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!
Stacy
I am confused about whether i should use this recipe to make a chocolate cake, or use the “easy chocolate cupcake” recipe and turn it into a cake. What is the difference between the two? Will they result in a similar taste and texture, or will it be different? Which one do you prefer for a tasty/fudgy cake?
Sam
Hi Stacy, I recommend using this cake recipe. I love the cupcake recipe but prefer it as cupcakes, it yields a lighter cake while this one is slightly denser, moister, and more fudgy. My vote would be for this one for a cake. Hope that helps!
Dana Balch
Hi
My kids and I are making this today! We so excited based on the reviews. I see nutrition listed as 690 a slice. How big are we talking? I’m not sure how many slices this cake makes, so ‘a slice’ seemed pretty ambitious. Can you guesstimate the size, for example 1 inch width, 2 inch width, etc
Thanks! I’ll let you know how we do 😋
Sam
Hi, Dana. The cake can be sliced into 12 pieces and one piece is a serving. 🙂
Sheri
Do I need to refrigerate the cake/frosting?
Sam
Hi, Sheri. If you are keeping it longer than 2 days, I would refrigerate it.
Jensen
First of all, I never comment on recipes. Even really great ones. But this chocolate lake is NEXT LEVEL.
I love chocolate, but past recipes for chocolate cakes have left me disappointed. They never really taste like chocolate! Often I wind up with just a brown-colored cake. I’m not a novice baker, either! 🙂
I’ve now made this cake three times just in the past month or so for various events. It has worked well for cupcakes, and I’ve used three 6-inch cake pans as well. So far I’ve frosted it with Italian meringue buttercream and American buttercream, but my favorite was stabilized whipped cream! Not too sweet and it put all the focus back on the cake–where it should be!
The brown sugar and coffee are what make this recipe. The texture is AMAZING. Not too fluffy, but not dense either. Thanks so much, Sam!
Sam
Your comment just made my day! I’m so thrilled to hear that you enjoyed it so much, I’m glad you love the cake as much as I do!
Thank you for your kind comment, Jensen! <3
Christina
How come this one doesn’t call for baking powder?
Sam
Hi Christina, this one doesn’t need it. It has baking soda and buttermilk, baking powder simply wasn’t necessary with this recipe 🙂
Jessica
Hi, Sam. My name is Jessica and I am writing from Portland, Oregon, born and raised in South Alabama. First of all, thank you for making my fiance’s birthday all the more wonderful with this recipe. I am bad about leaving reviews for the [probably] thousands of recipes I make as I simply forget, but this one gets a review because it is in fact unforgettable. As for your written recipe, bravo. Your introduction is not the typical verbose, long-winded chatter that I am forced to read through because there are probably tips/techniques buried within that I do not want to miss so that my efforts will be a success. You put all of the important stuff up front, and then get to the recipe, which is clear and concise. The recipe itself is nothing short of excellent. Simplicity in its finest form. It was the moist, dense, chocolate high I was hoping for. Everyone at the birthday dinner raved about it, but to be perfectly honest I don’t really care what other people think about food. I care what I think about food. So, just know that after fighting the urge all throughout the night to get up and go have some more, I was somehow able to wait until this morning–coffee brewing, and me, standing half asleep in my robe in the middle of my destroyed kitchen eating it with a fork right off the cake pedestal. Thank you.
[IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/2dgvl7a.jpg[/IMG]
Sam
Thank you so much, Jessica! I am beyond impressed at your restraint to wait until the morning. I know how difficult that is. I really appreciate you taking the time to leave your feedback and I hope you enjoy the cake for years to come and your cake looks like the perfect breakfast to me. 🙂
Anne
Hi! I tried your recipe for New Year’s Eve
celebration. I used two 8 inch pans and baked it for 30mins only. Still the toothpick came out clean and I was thinking maybe I over baked it since when i slice the cake it was crumbly, it seems dry.. The taste is so delicious! Not too sweet just right and I will keep this recipe. But im just wondering if there is other way to make the cake more moist or I only need to set less time in the oven? Thanks so much for sharing your best chocolate cake! I love the taste of it.. I just want to know how to improve the texture.
Sam
Hi, Anne. It sounds like the cakes were over-baked. Is your oven temperature accurate? It sounds like it may be running too hot. I have two oven thermometers, that were very inexpensive, in my oven to ensure proper temp at all times. For best results, you want to pull the cakes out of the oven when you get a few moist fudgy crumbs on your toothpick. I hope this helps and you can enjoy some moist fudgy chocolate cake in the future. 🙂
Nashath
Can I use regular sugar instead of brown?
Sam
Hi, Nashath. It will work, it won’t be nearly as moist or have as much flavor. 🙂
Jen
Can I use cake flour?
Sam
I don’t recommend it.
Jen
What can I use instead of buttermilk? We only drink almond milk.
Sam
Hi, Jen! You can use my Easy Buttermilk Substitute with almond milk. The cake will still turn out, it just won’t be as moist as if you had used regular buttermilk. I hope you love it! 🙂
Tasha Demirel
Hello again. I just had to leave a comment on the chocolate cake and your chocolate icing. My eight-year-old daughter and I made this cake for my husband‘s birthday yesterday. Oh my gosh it was amazing. As I said on my comment with the vanilla cake I am not a baker but following your video made it work perfectly. I even made buttercream icing for the first time and it tasted like inexpensive bakery.
The only thing different I did was I didn’t use mini chips but are used a high-quality melting chocolate bar and I took half that bar and chopped it really fine and as I layered the butter cream on the bottom layer of cake I sprinkled a little bit of that chocolate on top of the icing and put the other piece a cake down. The little pieces of chocolate that I used were in the buttercream icing and it just was an explosion of flavor
Thank you for these wonderful recipes
Sam
Thank you so much, Tasha! I am so glad everyone enjoyed it. 🙂
Mark
The recipe looks great and I plan to make it for my son’s birthday.
I live in Denver, CO (elevation 5,280). Do you recommend any modifications for high altitude?
Sam
Hi, Mark. I am not familiar with high altitude baking so I can’t give any pointers there. Maybe someone else can provide some insight. 🙂
Mark Graeser
I went ahead and followed the recipe exactly; I monitored the baking time closely (ended up taking the cake out a couple minutes early). The cake was a little more done at the edges, but still tasted great, even with baking high altitude. The link below has a few tips regarding high altitude baking.
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Not sure if I would change anything – I might consider increasing the temperature by 15 degrees and reduce the baking time.
Sam
Thank you so much for the information, Mark! I am so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Karen
I loved it!! I layered this chocolate cake together with your best vanilla cake and it was just amazing. I made it for a family function and everyone lived it. Definitely my go to chocolate and vanilla cake recipes.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Karen! 🙂
Céline
Hi Sam,
I was wondering if I can make a three layer cake from this recipe? Do I have to add half of all products to the batter? Or is your recipe good enough and do I just have thinner cakes? Have you ever made it with three layers?
When I make a chocolate cake with oil and buttermilk, it is always too wet. Is there a reason for that?
Thank you!!
Greetings Céline
(from Belgium)
Sam
Hi, Celine! If you want three of the thicker layers, yes you can increase the ingredients to make it. You could use the current measurements but you would just have thinner layers. I have not made it in three layers, but I know others have with success. Just make sure you reduce the baking time if making thinner layers. The cake being very wet is weird I don’t know why that would happen. This cake is very moist, but it is not wet. 🙂
Céline Verschueren
Thanks for your reply! I’ll make it tomorrow. Wondering if it works! I’ll keep you posted
Sam
Please do! 🙂
Taylor
Hey! I am a teenager and my mom’s birthday is coming up this week! I am going to try this recipe and let you know if it works🙂
Sam
Please do! I love to hear how things turn out. Enjoy! 🙂