer you just have to be careful. Sometimes I will finish the mixing by hand if need be. You just want to go on a slow speed. Of course doing it by hand is always a great option if you are worried. 🙂