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The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe – A one bowl chocolate cake recipe that is quick, easy, and delicious! Updated with gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free options!
The best chocolate cake recipe. Ever? There are plenty of claims for the best chocolate cake recipe. I get that. But with one bite of this decadent, moist chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, every single person around the table commented that this was the best chocolate cake they’d ever tasted.
So as for my house, this chocolate cake recipe now holds that honor.
As the compliments continued, I didn’t begin to tell them how easy it was to make.
In all honesty, it is probably one of the easiest cakes I’ve made in a long time, really, but I just smiled and thanked them.
As we continued on gobbling up the cake, drinking our coffee or iced cold milk, the compliments just kept coming.
Then the requests for the recipe started.
That’s generally when you know that folks really like what you’ve made if they ask for the recipe and tell you for what event they plan to serve it.
As a cook, that really is one of the highest compliments you can receive – well, at least in my book.
The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever
It was great to hear that they thought the cake was just as good after their last bite as they thought it was with their first.
Here’s another great thing about this recipe. The cake batter really can be made in a bowl without the use of a heavy duty mixer. Of course, that just makes things easier, but this is easily a recipe my Grandmother would have enjoyed making in her tiny kitchen with a whisk and a bowl. And I’m sure it would have turned out perfectly, too.
I’m not going to kid you, this makes a very rich, moist chocolate cake recipe. So if you are a faint of heart chocolate cake person, this is not the cake for you.
Based on the Old Fashioned Hershey’s recipe, I sort of went a bit heavy-handed with some changes testing cake after cake until I got it just the way I wanted it, but the end result was oh so worth it. The crumbs left on the plate gave that away.
Ingredients
For this chocolate cake, you’ll need the following ingredients.
- all-purpose flour
- sugar
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- espresso powder – I give more information on the espresso powder below
- milk – you can also use buttermilk, almond milk, oat milk, or coconut milk
- oil – you can use vegetable, canola or melted coconut oil
- eggs – when baking, I like to use room temperature eggs
- vanilla extract
- boiling water
Step-by-Step Instructions
Prep. Preheat the oven to 350º F. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray or buttering and lightly flouring.
Whisk dry ingredients. Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well.
Mix in wet ingredients. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter until well combined.
Bake. Distribute cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the chocolate cake comes out clean.
Frost. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely. Frost with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
Espresso Powder
One of the ingredients that really made this cake recipe come to life, in my opinion, was the addition of espresso powder in both the chocolate cake and in the chocolate frosting.
If you’ve not tried a bit of espresso when baking with chocolate, you really should.
The espresso works to elevate the flavors in much the same way as vanilla extract and I now think of it as an essential part of my spice cabinet.
Espresso powder is easy to find at the grocery store or even online if your grocer doesn’t stock it normally, but I use it fairly frequently and it can become a little pricey. I’ve started making my own homemade espresso powder and since I have I’m not looking back! It is so easy to make and have on hand!
Believe me when I say, it is very much worth the effort to have just for those times you are baking with chocolate!
So my friends, if you have a chocolate cake lover in your midst, make them this cake. If they’ve had a bad day this is certainly something that will brighten it for them. If they’ve had a great day, then this chocolate cake is a great way to celebrate with them!
Let me just say again, this amped up classic chocolate cake + this Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe = the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had!
How to Make Ahead and Store the Homemade Chocolate Cake:
Both the cake and the chocolate frosting can be made ahead. Allow the cakes to cool completely, wrap them well in plastic wrap and place each layer into a gallon zip-top freezer bag. Freeze the cake layers for up to one month.
To frost the cake, simply remove from the freezer and allow to thaw in the refrigerator with wrapping intact. Then, frost the cake once it has completely thawed.
Store the cake at room temperature on the counter. I like to store under a cake dome to keep the cake fresh.
Chocolate Cake Modifications You May Be Interested to Know About:
Note that I have updated the recipe to include some additional ingredients that I have tested through the years. I have found that this chocolate cake is even more versatile than I originally imagined! I’ve listed some of the modifications I’ve tested that I think may be of interest to you.
As a Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Recipe:
To make the cake as a gluten-free chocolate cake recipe, I’ve successfully used an equal amount of gluten-free flour in place of the all-purpose flour listed in the recipe.
As a Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake Recipe:
To make the cake a dairy-free chocolate cake recipe, I’ve used almond milk as well as coconut milk in place of the dairy. While not dairy-free, I’ve also used buttermilk in place of the milk with great results.
As an Egg-Free Chocolate Cake Recipe:
To make the cake an egg-free chocolate cake recipe, I’ve used 2/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce in place of the 2 large eggs in the recipe. You will note that you may have to bake the cake just a few minutes more. Be sure to check with the skewer for doneness.
I’ve also used Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer with great success.
To Use Butter and Other Oils:
I have tested the chocolate cake recipe with additional oils, as well as butter. I’ve tested using an equal amount of melted coconut oil to the vegetable oil called for in the recipe. I’ve also tested using the same volume of melted butter in place of the oils in the chocolate cake. While it does make the cake texture slightly different, it is still delicious and worth trying if you’d prefer to use butter in place of oils in your chocolate cake.
Whew! See what I mean! This is the chocolate cake of everyone’s dreams, I think!
The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe {Ever}
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder homemade or store-bought
- 1 cup milk or buttermilk, almond, or coconut milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil or canola oil, or melted coconut oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray or buttering and lightly flouring.
For the chocolate cake:
- Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well.
- Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter until well combined.
- Distribute cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the chocolate cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely.
- Frost cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
Notes
Nutritional Information
Do let me know how you like it.
Here are a few additional ways I like to make this cake!
Chocolate Cupcakes
If you are looking for cupcakes from this recipe, I’ve shared my recipe for the best chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting. This recipe makes a perfect dozen so that you can scale the recipe to make as many chocolate cupcakes as you need! Talk about easy! 🙂
9×13 Chocolate Cake
I love this version! It is a delicious, scaled-down version that is just the thing for potlucks, reunions, tailgates, and travels perfectly! I’ve also scaled-down the frosting so that has the frosting to cake ratio that my family prefers. It is a definite winner!
Large Chocolate Sheet Cake
Scaled for a crowd, this recipe bakes beautifully in a rimmed half sheet baking sheet and is perfect for all sorts of get-togethers. Think of it as the 9×13’s big brother! 🙂 This recipe features Fudge Icing, but you can definitely substitute the icing for whatever you fancy!
And there you have it. There are so many ways to enjoy this delicious cake. Practically one for whatever need you might have. But, if I’ve missed one, be sure to let me know and I’ll work on it for you! 🙂
Many of you have asked if there is a way to make a Vanilla Cake Recipe that is just as delicious. Well friends, I’ve tested and tested and tested and now can proudly say – YES! I’ve shared the best Vanilla Cake I’ve ever tasted, too! 🙂
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
From the Add a Pinch recipe archives. Originally published 2012.
I love espresso with chocolate and this cake looks fabulous!
Sorry, is Espresso powder just espresso beans – ground?
Yes, espresso powder is simply ground espresso 🙂 instead of espresso, I use Turkish coffee in this recipe. Pretty much the same thing, but Turkish coffee is ground much finer and isn’t quite so grainy. This is a useful characteristic when making the icing. Also, the finer the grind, the more flavourful/aromatic the coffee/espresso! Love this recipe! Really the best chocolate cupcakes ever!
Barbara,
No. Instant Espresso powder. You could use also use a cup of espresso in place of the boiling water.
can you make the cake without the espresso powder?
I’ve made this substituting the espresso and boiling water for 1 cup of extra strong black coffee and it was incredibly popular! everyone thought it was from a specialty bakery!
It’s high time I made some chocolate cake. This definitely looks like the best ever!
You don’t need to say another word, I’m already in love with this cake!!! It looks stunning.
Oh wow!! This cake looks perfect!
I make a very similar cake and I agree that it is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. that being said, now I have to try all your little changes to see if it makes it even better than the original 🙂
Chocolate cake is not one I would normally pick, but that has me salivating.
It is 8:20 am here and I am drooling over your cake pictures. Awesome shots by the way! I love the use of the espresso powder w/chocolate. I will give this a try for sure, but need to wait for company or I would be alone wtih a chocolate cake…hmmmm..
When (not if!) I make this cake, is it okay to substitute instant coffee for the espresso powder? If so, what conversion would you recommend, for I assume that espresso powder has a stronger flavor? Thanks so much. This cake looks delicious!
Hi Jocelyn,
I’ve tried instant coffee in the recipe as I was testing and was not as pleased with the results. For the absolute best version of this cake, I would try to find espresso powder.
Is espresso powder and “instant espresso” the same thing?
Are there any high altitude adjustments?
Hi Jan,
I’ve not made this cake in high altitude, so I can’t really tell you how it would turn out with any adjustments normally used for high altitude.
This cake speaks to me. Loud and clear.
This looks so good! What aisle can I find espresso ~ in the past I have just used instant coffee but I’d rather use the correct ingredient
Happy eating!
Hi Terry,
Oddly enough in my grocery store I’ve been finding it in the international foods section. I’ve also found it with the instant coffee as well. If you can’t find it, you can use instant coffee instead, but it does not produce the same results. I tried it and the flavor isn’t as pronounced and to increase the coffee for the flavor gives a bitter flavor.
Looooove this cake – as I’m unable to find espresso powder I substitute one cup of hot black coffee in place of the 1 cup of boiling water.
How did the cake turn out with hot coffee instead?
Robyn…this looks INSANELY delicious! Truly. If you lived within a 3 hour radius, I’d be knocking on your door, fork in hand.
Wow, just from the pictures, I can believe that this might just be the best chocolate cake ever! It looks so moist and that frosting! YUM! It’s so great to have a solid go-to classic recipe!
Oh my word Robyn. I’d like a giant slice of that cake!
Do you use Salted or unsalted butter? Thanks!
Hi Jackie,
I always just use salted butter in my recipes.
Would it make a big difference if I used unsalted instead?
Jackie,
The difference between salted and unsalted is freshness and shelf life. Salt preserves the butter longer so it is more than likely that any salted butter you get is going to be older and less fresh than unsalted butter. This is why most cake and baking recipes call for unsalted butter. But really I think the only way the average taster would be able to tell is if two cakes with salted and unsalted were right next to each other. I’ve used salted before and whatever I’m making turns out fine. However, if you are not going to cook or bake(like in some frostings) than I would absolutely use unsalted. Personal preference of course! 😉
WOW!! Beautiful cake, and beautiful photos too!! Have you tried this recipe as cupcakes?
Hi Kristen. I have a recipe for the cupcakes here — https://addapinch.com/cooking/2013/02/07/chocolate-cupcakes-recipe/
Could you make this with cake flour instead of ap?
Kristyn, when I made this recipe with cake flour, I thought it was too tender. Others have said they use cake flour successfully with the recipe.
my mouth is watering for this cake!
This a little different than my normal chocolate cake recipe in that you add hot water and espresso.. wow, never thought to add those ingredients to make it more moist. now i just need an occasion to make it!! lol
Okay Robyn- drooling….printing…..totally in love!
YUM- can’t go wrong with chocolate cake. Especially when it has espresso in it.
Loving your hobnail cake stand too- beautiful.
This cake looks so delicious! I have one question though. There is 1 cup of milk in the ingredients list for the cake, but I don’t see when you add it to the cake in your instructions. Do you add it when you add the oil and eggs? If you could clarify I would appreciate it!
Hi Megan,
You do add the milk with the vegetable oil and eggs! Thanks so much!
I’m asking purely out of curiosity (I like to know how and why things work), but why 1 cup of boiling water? Thanks so much I am making this recipe tomorrow for my boyfriend’s birthday cake – he wanted a “just how grandma made” homemade chocolate cake – no frosting- just melted butter on top?! So I thought I needed to find a great recipe and I will be baking it in a fish shaped cake pan ( he is an avid bass fisherman ) Wish me luck!
Well ding-dang. I need this in my life.
I’m making the cake at this moment and I see the milk in the ingredient but not when to use it in the instruction.
Sorry for my english, I’m french.
Emma
Hi Emma,
You’ll add the milk along with the vegetable oil and the eggs. Hope you love it!
Hello! This cake looks delicious! I was thinking of making it for my 7 year old son’s birthday but was wondering if the expresso flavor would be too strong for kids!?? Or does the espresso only bring out the chocolate flavor!? Thanks
I was looking for a great chocolate cake for my wife’s birthday today and stumbled across this one. After reading many posts and an unsuccessful trip to to grocery store looking for espresso powder, I settled for just grabbing a handful of fresh beans and grinding them under the “espresso” setting on the grinder at the store. I followed the recipe to the letter. The cake is very moist and love the frosting recipe. Though most in my family are daily coffee drinkers, the coffee flavor of the cake was more than we had hoped. Overall, a very nice recipe for cake. Next time, I’ll either reduce the espresso by at least half or omit it entirely.
Hey Steve,
If you have trouble finding espresso powder, I would substitute with an intense, dark instant coffee rather than regular beans and grinding them. But, I highly recommend using the espresso powder as included in the recipe. It does not leave a heavy coffee flavor in the cake. Thanks!
The best?! I’m in! Gotta love this classic.
As I was reading this my mouth began to water!
We make a chocolate cake a lot like this and it is definitely a family favorite!
Do you get the flavor og the espresso? My family doesn’t like the flavor of coffee. I made chocolate chip cookies with a bit of coffee once and they wouldn’t eat them.
This is without a doubt the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted!
So, so yummy and yes espresso powder makes it all pop!!
This was AMAZING. Everyone loved this. Thanks for the recipe- I will be making this again in the future.
I’m so glad you made the cake and loved it, Rachael! Thanks so much! xoxo
Who could resist the best chocolate cake ever? 🙂
I can’t find expresso powder at any of my grocery stores (4 of them). Should I be asking for it by another name? Can you tell me the brand? I’m desperate it make this cake. LOL
I actually found it at King Arthur and Sur La Table. Can’t wait for it to arrive.
You can find it more than likely at your local William Sonoma store. Just call before you go to make sure that they have it in stock. I just called today and will be getting some for my niece’s birthday cake!
I made the cake to enjoy with Downton Abbey. Delicious cake. I used Hershey special dark cocoa and while flavor delicious, the icing color is a bit gray. I wish I had used plain cocoa.
I haven’t tried the special dark cocoa with this recipe. Glad you forewarned me!
I’m so glad you mentioned this. I was about to buy dark cocoa for this recipe.
Is the batter suppose to be very liquidy? It seemed to be the perfect texture, yet when I added in the boiling water it became way too liquid. Mistake on my part?
Hi Katie,
The batter is a little bit thinner than another type of cake batter. Do let me know how you liked it!
So this sounds like a stupid question, but I usually let me cakes completely cool before even thinking about frosting them. You instructions pretty clearly state to let cool 10 minutes, then frost. Does it not crumb up on you when you frost that quickly? Thanks much….looks wonderful and I am anxious to make if for my nieces birthday on Saturday!
Hi Kim,
You can allow the cake to cool longer if you prefer. I didn’t get any additional crumb when I frosted the cake.
I am a huge dark chocolate fan and this cake totally satisfies it. I will add a little extra cocoa next time though. I did think i totally messed up the cake by adding the extra water to the batter but after reading the previous comment I felt a lot better.
This cake will now be added to my cookbook and will be made often. Thanks so much for sharing this magnificent recipe with the world.
I HAVE to try this. It does sound perfect, indeed. I’m a huge believer in adding espresso powder to my baked chocolate treats. Thanks!!
Not only is this the best looking chocolate cake I’ve ever seen, but your photos of it should be on the cover of every cooking/baking magazine in existence because if this isn’t food porn, I don’t know what is. Looking forward to trying it SOON!
Looks amazing. Friend specifically asked for a chocolate cake at our Super Bowl party. I will tell you how it turns out!
how long would this cake be able to keep? 🙂
I do not like coffee and so this cake look great but I”m concerned that it will taste like coffee.
Hi Cheryl,
The espresso powder doesn’t make the cake taste as much like coffee as it really brings out the flavor of the cocoa. Of course, you could always omit it or reduce it if you are really unsure about it.
Just baked it. So good….made small sample cake to taste. You are right, even though I love coffee, you don’t even taste the expresso, just enhances. Will be my go to recipe. Going to make cupcakes with raspberry buttercream for Valentine’s.
Made it, loved it! The easiest, quickest and most delicious, moist and tasty chocolate cake ever! My whole family gobbled it down! The espresso powder really added a nice dimension to the cake.
I’m so glad you and your family loved it, Amy!
Hi. Can I make this cake one day in advance and store it in a cake dome at room temperature?
Yes, it works fine and still tastes delicious!
Should I put it in the fridge the night before if I wanted to serve it the next day?
hi, found this on pinterest… looks great! want to give a try but am wondering if you tried as cupcakes or other mini cake molds? thanks!
Great recipe! I tried it yesterday for my Super Bowl cake. I just used a little tube of red frosting to put a 49ers on top.
I left out the espresso (my kids are wild enough ;)) and reduced the sugar in the cake & frosting by a cup each (don’t like my cakes too sweet) and the cake still turned out great! Got lots of compliments. Love how easy it is. Thanks! Hopefully I can add the espresso next time 🙂
Ok, what did I do?lol The cake is amazing but after
Frosting it the butter is pooling on the top! It does taste fine
Just more like fudge.
Hi Linda,
It sounds like your frosting separated. That can be caused by a few different reasons, such as not creaming the butter and sugar together well enough or not adding enough sugar.
That makes sense! I will surely try again! In the meantime
My hubby will love it like it is..:) great recipe!
Robyn,
Is this a fluffy or thick frosting? I ‘m looking for something fluffy and light…
It is more the consistency of a buttercream.
Hi! Wich cocoa powder do you use? I have Hershey’s Cocoa Unsweetened Powder…is that what I should use? Thanks a lot, I will be trying this pretty soon… Oh! Also, heard from a friend one can freese the cake for a few hours then let it out covered and its supposed to get more moisture…whats your opinion on that? Thanks! 🙂
Hi Allia,
The cake photographed is with Hershey’s Cocoa. I’ve frozen cakes before as well, and learned the trick from a friend of mine who is a professional wedding cake baker. After a few hours, I thought that it made my cakes a little stale, but it really could have been my imagination! 🙂
Hi Robyn,
As one who bakes and decorates cake I can say that freezing a cake will not have an effect on the moistness. In fact, I freeze all my cakes and fill and frost while they’re still frozen–makes crumb coating a breeze and seems to provide the cake a better texture. I will say though, that a COLD cake will taste dry so it must come to complete room temp before serving. The Hershey’s cake recipe is my go-to as well and I use coffee in the hot water. But now I’m wanting to try the espresso powder as I feel that the coffee does make it a bit more bitter than I’d like and your ‘tweaks’ look promising. Thanks!
I made this cake last night for a co-worker’s birthday today. It was awesome. By far, the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten! Everyone loved it. I did leave out the expresso though as I had none and it was still quite delicious! Great recipe!
What a sweet co-worker you are, Paulette! Thanks so much for your sweet comment!
I found better results when I used softened, not melted, butter for the frosting. Melting it made it too greasy and it was harder to obtain the correct consistency.
Also, for people who are having trouble finding espresso powder (which I definitely did!) I went to Caribou Coffee and asked them to finely ground espresso and place it in a cup. They didn’t even charge me for it! I was skeptical that it would enhance the flavor so dramatically, but it was amazing! DON’T SKIP OUT ON IT!
What a great idea about asking the coffee shop, Erin! So smart!
i got my expresso powder from amazon
Best cake ever, made it for my birthday with pink rosette frosting-it went down a treat.
So glad you loved it, Ashleigh!
I had my doubts that this could ACTUALLY be the best chocolate cake ever! This is the first time that I have made a chocolate cake and you are SOOOOO right! This cake is AMAZING. I followed the recipe exactly and it honestly is the best chocolate cake that I have ever tasted. Never would have thought that I could bake something so wonderful. Thank you for perfecting this recipe!
Thank you so much, Leah! It definitely is my family’s favorite and I’m so glad you loved it, too! xoxo
Do you use regular cocoa powder or unsweetened?
Hi Kimi,
I normally use unsweetened.
I made this cake today for my husband’s birthday. Sure enough, I got several “That’s the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had!” responses. Thank you so much for this recipe! It was a big hit. I’ve already been commissioned to make it for my mom’s bunco night.
Yay, Alicia!!! So glad everyone loved it. It’ll be perfect for a bunco night! So fun!
This was fabulous! Made this recipe last night- found it on Pinterest. Hubby and friends loved it!!!! Skipped the espresso powder though. Had a bunch of frosting left over. Thanks for sharing!
So glad everyone loved it, Victoria! If you can ever find espresso powder (you can ask your local Starbuck’s to grind some for you, I’ve heard) it definitely makes the cake even better!
Robin,
Made this cake last weekend and my husband and adults kids asked for it again. I did the exact recipe..we can get instant expresso in Ottawa, Canada in the instant coffee isle.
I did refrigerate the cake before serving and it was absolutely amazing.
This the best chocolate cake ever.
Thank you so much for sharing…now will try every recipes on your website..I better get started.
Thanks
Alex (Alexandra)
I’m so glad your family loved it, Alex. Thank you so much for letting me know! xoxo
My husband is a chocolate cake fanatic and very critical of chocolate cake. I am a baker and have been searching far and wide for a recipe that is up to his standards. I’m happy to say that after 5 years, my search has ended. I’ve officially found it! This cake is DELICIOUS and I don’t even like chocolate cake! The espresso powder is definately what pushed this cake to the next level, simply amazing. Well done and thank you so much for sharing this!
Oh my goodness, Jennifer. What a huge compliment. I will tell you that I have worked and reworked that recipe since I was first married 18 years ago and only recently felt like it was perfect! 🙂
So, my best friend and I followed the recipe without changing anything. It came out just perfect. The expresso was just an amazing touch. Thanks! This is really the BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER.
Jossie! Thanks so much for letting me know. I’m glad you and your friend loved the cake!
This is very similar to my title chocolate cake recipe, but the espresso powder is a genius edition. I can’t wait to try that.
Delicious! I used dark cocoa powder instead of the typical cocoa. Also, I accidentally used 2 tsp of espresso powder in the icing but it was SO good. My husband loves coffee and liked the extra kick of the espresso.
YUM! Sounds perfect, Diane. Thanks so much for your sweet comment and for the 5-stars! I appreciate it very much!
Hey I would love to try this recipe but I dont have any espresso powder just regular coffee. Do you know if would be okay to use the coffee?
Hi Ayanna,
I definitely prefer the taste from espresso powder over the coffee, but a few people have commented that they have used coffee in place of the espresso powder and loved the cake.
Hi,
I’m making this cake for a friend’s birthday it looks so awesome. Would it be possible to use buttermilk instead of reg milk?
Hi Erin,
It should be just fine.
This recipe is so delicious. Moist and yummy. Thanks
I made this for a party and the first time I’ve seen a whole cake devoured! I followed exactly(best icing ever) but added my own twist by adding chopped toberlonecandy bar on top scrumptious
Oh my! What a great addition!
do you use ducth processed cocoa or regular unsweetened cocoa?
thank heaven for chocolate, i am a true chocoholic, and just made this cake! i searched everywhere for espresso and in my greed to eat cake as quickly as possible i just used a cup of strong coffee instead of plain hot water. i also added extra cocoa so a cup total, and used my own signature chocolate cream cheese frosting. the cake is so moist so delicious, i am in bliss! i can see how espresso would be Webern better and am excited to try next time! now my husband and i who are supposed to be on diets have to eat the entire thing lol. thank you for this gift to humanity and my thighs!
Do you think it would taste just as good substituting coconut oil in palce of the vegetable oil?
I’ve not tried it, but I bet it would taste great! Do let me know how it worked for you! I bet others would love to know as well.
It tasted great with the substitution of coconut oil for the vegetable oil! I didn’t have any luck with the frosting though, I followed the exact recipe and it tasted good at all. The cake was great though!
Correction, the frosting didn’t taste good. I could clearly taste the butter and powdered sugar.
Could i make this cake with a hand mixer ????
Yes, you should be just fine using a hand mixer for this cake.
Can I make your recipe as a 9×13 and if so do I need to make any changes in amounts or frosting recipe. Looks fabulous and going to the store right now to get ingredients!
Uh. Mazing. I am a baker (cupcakes and cakes for weddings) and I have tried and tweaked a bazillion chocolate cake recipes. This one is, hands down, the best I’ve ever made. I made cupcakes from this recipe and only tweaked 2 minor things (I used half buttermilk / half whole milk, and I ground my own favourite coffee from a local roaster to a Turkish coffee consistency and used that). It has a heavenly, decadent chocolate flavor (deepened by the coffee) and an amazing- dare I say PERFECT- texture and crumb. Thanks for experimenting and sharing your beautiful recipe!
Just posted your recipe on Facebook. Can’t wait to eat it tomorrow. Used one large round pan. Is that the reason it didn’t rise?
https://www.facebook.com/BarbaraCrowellRoy
Can I make this in 9×13 pan and if so do I need to make changes in amounts? I want to make this today for guests tonight. Thanks
Hi Diane,
I’ve not made it as a 9×13. The recipe works perfectly for two 9-inch cake pan, so it should be just fine for the 9×13. For the frosting, you won’t need nearly as much.
You must have read my mind because I was looking for a decadent chocolate cake recipe and this is it! Oh my!
Hi, can I not put the espresso powder in? or would that ruin the cake? I’m just not much of a coffee fan.
Hi Brooke,
You really won’t taste the espresso. It works as a flavor enhancer for the chocolate much in the way the vanilla does. If you really don’t want to use it, you can simply omit it from both the cake and the frosting, but I do urge you to give it a try sometime. It makes all the difference in the world!
This cake looks amazing, and I even have your beautiful cake plate 🙂 ! Can’t wait for an occasion to bake it!
Thanks for sharing. Your photography is fantastic.
Thanks so much, Ruth!
I made this cake twice now, and although the flavor is amazing, it doesn’t rise in the middle, it sticks to the pans and stays really doughy in the middle. What am I doing wrong?! I love the flavor and wish I could make it work…
Hi Rose,
Sometimes when a cake doesn’t rise in the center it means that the oven is too hot and the cake baked too fast. For your oven, you may want to reduce the temperature a bit and increase the baking time to give you a more evenly baked cake. Good luck!
I live at 10,000 feet above sea level, and this recipe is NOT for high altitude. I did my normal altitude adjustments, and it still does not work. A post above said that this recipe did not rise. Mine rose so high and over that half of the batter ended up on the bottom of my oven! The bits that i tasted had good flavor, but high-altitude bakers beware, this recipe is not for you!
I had my doubts…I recently made an ah-may-zeeng red velvet cake with a cheesecake middle layer, and I had ingredients leftover and decided to make a plain chocolate cake (husband begged). I searched for recipes and came across this one, and when I saw the name — ‘Best’ {EVER} — I thought eh, why not. How bad could it be? Looks pretty delish from the picture, buuut….that could be editing. The comments were glowing, and the addition of the [elusive] espresso powder intrigued me (my recent red velvet cake had brewed coffee as an addition — perfection). We searched 6 stores for espresso powder and nearly gave up but finally found it at store #7. I made the frosting yesterday and it was….HEAVENLY. Awesome…but surely the cake won’t be all THAT special.
I made the cake earlier this afternoon. The batter was….oh my god. But SURELY I’m going to mess up the baking somehow. SURELY the actual baked cake won’t taste as good as this incredible batter.
I have never been so stoked to be proven wrong in my skepticism. This is by far one of the 3 best chocolate cakes I’ve ever had, and that’s saying A LOT. I cannot stress how big of a compliment that is (one of the best being my grandmother’s world famous wish-we-would-have-marketed-it Texas sheet cake, the other a decadent cake from a favorite local restaurant). I’d say it’s the best chocolate-only cake I’ve had. The frosting was p e r f e c t. Absolutely perfect consistency, creamy as homemade sin, perfectly spreadable, soft, RICH, FULL of flavor. My husband can’t stop talking about how moist the cake is — he is one hard man to impress, lemme tell ya, and he is fawning over this!
The frosting will definitely be my future go-to chocolate buttercream recipe. Heck, the cake will be my new go-to also, for that matter! I HAVE to serve this to my family. Talk about an utter, complete success! And SO easy to make — I use a hand mixer. Came out perfectly…we’re in blissful chocolate ecstasy here!
Melanie! I’m so glad you let me know how much you loved it. Finding espresso powder can be a hassle, but it is sooo worth it, isn’t it? Tell your husband I’m glad he liked it. My husband endured so many taste testings until I was finally happy with this final version! I think he was just as skeptical when I made this one! 🙂
Hope your family loves it! Enjoy!
I made this cake the other day and OMG! It’s the most moist chocolate cake I’ve ever had…in my life. It was gone in 2 days…really. I did share. :o) I frosted it with a peanut butter buttercream frosting….yum!!
Hi,
I’m going to make this cake this weekend, just one thing – do You put something between those two cakes? i mean some jam? Cream? The same frosting?
Thanks,
i just made it but i forgot to put it on 2 9″ trays…. i have it in a silicone cake one and its thicher hope that if i keep it more in the oven doesn’t run it…the rest looks delicious
made this last night for a dinner we have to go to today-skipped over the part about flouring the cake pan so the first one fell apart and we had to eat it (let me tell you it was the best chocolate cake ever!)
I’ve made this cake 3 times in the last 3 weeks – oh, these snowy weekends just called out for a chocolate cake, and it is absolutely the best evah! I didn’t have espresso powder but it was great without, and am looking forward to trying it with it. For everyone looking for espresso powder, you can find it at King Arthur Flour. Robyn, do you have a recipe for the best vanilla cake ever? If I left out the cocoa and followed the same recipe, do you think that would work? Thanks so much for sharing this fabulous recipe for what is by far the best chocolate cake ever!
Just made this with my roommate. It was amazing! We actually ended up doubling the salt and halving the sugar out of personal preference. After adding the boiling water we whisked like we were making whipped cream, perhaps to (over) compensate that we didn’t have an electric mixer. Since we made cupcakes we baked for 20 min. The result was the lightest most cloud-like chocolate cupcakes ever!!! Thank you for this recipe, it’s our new favorite.
Hi Robyn, I am from the Philippines but I live in Hong Kong. I am an avid cook but not into baking that much because I never liked following recipes and had a bad experience with a lot published recipes that don’t work well. I have seen a lot of recipes claiming that theirs is the best chocolate recipe ever. I tried a couple from well known chefs but was never satisfied.Since it was a cold, humid, gloomy Saturday, I decided to brighten our dinner with a nice recipe. I came across this at Pinterest and rushed to grocery (wellcome grocery here in HK) and decided to give your recipe a try. I was thinking of just using my Nespresso espresso with the boiling water…but then again thought about being religious to your recipe. I bought the Nescafe Espresso powder coffee, bit pricy but I said why not. Since I cook dinner for only me my husband and my 2 year old, plus, I only have a small oven toaster.I halved the recipe in evey detail. So I only had one layer. I was completely surprised because my one layered frosted cake tasted extremely good! Kudos to you and your recipe! It was absolutely perfect! The cake was moist the frosting perfect! Even when the recipe was completely halved! I can’t wait to prepare this again when I have guests in the house. More power to you..all the way from HK!
Thank you so much, Rozy! I really appreciate your letting me know how you dividing the recipe worked for you! Take a look at the chocolate cupcakes that I made based on this cake recipe sometime, too. It makes just 12 cupcakes and I used a fluffy vanilla buttercream frosting. They should bake perfectly in your toaster oven.
This is truely the best d*#n chocolate cake everrr!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Robyn, i love baking but im still a beginner and i’ve never baked with oil, can i use sunflower oil to make this cake? Also i have only one 9″ cake pan so can i bake one half after the other? I want to make this beauty for my fiance’s bday tomo.
xoxo
Hi Rumskie,
You should be fine baking each of the layers separately. I’ve not tried sunflower oil to make this cake, so let me know how that works for you! Happy birthday to your fiance! xoxo
Thank you for replying so promptly, i just finished making this cake and it turned out perfect! Soo soft and soooo yummy. When i told my fiance that im baking him a cake he wanted to get an appointment with the dentist in advance because the last time i made chocolate cake it was hard as rock(i mean really!!). Boy is he in for a delightful surprise! The frosting was heavenly, i think i ate more than i put on the cake.
Thanks again for this awesome recipe.
Luv ya!!
p.s. If i yapped on too much its because of the sugar high right now.
Hi, I was thinking of using this for my mom’s birthday tomorrow but I have one quick question, the cocoa; is that unsweetened powdered cocoa or is it something else?
Hi Charis, It is unsweetened cocoa
I must say….I am not a baker at all but this recipe has my family all excited about what goodies will I bake next. It looks as good as it tastes!! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
WOW. I made this cake over the weekend. Looks just like the pics and the taste is unbelievable. Just had a piece in fact. Had a hard time finding espresso powder. The grocery store, which has everything did not have it. Starbucks did not have it, or did not realize they had it. Found it at a little cafe type coffee/deli place. They had the beans and ground them to a fine powder for me. I have been searching for the perfect chocolate cake all my life and this is it. Perhaps Robyn, you should apply for a patent.
I’m so glad you love it, Michele. Sorry for it being a pain finding the espresso powder, but so glad you did! xoxo
Hi, I was just curious if you have ever used a regular 9 x 13 pan or a bundt cake pan? I don’t have a round one. Thank you, Can’t wait to try this. I had to order the espresso powder online and just got it today 🙂
Hi Heather! I think it will work just fine in either. You’ll want to adjust your baking time accordingly for either type of pan.
Hey!
I tried this cake….. and OH MY GOSH!… AMAZING!
I love your site btw 🙂
Hi there, I baked this cake for my mom’s 50th birthday today. It is definitely the best chocolate cake ever. The cake was super moist and the icing was great too. I used instant coffee powder so perhaps the coffee was not as pronounced as it would have been with espresso powder but well! It didn’t matter after all. Thanks for sharing the recipe with all of us!
Robyn: Can I bake this cake on a Friday (and refrigerate it) and ice it on Sunday or will it get dry. It is for a birthday party on Sunday, but unfortunately I have to work on Saturday.
Thank you
Jacki
Hi Jacki. You should be fine making it on Friday for a Sunday party. I would even venture to say that you don’t even have to refrigerate it if you go ahead and frost it on Friday. Well, just the temptation, but you know what I mean! 🙂
Thank you Robyn for getting back to me so quickly. I am very excited to bake this cake for my daughter’s 40th birthday party.
Hi Robyn,
Is it safe to say that the cake would still taste as good and retain its texture and moistness if stored in a refrigerator overnight?
Also, would the quality of the cake be affected if I baked everything in 1 9″ tin and then slicing it in halve later?
Thank you!
Hi John,
I don’t store my cake in the refrigerator. I just cover it with a cake dome and it stays fresh and moist! As to adding all of the batter to one 9-inch cake pan, I haven’t done that and am not really sure what the end result would be. If you try it, let me know how it works for you.
I just made the cake using a single 10-inch springform pan. I think the main change is that the baking time had to be doubled. It took me about 65 minutes to get the cake set (at 350 F). I suppose it’s all the extra volume in one pan. I haven’t tried the cake yet but it looks good and well-baked. I will cool it in the fridge before slicing it in half.
I’m gonna try it
I wonder whether you have the metric dosage… I’m italian and not skilled with cups system!!!
Great, easy recipe! Rich and moist. Good stuff.
I have never used boiling water when making a cake and I was hesitant to o so figuring it would activate he baking powder prematurely and it wouldn’t rise. Later after following the recipe I realized Adding it slowly into the eggs and milk and dry actually tempered the batter for a faster set while baking. I was also worried that the batter was going too thin. I continued to follow instructions and was super happy with the results. I will keep this one under my belt. Thanks.
I made some adjustments to make gluten free cupcakes and they were spectacular! Thanks!
thats really delicious i tried it 🙂
Hi, i was searching the net for a chocolate cake recipe and came across this… Made it this afternoon and it truly is the best chocolate cake ive ever had. We had it for desert after supper and im using the left overs for cake balls. If you’re looking for a recipe this is definitely the one to write down!
I made this cake and it was all that it promised to be! Delicious and did not last long!
I added 1/4 C of vanilla yogurt–my mother’s trick for keeping things super moist and used whole milk.
Something that might also be helpful is to know that espresso is a type of grind and not a special bean or type of powder. An espresso grind is very fine, nearly powder, so that the extraction is very concentrated when “pulling” an espresso shot. With this in mind all that is needed is a coffee grinder to grind coffee (beans or already ground coffee) to a powder or very fine consistency, no trips to the grocery store for “espresso powder” are needed. Grinding your own powder for the recipe will also make it fresh, just as you might prefer freshly ground coffee at a coffee house or at home. 🙂 (Sorry, was once a coffee queen, opened some of the first Starbucks in San Diego in the 90s while in college…)
Thanks for the great recipe! My family loved it!!!
Im glad said that I was thinking of trying that.
Thank you so much for such a lovely article, the pictures make it truly tantalizing! I am so excited to bake this tomorrow for my love’s birthday, will add fresh raspberries on top or perhaps a melted raspberry glaze…
hurray!
Hi! Beautiful pictures, love your blog.
Quick question: I have several friends tell me to also add to the recipe above two tablespoons of mayonnaise or sour cream.
What do you think? They say the mayonaise will add even more moisture to the cake batter.
I’m making your cake this weekend for the first time as a surprise 🙂
Hi Heather,
I’ve not added mayo or sour cream to this final cake recipe, so I can’t really give advice on the final result if you were to add it. I would think that it would make the cake fall apart though as it is a very thin batter and already very moist.
Forgot to give it 5 stars!
I live in Houston Tx and checked with a few stores and can’t find espresso powder. Help!!
Hi Dee,
A few other commenters have left comments on where they were able to find espresso powder. A few ordered from King Arthur Flour and a few had it ground for them at their local coffee shop. Good luck!
I live in Houston as well, it took some searching, however Sur La Table at City Centre has espresso powder. I think there is another Sur La Table store in the Woodlands as well. It was $9 for the container. Happy Hunting 🙂
I have a question – if I increase quantities to make a 3-layered 9 inch cake, will it hold well after being decorated? I keep reading this is a moist cake so Im keen to know if it’s firm enough to withstand being 3 layers? Thanks!
Jay, this cake has been made numerous times as a 3 layer cake and it held up just fine. I hope you enjoy it.
Hello Robyn,
perhaps an important question, I am still not clear after reading through these posts, if by Espresso powder you mean you used espresso (Very finely ground beans, that your would use in a coffee maker, correct me if I am wrong) OR, INSTANT espresso, as in you stir it right into a mug if hot water, like instant coffee. Could you please let me Know?! I am living in Europe right now and both regular espresso and instant espresso is readily available. My son requested a chocolate chocolate cake for his 6th birthday, and I am definelty planning to try your recipe, but I am making it tomorrow night! THANKS!!
Hi Lee,
I use espresso powder. This is a link to be able to see an image of one from King Arthur Flour. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/espresso-powder-3-oz
Hi. I have a question. This is my first time I am making this recipe and it’s for charity Bazaar. I would really appreciate if you please let me know if this cake will be tasty without frosting.
Thanks
I like it without the frosting, but it is definitely over the top delicious with the frosting. I wouldn’t recommend skipping it for guests or an event.
Hey Robyn!
Yesterday was the first time I baked a cake and luckily, I happened to come across your recipe. I had to microwave it for 45-50 minutes for it to set properly and leave no trace on the tooth pick. I also used instant coffee instead of espresso.
Loved the outcome. It was DELICIOUS! The cake was soft and yummy. I can’t imagine how tastier it would have been, if I had used espresso.
Thanks for the recipe 😀
My rating:
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
I know this is a silly question but can I make this without the espresso? I don’t have it in the house. Thank you!
Cake is delicious; extremely moist with a great texture. The icing has some problems. It was creamy and fluffy until I added the espresso and vanilla. It became grainy and left a greyish hue. I would definitely make the cake again and again but the icing would be modified. I am wondering if you put the espresso with the cocoa at the beginning,before you add the butter, would the consistency and colour be okay.
Am from Uganda this cake ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for posting
I am a first time baker…….. Meaning this is the first time I have baked a cake period let alone from scratch! My family absolutely loved it. Thank u so very much I look forward to your many other recipes
Omg I’m making this as soon as I wake up!
I don’t have espresso powder, would Khalua work fine instead?
Thanks
I was looking for a chocolate cake recipe for my friends birthday a few days ago and found your recipe. Tried it, gave it, they tasted it and consumed it. They must have liked it, lol! I made another one this evening for my grandma’s birthday tomorrow.
My only regret is that I can’t find espresso powder in my country. But if I could, I would definitely get me some. Thanks Robyn!
I’m going to bake this cake but I will frost it with a nice milk chocolate Genache and Butter Cream (made from granulated sugar only) as filling.
Robyn! This chocolate cake is AMAZING! I made it yesterday, and I’m in love! So delicious! Thank you for sharing all of your awesome recipes. Keep up the good work! 😀
I must find a good excuse to make this gorgeous cake! It looks so moist and delicious. 🙂
Hi Robyn!
My sister turns 21 this weekend and exited to make this cake. But I have a small question; I’m in Europe and was wondering what’s your ‘cup’ in milligrams? Any Idea? Or just use any cup?
Would love to hear from you,
Anna
Hi Anna,
I use standard US measurements, but have included a cooking conversion chart that should help you to convert to metric. https://addapinch.com/cooking/cooking-conversion-charts/
Thanks and Happy Birthday to your sister!
The cake was delicious!!!! I have a question about the icing. I alternated a whole cup of sugar with 1 tbs of milk, but I would have had milk left over, so then I added the sugar in smaller doses to use up all the milk. My icing was delicious, but with a more whipped consistency. What is the correct way? Thanks!
HI Robyn!
What amount do you use in measuring the all purpose flour? 1 cup=5 oz.? thanks!
I have a chocolate cake recipe that I will always have! This is very very similar (different amounts of ingredients and expresso) except my recipe calls for buttermilk instead of just milk. I use a powered version instead of fresh so I will always have it on hand!
The flavor of this cake was simply wonderful … a huge hit. Unfort, it didn’t turn out as beautiful as it did delicious. Both cakes fell into pieces when I tried to remove them from their pans … it was if the cake was just so soft and moist that it couldn’t retain structure. It doesn’t sound like anyone else has had this issue, so I’m wondering if it was an issue with my oven or something I did during the process?
Thanks for the great recipe! Can I freeze the left over frosting? Thanks!
Robyn, tank you so muh for this recipe. Before anything, this is my first time visiting your blog…
I have tried several cake recipes including Gourmets double chocolate and other popular ones and this recipe has given me the best results in terms of flavor and texture. I made this cake and also made the chocolate frosting scaled down and used it as a filling between the layers. I then frosted the cake with a vanilla butter cream frosting. Overall the combination was great.. once again thank you!
If it is not too much to ask for can you please e-mail me another of your best recipes (Cakes or dessert) …I am always looking for my next great baking project. Thank you 🙂
One question!! Do you use salted butter?? This looks delicious! I’m making it Wednesday!
Robyn,
I am so excited to try out your recipe! I have a question do I bake both pans at the same time?
Hi Karin,
Yes, if both fit well in your oven, you can definitely bake both at the same time. If not, you can bake one after the other. Just whatever works best for your oven.
Robyn,
This recipe is great! I am not an experienced baker, but this came out perfect. I love the texture and moistness. I have a question: I omitted the coffee because it was for my toddler’s birthday. Is there anything else I can add to boost the flavor? Although the cake tastes good, I think it lacks intensity without the coffee.
Ps. I posted above in reply to the question of baking in one pan, but I wanted to post again here after tasting the cake.
This looks great and I will try making it now!
I’m drooling with the pictures. I had pushed my mom to grab the ingredients for me. I had trouble with the frosting. Which cocoa is better to use! Mine wasn’t that good but the cake is awesome.
Valery
D.R.
Hi!
I was wondering if you could use Buttermilk in this recipe? In place of the milk? I love buttermilk in chocolate cake recipes. Thank you!!
Anyone looking for espresso powder – chk Starbucks, thats where i get mine here in Canada
Thanks for this recipe. It truly is exceptional. My kitchen is gluten free and the recipe turned out amazingly well subbing Cup 4 Cup flour for regular flour. I was impressed with the richness of the color, the sheen on top, the moistness and light and fluffiness of the texture. My husband was in heaven with this for his bday treat. He said it was the best cake he’s ever had. Recipe is a keeper!
Thank you for a lovely recipe. I found you via Pinterest. I was looking for a chocolate cake recipe worthy of my husband’s birthday today. My only substitution was to use unsweetened apple sauce for the oil. I also used instant espresso for the powder with no problem 🙂 The cake itself came out super moist & the frosting was not too sweet. Other changes I made were to sift all my dry ingredients, mixed all the wet ingredients together first before adding to the dry. I did as another reviewer suggested & creamed the cocoa with the softened butter rather than melt the butter. This reminds me a lot of Ina Garten’s Beatty’s Chocolate Cake recipe which uses hot instant espresso instead of boiling water. I am not sure why folks are so hesitant to add boiling/hot liquid into the batter. Yes, it thins I out the batter but I think that’s what helps make it moist. One last note: the color of the frosting looked more like a milk or malt chocolate-kind of pale but still delicious. Thank you again for making our special day a delicious one, too 🙂
can i make this exact recipe for cupcakes?
Made this cake for Easter and it was amazing!! I actually made several chocolate cakes and they shrank, got hard immediately, and tasted awful. After failed attempts I tried this recipe and tasted the cake the next morning and it was moist and words cannot describe the flavor and texture. It slightly reminds me of a fudgy brownie. Thank you for posting this recipe!! This is my chocolate cake recipe for life!! 🙂
Hi Robyn,I’ve tried out your cake recipe as attial before my son’s birthday next week. It tastes Great BUT I have two problems with it. First one is it is more sticky than fluffy… Feels more like brownies rather than a well risen fluffy cake. My second concern is with the frosting.. After adding all the ingredients I felt it was a bit roo hard at that stage (it was a dark brown color at that stage) so I added a bit of Milk and the color changed to a whitish brown marble like color! I’m nit sure if you can help with all this coz I’d like to bake this cake again for the birthday. Thank you!
Hi Engy,
I’ve not had any issues with the frosting when I make it as listed in the recipe. I’ve not added more milk, so I can’t really help you with why it would streak other than you may just need to mix it more to make sure all of the milk is incorporated. I’ve worked on this cake recipe for about 10 years, so the way that I wrote the recipe shared is the best way I’ve found to make the cake with the best results for my family.
Good luck and happy birthday to your son!
Thanks for your reply… I’ll just give it another try tomorrow .
This looks beyond delicious. I m pinning this for future baking 🙂
Hello! I am about to make this for my friend’s birthday and I am wondering if using a different type of milk will impact the taste very much (like, chocolate milk vs whole milk vs nonfat milk) which do you prefer?
And is there a technique you like to use when frosting your cake? It looks very delicious and I wouldn’t want my poor frosting aesthetic to detract from the taste!
Looks so good. Just found this via pinterest so glad I did, and Making this tomorrow. Beautiful pictures! Where did you find the cake stand?
Thanks so much, Jen. It was my Grandmother’s.
Hi Robyn, I posted a question earlier but can’t seem to find it. I made this cake and it tasted delicious but faced two problems!! My first one is that my cake didn’t turn out fluffy but it was a more brownie like texture! Do you have any idea what the problem may be coz i’d like to make it again this Friday. My second issue was with the frosting… It started out fine with a dark brown color but after addinga bit of milk at the end and beating again the color changed to whitish brown and a but like marble… Streaky! Hope you know what I mean.
Please help … Thanksssss!
I made this cake last night and it was fantastic! The best chocolate cake I have ever managed to bake. My husband loved it too. I ran out of white sugar after 3/4 of a cup, so substituted the rest with light brown sugar, and it still came out great.
The frosting is delicious as well, not too sweet.
I’ll be sending this recipe to all my friends who love to bake!
Thanks so much, Caroline! I’m so glad your family loved it!!! The frosting and the cake are the perfect balance of sweetness, aren’t they? Thanks again!
I’m making the cake now and the frosting is like separating! Do you have any idea whats happening? I really dont want to throw away all this 🙁
I love to bake and have been on a “mission” to find the perfect chocolate cake for years. I am very happy to say that my search has ended with your fabulous recipe! The cake was moist and delicious. Instead of adding 1 cup of boiling water I used 1/2 cup of brewed coffee and 1/2 cup of boiling water. The frosting was also delicious. It was however a little bit “grainy”. I may not have ground my espresso fine enough. I will tweak that a little next time. Just wondering…have you tried using buttermilk instead of regular milk? Thank you so much for posting this delish recipe. Now I have the BEST chocolate cake recipe AND the BEST carrot cake recipe in the world. I just need to find the BEST almond cake recipe…any ideas???
Ok listen up because I’m about to give you all the tip of the day!!!! For the espresso powder I used Starbucks Via Ready Brew. It is Starbucks instant micro ground coffee. I used Italian Roast & it was a bit strong so next time I would probably use their Veranda Blend or Blonde Roast (since I’m not a coffee lover at all). I used 3/4 of the packet for the cake & the other 1/4 for the frosting it was perfect. You can buy these little packets at any Starbucks or I’ve seen them online and at Walmart. They will run you about 10 bucks for 12 packs. That would be enough or 12 amazing cakes!!!! I’ve also seen them in 3 packs at Starbucks. Good Luck & Definitely try this perfect recipe!!!!
Hello, I was looking at this recipe and I was wondering whether just half a cup of vegetable oil would make the cake dry and not fluffy. Are you sure not more vegetable oil goes in?
Ok, you can definitely claim this cake as the best !!!! Wow! I didn’t have espresso ; next time I will make sure I have it; still amazing!! This will be my go to for chocolate cake!! Thank you !
Just finished frosting a huge version of this cake: 3 cakes instead of two. Used your vanilla frosting for the inside, the chocolate for the outside. My 8 yo asked for “the best chocolate cake” and that what I searched for and found it!
I made the cupcakes for his actual bday this week (with the vanilla frosting) and his school friends LOVED it! I had a young connoisseur tell me that “for home made, this is really great!”.
Thank you for sharing these fantastic and easy recipes!!
I made this cake for my boyfriend last night as a special treat. He said for a scratch cake it was very good BUT, we both thought the cocoa was very over powering. I used a K cup of cafe mocha in place of the expresso powder but it still couldn’t be tasted over the cocoa. I still give this recipe a 4 star rating!
i just had to take a moment and tell you this is the best chocolate cake ever. I have been searching for a from scratch cake and this is the one. Often I would find a cake but not frosting or visa versa. However this one is the one. My 2 girls, 11 & 7 yrs old, have told me I’m the best mom ever for making this cake. ( I, of course, told them about you being the source.) We then noticed that you got the inspiration recipe from the Hershey’s cookbook. I actually have that. It is one of the first cookbooks I purchased on my own while traveling across the mid west on an adventure. How funny that you have the same one. I haven’t seen it since. We’ve made the cake at least 5 times since finding it. We even do half recipes so as not to over do it.
So thank you, from my family to you. This cake rocks.
Now I’m on the search for the best white or yellow cake with white or vanilla frosting… Any pointers?
I baked this today and it was AWESOME! It was so easy to make and the frosting was so easy to work with and the cake looked perfect! I will be making this again for company in a couple of weeks and can’t wait to see their reaction….. I will keep you posted! Thank you for such an easy, delicious, recipe!
This cake is absolutely scrumptious!!…it was really easy and my dinner guests scarfed it up! I got the espresso powder at Williams-Sonoma…my only problem was that since my ancient oven has horrible hot spots, I had to shift the pans positions during baking which caused the middle to deflate just a tad….won’t be a problem when the kitchen get done in a month or so
Congratulations on your kitchen redo! How fun!!! So glad you enjoyed the cake. It’s one of our favorites, for sure!
This looks great! What is your fav cake of all time?
Hi Robyn! I just started reading your blog and I enjoy it! I have a home cupcake business and I use almost the same cake for my basic/classic chocolate cupcakes. It is nice because the recipe will make 2 dozen standard cupcakes and 120+ mini cupcakes. Cheers ~ Susan
PS Roasted vegetables are divine and so easy. Thanks for posting that. It is a good reminder for my Sunday roasts.
Made this amazing, moist, fantastic cake for my chocolate loving son’s 12th birthday. It is has new favorite! Thank-you so very much for sharing!! Will be keeping this recipe! God bless!
Hi Tyna,
The recipe for the chocolate frosting says “melt butter”…did you make it by melting the butter or just softened it at room temperature.?
Thank you.
The recipe for the chocolate frosting says “melt butter”…should the butter be melted or softened at room temperature.?
Thank you.
This is Actually the BEST chocolate I have ever tasted, I was unconvinced at first because it only had cocoa powder and not even that much really but oh dear! I wont be using another chocolate cake recipe ever again and i’ve made three of these cakes in a week!
Best ever cake I tasted, made it on Saturday and everybody at work loved it!!!!!
We made this and everyone loved it 😀 thank you
HI Robyn,
This cake sounds amazing! I want to make it for my Nephew’s birthday but i need to make the cake on Friday for Sunday and plan to decorate it with fondant. Do you think the cake will last 3 days and still be moist? Thanks
This was my first serious attempt at baking and this recipe of yours proved to be wonderful! Everybody loved this cake! Thanks a lot!
I made this cake ,Monday and it was wonderful. I substituted Splenda for sugar in the cake part and it still tasted amazing. However, for the icing, I followed the recipe perfect but the icing was a little runny. I had to keep adding confectioners sugar & had to add approximately am additional cup or two and it was still runny. Any help?
What type of cocoa powder did you use?
Was the cocoa sweetened cocoa powder or dutch processed?
Hi dear,
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful and delicious chocolate cake recipe.I made this last week and my family love it….They want me to bake it again this week.more power to you…Godbless..
Thank you so much, Elgie! I’m so glad everyone loves it! xoxo
Ooohh lala I tried this recipe wow you rock thanks for sharing I feel like a bad a** chef
I was also unable to find espresso powder but I found coffee extract on the baking aisle with the other extracts. Do you think this would work as a substitution? I am making this tomorrow for my chocolate-living mom’s birthday party. It sounds wonderful! I can’t wait to try it.
I’ve not used that in this cake recipe before. Do let me know how it turns out for you.
This is indeed an awesome cake. My husband loved it!
Thanks Robyn
I was looking for a white icing to go with this cake (so i could color it) would your chocolate cupcake vanilla buttercream frosting recipe work well with this cake or is the vanilla buttercream meant only for the cupcakes?? I’m making it for my son’s first birthday tomorrow. Please let me know!
I did the same thing. I used this cake recipe with the buttercream frosting, so I could make it green for birthday cake. It came out great! Did u try it?
Sorry! Also, would I just double the vanilla buttercream recipe for ths cake? Thank you!
Its truly the best ever choc cake i have made and it tasted awesome! Al credits goes to u for the complements i recieved. 🙂
Made the cake on the weekend.
The folks here at work love it !
Thanks for a great recipe 🙂
your cake looks amazing :)just a quick question, what should I substitute the eggs with to make egg free??
Hi May,
Thanks so much. My Mom has issues with eggs, too. I’ve successfully used a mashed avocado in place of an egg in another chocolate cake. It was delicious. You can also use applesauce in chocolate based recipes like this as a great substitute. I would use 1/3 cup applesauce for each egg.
Thanks for your great recipe dear Robyn
Shall we me make two different levels?And then put the chocolate sauce in between?Because it seems that it has two different levels!
Amazingly easy and incredibly delicious!
I was looking for a chocolate cake earlier today to surprise my husband on our third wedding anniversary, which is tonight, and the result got me by surprise as well! 😀
thank you so much for the great recipe 🙂
I try it it was fabulous it esy and the ingredients very simple
Hi Robyn, I’m making this cake for my girlfriend this weekend, I wanted to know if I would be able to cover this cake with fondant so that I could decorate it? She’s really fond of “pretty” looking food. Thanks Robyn , and for the record this cake does look devine.
My boyfriend asked for a chocolate/coffee flavored cake for his birthday, I found your recipe…and I must say, this truly IS the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had! And certainly the best I’ve ever made. Thank you!!!
I am a guy that rarely cooks/never baked ever before and followed this recipe to surprise my wife on her birthday. It came out excellent and everybody loved it and tasted awesome.
She was so happy. I must admit one mistake I did was the frosting was a bit too buttery and I guess I ran out of confectioners sugar. Couple of things the author can add in the recipe is the grams or oz of the ingredients needed so people getting it from the store can get the correct amount. Also espresso powder was hard to source so I used instant coffee but half the portion size described here.
Thanks a lot!
I was wondering, if I do NOT make the frosting, will it make any difference?
Hi Grant,
I developed the frosting recipe to go specifically with this cake so that together the pairing of flavors is what makes it what I call the best chocolate cake ever. I highly recommend this frosting on this cake, but I believe from the comments, others have substituted another frosting in place of this one. Good luck and do let me know how it turns out for you!
i make this cake for my birtday and i cant say nothing but its tasty…!!! thanks..!!1
I made this cake this morning to be the top and bottom layers for a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake to surprise my husband for our first anniversary this weekend. And since I had to cut the puffed out tops off to make the cake flat, I had warm cake chunks for lunch! Mmmmm.
Since I’m pairing this with mint chocolate chip ice cream, I left out the espresso because I didn’t want the flavors to compete. And I also used the one and only cocoa powder I allow in my kitchen: Hershey’s *Special Dark*. Let me tell you. If you’ve never used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder, TRY IT. Your cakes and brownies will look black like dirt, but the chocolatey-ness will be so luxuriously rich that you will faint from sheer pleasure. My friends and family never stop emailing me for my brownie recipe, and that is the secret ingredient. 🙂
I used Taster’s Choice Colombian brew instant coffee packets in place of the espresso powder. It seemed to do pretty well in the cake. I used too much in the frosting though (I made mine with a bar of cream cheese, smidge of milk, smidge of vanilla, and a cup or so of confectioner’s sugar) and it came out tasting like coffee. On the cake, though, it was like a cappuccino, chocolate chunk ice cream! SO delicious that my six year old son LOVED it!! I made it on Sunday and it was polished off last night. My son made me promise to make another one this weekend. I’m going to try it as a sheet cake. I’m on the hunt for espresso powder now though!!
Do you have any recipes for a white/wedding/vanilla cake? My daughter’s first birthday is coming up and I’m making her birthday cake and smash cake for her.
You can find espresso powder at King Arthur Flour that works well. Good luck!
On the white cake recipe, I’m still in the process of working on one to get it “perfect” before I share it. Almost there! 🙂
This cake looks so amazing!! I almost took a bite out of my computer!!
OMG!! this cake should be ILLEGAL!!!! it is to die for!
Just made it and it has turned out perfect! that never happens when I bake.
Thank you for sending me this slice of Heaven.
Love from Australia
I’m so glad you love it, Chrissy!!!
I’m searching for a cake to make for my friend’s birthday in a few days, and this looks incredible. I’m from Finland so we do not use dl, i tried to find a converter online but it said that it was a difference between American and English “cups” so witch ones have you been using? 🙂 thank you for a quick answer
* WE DO use dl, NOT cups. 🙂
Hi Simone,
I use American “cups”. I do have a quick reference for cooking conversions that might be of some help, I hope. https://addapinch.com/cooking/cooking-conversion-charts/
Hope you love the cake!
This recipe is a total hit!! I’ve made it twice now and both time i’ve been showered in complements of how amazingly yummy and incredibly moist it is, with multiple people going back for a second slice! This truly is ‘the best chocolate cake recipe ever’!
Hi, Robyn. Gonna try this cake tomorrow, just one question? Will this cake hold if I were to use fondant icing?
Hi Angie,
I’ve not made it with a fondant icing, so I really can’t say. Do let me know if you try it though as others may have the same question.
I made this cake a few weeks ago for a small gathering I was having with my friends. It turned out amazing and was so delicious some of them had more than one slice at a time!
Is the cocoa unsweeted or sweeted?
Unsweetened cocoa.
I made this cake tonight and I to had the problem of the frosting separating.I did add more sugar and it seemed to help. I’m wondering if it is because I sifted the powdered sugar and then measured. What do you think? I did take the time to level the layers before frosting it, so I was able to taste some of it with a schmear of frosting on it. It is an amazing cake.
Hi, I made this cake today. Tastes great 🙂
I bake a lot of cakes but most of the don’t come out the way I want them to.
Half of the cake on top becomes a dome 🙁
Its so hard to put the icing on top. What do i do?
Today I made your recipe. After pouring the batter in the pan, I tapped it to get the air bubbles out because I read that it helps the cake to rise with straight edges.
DID NOT WORK AT ALL 🙁
Please help.
If a cake rises too high in the center when baking, it could mean a couple of issues. Your oven temperature may be too high and baking at a higher temperature than you think. I would recommend double checking your oven temperature with an oven thermometer. You can also use a collar around your cake pans to help your cakes bake more evenly.
perfect chocolate cake ever. thanks! thanks! :):)
xoxo
My batter seemed very runny, and i didn’t know why. And the flavor wasn’t very rich, what can i do to change that?
Hi,
Just making this cake to try out and making the icing. The milk seems to not be absorbing properly into the ret of the ingredients. Have I done something wrong? I used 340gms of butter is that the right conversion? I’m in New Zealand.
Hi 🙂
what kind of butter is for Chocolate Frosting?
Can I use salted butter for it?
Seriously the best chocolate cake ever!! I made this for my son’s 2nd birthday and it was a HIT! I’ll never make another boxed chocolate cake again.
I am very excited to try to this recipe, especially after reading the glowing reviews. I will be making it for my boyfriend’s birthday. Unfortunately, he is not a fan of coffee and so I am wondering what you might suggest as a substitute for the espresso powder for the icing. Thank you!!
Oh and I just realized that there’s some in the cake batter too! Tips? Thanks 🙂
Hi Janine,
You can omit the espresso powder, but I would recommend trying it. As mentioned in the post, the espresso powder doesn’t make it taste like coffee. It enhances the flavor of the chocolate much like vanilla does.
Hi Robyn!
It seems like a really delicious recipe! I would like to try it but unfortunately i don’t know how much a cup is. So could you please tell me how many milliliter(ml) or decilliter(dl) or even liters is equal to one cup?
Thank you!!
This recipe has become my signature cake.. It’s kinda hard to find espresso where I live so I used 1 & a half teaspoons of strong instant coffee & I loved it 🙂 everyone begs me to make is cake for them now 🙂 lovely recipe thank you so much ^_^
This is the truly the best chocolate cake I have ever made, I must say it was a hit! Will be making it again soon!! I followed instructions and it turned out amazing- my hubby loved it, moist and spongy just Perfect!
Thanks for the recipe!!
This is the best chocolate cake recipe ever.
Simple ingredients and perfect taste…
Thumbs Up 🙂
I stumbled across this recipe looking for a cake that would wow at a party. This did not disappoint! I was scared to do chocolate because the recipes I have always used in the past always turn out dry. We all LOVED it-thank you sooo much for sharing! It is now going to be the “go-to” party cake from now on!
I found your recipe by Googling “chocolate cake” and gave it a try. I don’t have any round cake pans, so I used a 13×9 sheet cake pan. It took a little longer (I baked it for 42 minutes) but came out beautifully! I also didn’t have any espresso powder, but the cake and frosting were AMAZING without it. I can only imagine how delicious they would be with it. I’ll definitely be saving this recipe and trying it with the espresso powder next time.
I just made this cake, I’ve used Turkish coffee instead of espresso powder… OMG, THIS IS THE BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE I HAVE EVER HAD! You will NEVER go back to the box stuff after you try this!
Thank you!!!
I couldn’t find espresso powder at my grocery and i wanted to make this cake tomorrow (so no time to order it through the mail). I have both instant coffee and espresso grounds, would either work, and which is better?
I just made this cake with instant coffee and it came out great. I really didn’t feel like running out for espresso so I used what I have on hand. It worked great for me.
Thanks Michelle, I ended up using the instant coffee and it worked great. I only wonder if the espresso would have been a bit stronger and made the flavor come through even more? Maybe next time I’ll try it. King Arthur sells some on their website.
It really is the Best Chocolate cake recipe that I have ever made! I have been looking for a awesome recipe but seemed to always come up short with all the other ones out there. Definitely gong to make this one my go too chocolate cake. The name really should be the ULTIMATE Chocolate Cake!!! Thanks for sharing this one!
oh i’m going to try this out tonight but i feel a bit scared too…… i don’t understand the vegetable oil part? is it melted margarine? or does it have to be REAL oil?
Hi Nabilaah,
It is a vegetable oil and not melted margarine.
I am eager to try the recipe, but I wanted to comment on the beautiful cake plate. I am a collector of milk glass and noticed yours. Love it!
Do you really mean to frost the cake only 10 minutes after it’s out of the oven??
Hmm, I really wanted to like this recipe. I’ve made it twice now and it’s just not very chocolatey. The frosting is fantastic, but the cake is more like a chocolate flavored snacking cake. Maybe I’m looking for a dark chocolate cake instead of a milk chocolate cake.
This looks like a great recipe and I’d like to try it out this weekend for a birthday, but I have one question. Does the boiling water not cause the egg in the batter to cook? Do you have to add it very slowly to avoid this? I hope this doesn’t sound like a dumb question, but I’ve never added boiling water to cake batter before and I’m nervous! Thanks ♡
How much sugar is in this cake? More than a kilo? How much is cup in grams? 250gr?
ok. where do I start? I’d never seen a cake recipe where it called for boiling water, then again, haven’t been baking for that long either. But, with all the positive comments, surely this must be the best chocolate cake.
OMG! this IS the best chocolate cake!!!! I will NEVER make another recipe again, the search is over!
And the icing you ask??? Heavenly! Thank you so much for posting this, and thank you Google for helping me find you!! 5 stars doesn’t even cover the amount of yummm!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! This chocolate cake is AMAZING. My son and my daughter both requested chocolate cakes for their birthdays, but the recipe I used for my son ended up rather dry. I found this recipe when I went looking for a moist, rich chocolate cake for my daughter. It is incredible. Cake is not generally something I get overly excited about, but this recipe may change that forever. AND, the frosting is amazing, too. Since I was decorating the cake, I used the vanilla cream frosting from the cupcakes and simply doubled it. It worked perfectly. Also, I used instant espresso coffee granules, for those who are wondering about espresso powder options. 🙂 Thanks again for sharing this recipe!
Just tried this recipe for my honorary niece’s birthday party! What a hit. I added about a TB of cinnamon about just because we love Mexican chocolate. mmmmm is all I have to say. Also I ran out of vegetable oil and used coconut oil. Turned out REALLY moist and delicious! 🙂
Baked this one today, but it cracked into 3 parts. I must admit I used Orgran egg replacer as I am vegetarian.
Also ,can butter be used Instead of oil for the cake? I live in India and is it ok to use sunflower oil? Is the cake batter supposed to be very watery, cause 1 cup of water did make it watery, is that why it cracked?
Hi Vaishu,
The cake batter is a thin batter. I’m not sure what results the substitutions you made could have had on the final result of the cake. I’ve made it hundreds of times and not had any issues with it cracking. It really is a very sturdy cake when made as listed. Good luck next time!
I’m german and live in Germany and was looking for a recipe for an american chocolate cake. I found this site in google and this is really the best chocolate cake recipe EVER! Thank you so much for this recipe. I made it for my mother for mathers day and everyone loved it!!!
Made this cake for my mom for Mother’s day. It was excellent! Moist and very chocolatey. The frosting scared me though. I mixed it a few seconds and it looked weird –like brownie batter. Mixed some more and it was nice and spreadable. Very good and simple to make.
I made this cake for my mom for mothers day and she loved it. My family considers it to be my best chocolate cake yet. Instead of all purpose flour i used whole wheat flour. And instead of regular white sugar I used organic sugar. Instead of espresso I used coffee. It still came out perfect. I loved your recipe thanks!!
I just made this cake for Mother’s Day and it was really delicious! I ran out of confectioners sugar so I ended up only using 3 cups for the frosting. It still tasted great.
wowee this cake is amazing, I even went one step further and put a layer of marmalaide in between the halfs, then some mandarin segments on top. delish 🙂
3 words: excellent, excellent, excellent!
I’m going to try this for my daughter’s 4K Graduation party. I need to make it the day before. Will it be okay? Should I refrigerate it? Thanks!
Hi! I am from Greece and I want to try this cake for my son’s birthday.
I just want to ask you if the cake withstand the weight of a fondant covering.
Also, can I use olive oil instead of vegetable oil?
Thank you!
Hi,
Is the baking time the same if I were to use only a 9 inch cake pan?
Hi um my cake is in the oven right now and it smells AMAZING!!!! i have a few questions though. Is it ok that i put it in a bunt pan? and it came out almost liquidy at the end…. was that it was supposed to be????????
dear robyn,
just want to tell ,it was really the best chocolate cake recipe i’ve ever made.thank you for the recipe ,i received many nice comments.
That cake is excellent! If you have an email address where I can contact you, I’d love to tell you my whole baking story. 🙂
Thanks for this great recipe!
Hi Christina,
So glad you loved it. My email information is on the contact page. Would love to hear from you! https://addapinch.com/contact-robyn/
Hi
Can I use single 9 inch tray and later slice it for frosting? Need a quick answer as my sons bday falls on Saturday, and looking forward to making this delicious cake?
Thank you
The cake yields two 9-inch cake layers and the frosting yields enough for a generously frosted cake. You may want to look at the recipe for the 12 cupcakes as it should also yield one 9-inch layer.
Thank u so much for the quick reply. I shall post my comments after tasting it.
I made this cake today for my sister in law’s birthday tomorrow. It’s good, but it fell in the oven. I’ve never had a cake fall before, so I was a little disappointed as to why. I didn’t add the espresso powder as I didn’t have any but used all of the other ingredients listed. I’m thinking maybe it was the boiling water that cause it to fall? It’s not that bad and something I can cover up with frosting.
Hi Kate,
I’ve not had an issue with the cake falling.
hi want to make this for mt sons 5 birthday in a no 5 cake tin do you think it would work ok
going to use froting in the middle and decorate outside as themed
Hi Mags,
I’ve not baked this cake in that size cake pan, but have made it as cupcakes and it was very successful. The frosting recipe makes a good bit, so plan to have halve the frosting recipe or to have a good bit left over for another recipe.
Hi there, will this cake still be delicious if you don’t like coffee? Or does the coffee flavour come through? Many thanks
Hi Lucy,
The espresso powder only enhances the flavor of the chocolate and works much like using vanilla in recipes.
Is it okay if I didn’t put coffee powder?
I don’t usually like chocolate frosting. Will the cake still be good without it? Or will it be too dry? i might use vanilla frosting instead, or none at all.
All i can say is wow!!!! Its really d best chocolate cake ever. Thanks so much for this recipe.
Hi! I am from Greece and I want to try this cake for my son’s birthday.
I just want to ask you if the cake withstand the weight of a fondant covering.
Also, can I use olive oil instead of vegetable oil?
Thank you!
Can’t wait to try this out I love chocolate cake but have boxed! Homemade is the way to go. Question: do you use sweetened or unsweetened cocoa powder? There is no sugar in the cake so I feel sweetened would be needed but there is sugar in the frosting so do you use two different kinds? It’s unclear
I made this cake today (in a yacht kitchen 🙂 ) and it turned out great so far. Only problem is, my icing broke. I think I didn’t add enough milk at the right time and the emulsification of the butter (which was still warm) and the icing sugar exceeded it’s capacity. Unfortunately, I had to throw away all the icing but I will try once again. I have to go buy more icing sugar tomorrow now that we’re at port. Looks like it will be delicious though. Thanks
I made this cake on the weekend and thought there was something wrong with the icing too – fortunately for me my daughter was there and pointed out that in step 11 it says “After each addition has been combined, turn mixer onto a high speed for about a minute. Repeat until all sugar and milk have been added.” If you don’t use high speed after each addition the icing is just lumpy and stays separated. I turned my mixer on high only after 2 additions and voila – the mess became icing. Hope this helps!
Hi,
Does it have to be vegetable oil? I was hoping to use sunflower oil if it won’t ruin the recipe.
Thanks
I made this cake for a family dinner on Sunday. The only 9″ pan I have is a spring form so I decided to split the batter and use it twice. I was a little worried as the batter was thinner than most and I hadn’t read about this in the comments but all was fine – well except my concept of half was off. I ended up with one thin and one thicker layer but still no problem. The icing recipe makes a LOT, I think if I was making a 9×13 I would make only half. I just read one comment about a problem the icing and while making it I thought something was wrong too – very important to follow step 11 (After each addition has been combined, turn mixer onto a high speed for about a minute. Repeat until all sugar and milk have been added. Add vanilla extract and espresso powder and combine well.)
The cake was devoured and I will definitely be making this again and again….
Soooo….are you coming this direction around September? I kinda need this for my birfday 🙂
I am trying this recipe right now, I just put the cakes in the oven. I have to say the batter alone is so yummy!! I have been on a baking kick lately, trying out all sorts of new recipes, and most of the cakes I have tried thus far have fell short. My husband and I are trying a new recipe every Sunday, he usually makes the main course and I the dessert. I am hoping this will be a good choice. I do have a question though, the recipe says cool in pans for 10 minutes and then frost, are you not supposed to cool completely after taking it out of the pans? will that not make the frosting melt?
Ok the cake came out AMAZING!!! my frosting was a little grainy. I ran out of powdered sugar so I made my own in the blender using granulated sugar and cornstarch, I guess I didn’t pulverize it long enough. Still the best chocolate cake ever!! I will definitely make this again!!
I needed a “better than a bakery” chocolate cake for my 19 year old daughter’s birthday. She’s a chocolate-holic with VERY picky taste. The cake and icing came out perfect–made a mistake and mixed all the icing ingredients together at the same time, and it still came out wonderful. Was a big hit with my daughter, and will definitely be made again in our family!!! Thanks for sharing an amazing recipe!!!!
Anyone who tries this may be initially dismayed by the very liquid nature of the batter; don’t be! I made it today in an angel food cake pan; it worked out just fine and made a wonderful cake.
Does this hold up layered under fondant? Please need answer right away
I’m not certain as I don’t use fondant, but maybe someone else has made it and used fondant and can answer you. Good Luck!
I saw this recipe on Pinterest and had to try it. Thank you so much for sharing it! It is definitely THE best chocolate cake I have ever had!! I made a peanut butter buttercream for mine and it was a huge hit. I love how moist it is even after a few days (I know, I know…as if there was any left!! 😉 ) Fantastic and a keeper for sure.
Currently waiting for the cake to cool so I can frost it. I’ve always been intimidated to bake from scratch, but this recipe was really easy.
Now I realized once I got started on the frosting that I had completely forgotten to add water to the cake batter. It was far too late to do anything about it. HOWEVER, once out of the oven I taste the cake and it seems fine. It’s actually rather tasty. The texture is a bit dense and crumbly, but still soft and moist. So, if I can screw up the recipe that severely and it still come out tasty, it’s a keeper!
It look so good and the taste is even better, it takes you to a whole new level. We tried it sunday just to test it to see if we were having it this weekend, when we will have friends over for dinner.
I always try to have a new cake every time we have guests over, just to blow their minds.! 😉
And it shall most definitely to do just that.!
Made the cake to the letter of the recipe. Everything tasted great but it didn’t rise well at the corners and edges so it had a big rise in the center that tapered down to rather flat sides. This made putting the layers together difficult and I had to slice off the top of each layer before frosting and stacking them. Would using cake flour instead of all purpose and adding a little extra leavening help this?
Please advise and thanks.
One day about 2 weeks ago my 16 year-old daughter ran home from school with her boyfriend saying they wanted to bake a cake. Now my daughter hates to cook and can barely boil water but today she wanted to bake a scratch cake. This cake. As it turned out this was the BEST chocolate cake my husband and I have ever had. The only thing that my daughter did that was kind of funny was that she didn’t know what “confectioners” sugar is. So she made the frosting with granulated sugar. My husband walked by and tasted it saying something didn’t seem right. LOL! I tried to turn it into fudge but that didn’t work either. We pitched it and she started over with “powdered” sugar 🙂 an it turned out delicious! My husband still complimented her on it again tonight. She gets the cutest look on her face when says that! If I can’t talk her into making another one I sure will. Maybe this will make her want to venture into other areas of cooking???
THIS RECIPE IS AWESOME! IT IS SO DELICIOUS!
I LOVE THIS RECIPE
Did your frosting come out grainy at all? Just wondering…because mine did 🙁
Hi, Dianne,
Mine doesn’t turn out grainy. Creaming the frosting on high after each addition makes a big difference to make sure it isn’t grainy is well combined and fluffy.
So eventhough my frosting came out grainy it was still very good! Can I leave this cake out or do I have to put it in the fridge?
Yay! It does not have to be refrigerated.
I followed the directions to a T, but now the batter is burbling over the sides and onto the bottom of my oven! A mess — and a loss of a lot of cake batter. What did I do wrong?
I’ve not had that happen, Leslie.
HELP…My frosting doesn’t look like yours 🙁 What did I do wrong? It looks a little grainy.
Did you use regular sugar? If so you need to use confectioner’s (powdered sugar) or else it will turn out grainy.
I made this cake for a friend and family gathering and it was a “HIT!” I am making it again today for Father’s Day. I followed the instructions and it was decadent!
Me and my daughter made this cake without the frosting on Thursday night and it was gone by Friday night. The cake was lovely, just right, easy to make and a big hit with the kids. Three days later I am going at it again, this time I will try the frosting. Thanks a lot!!
This cake was pretty good. The frosting was easily the best I have ever tasted, I definitely didn’t use it all so that I could eat some later. The cake was good, but a little dry for me and definitely more like a chocolate snack-cake rather than a moist or fudge-like chocolate cake. Without the frosting, I’m not sure that I would have been a huge fan, but then again, maybe it would be too decadent with a more decadent cake. In the future, I will probably look for a different cake recipe, but make the frosting for the rest of my life. Seriously.
HELLLP!
the cake is amazing and all but the frosting, oh the frosting!
It’s going crazy! The frosting is dripping of the cake and i dont know what to do!
Please help me!
Did you let your cake cool down long enough? even a small amount of residual heat is enough to give you runny icing…
I just made this for a Memorial Day gathering and it was absolutely delicious! Thank you so much for this great recipe. I’ll be making this again in my very near future.
This cake looks absolutely decadent and delicious! Can’t wait to try this recipe out!
I made this for my mom for mothers day and she and her fiance absolutely loved it. I find it is easier to make than other cakes I have done and
I don’t have 9 inch pans, but three 8 inch pans work well, you may just want to make extra icing for the extra layer.
One thing- always follow the order the the icing ingredients. I made a shortcut making it today for my aunt and had a hell of a time mixing it.
my daughter and i just made this cake, it was sensational, we recorded us making it on her ipod as well lol, we had lots of fun and my son loved it to 🙂
I haven’t eaten the cake yet but those who have enjoyed the frosting must have a much heavier duty mixer than me! I nearly burned out my brand new kenwood mixer doing this. No matter how long I mixed for, the sugar would not cream. The frosting is grainy and awful. My poor family are going to get a shock tomorrow I think but I will let you know.
Use PURE CANE powdered sugar. If the package doesn’t say “pure cane”, it will most likely turn out gritty frosting.
You must have used granulated sugar. Use confectioners powedered sugar next time! 🙂
This recipe sounds amazing!!!! I’ve used that cake recipe on the back of the Hershey’s cocoa box and it calls for a cup of boiling water, this sounded strange to me, but the flavor is outstanding. In my American’s Test Kitchen cookbook, it says that adding hot liquid to cocoa powder intensifies the cocoa flavor. My recommendation, as I haven’t tried it yet but am planning on it, is to heat the milk at least enough to make it steamy. I also wonder how some of these cake recipes, I made your salted caramel cake, YUM!!, would it be ok if cake flour is used rather than all purpose. Any ideas?
My cake taste great so far, but where does the boiling water go?
hi
is expresso powder the same qs the expresso coffee?
Espresso powder and espresso coffee are NOT the same thing. You need to use espresso powder (espresso instant coffee).
If you can’t find the instant kind you could try using a cup of espresso instead of the boiling water (make sure it is hot), but then you can’t do that for the icing.
If anyone has used the non instant espresso powder and had it work out please post it. I tried it once before I knew the difference and found it was too grainy/didn’t dissolve, as it is not meant to do that in your coffee maker.
This cake and frosting are amazing. The frosting is out of this world and the cake is very moist – just the way I like it. Did I say the frosting was awesome? My husband went crazy over it and my daughter too. Am doing this again!
Thanks for sharing.
Hi there:
i want a french vanilla frosting any suggestions on an amazing one to use? I’m wondering if robyn would have one just as good as the chocolate frosting for this cake? i want something as nice as this frosting since everyone is raving about it. Im gonna use this recipe in the future, but my sister in law loves french vanilla frosting so i want to use this cake recipe with a fv frosting.
Thanks so much
This was awesome!! I took it to a banquet and someone asked if they could take the plate from me so they could lick it!
My son recently requested a chocolate cake with a peanut butter frosting. I am a pastry chef by trade but was looking for something new to try for his birthday. I made this chocolate cake recipe and it was a huge hit with not only the kids but the adults as well. I was very impressed with this recipe and will continue to use it when I need a recipe that can just be whipped up in a pinch.
Thank you for sharing!
Hi Robyn,
Cake looks delicious and by the reviews, dying to try it. Just wanted to ask if you’ve ever used buttermilk in the recipe, and if so, do I need to make adjustments with the other ingredients?
Thank you
I tried this cake out for my boyfriend’s birthday…It was a BIG success!!! I got so many compliments…it tasted better than a confectioner’s cake! I used vanilla icing instead though! Highly recommend this recipe!
Thank you! I loved the cake! I tried it for a huge friends gathering and it was GREAT!
BEST cake I ever made! Thanks!! 🙂
Ten Out of Ten Robyn I love baking and wanted to try something different from my normal cake recipes. I felt like a lovely moist chocolate cake AND this was right on the money!!!! The family loved it. I agree it is much better than a confectioners cake. THANK YOU for sharing it. I am forever grateful. The best chocolate cake EVA……..PERFECT!
Hi Robyn,
The cake is FABULOUS! Followed your recipe exactly, didn’t want to risk trying the buttermilk and glad I did; wouldn’t change a thing(I did only use a pinch of espresso in frosting instead but that was just my choice). I don’t have to try another choc cake recipe again! Thanks so much for sharing and look forward to trying out your other recipes.
I made this chocolate cake and it was a success.. the only problem I had was that the cakes broke in half when I tried to tip them out of the pans. For the icing I used the same ingredients, I just used my own measurements and it was divine!I will be making this cake again tonight and if its a success again I might use this recipe for my 21st cake! :-):-):-)
Hey! I’m planning to make this cake today, and I wonder if I could make this in cupcake form. How long would I need to bake it? Thank you for the recipe ^^
Hey Michelle,
Yes, the link to the cupcakes recipe is at the end of the recipe post. Hope you enjoy it.
Robyn, if you were here I would kiss you!! whoever is looking to make a chocolate cake STOP RIGHT NOW you have found it, this cake is soooo moist with a beautiful chocolate flavour!! yummy yummy yum yum!! Thankyou soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much…
Gem xxx
Very Important!! For the icing (and all baking, really) – Make sure to buy PURE CANE powdered sugar. Others contain beet sugar (which is GMO, for those interested). The pure cane powdered sugar is how to get creamy (non-gritty) delicious results. If the package doesn’t say “pure cane”, you can assume it is not. Happy Baking!
I made this for my son’s birthday party and it was a hit! I love this cake and the cupcake recipe. Easy to do, delicious, chocolately, perfect. Thanks so much!
This recipe is amazing! I have never bothered to attempt to make a cake like this, figuring I would fail miserably but it was awesome!
I just tried making the cake as I would like to take it to a party this weekend. Everything was going well, until I tried to move the cake base and found it very crumbly. I couldn’t even put the second layer on top of the first layer as it broke into 4 pieces. When I tried to put it together with the frosting, nothing worked! Pls pls let me know what I did wrong.
Was there ever a reply for this? I am having the same proble as well, and the bottom stuck to the pan.
I’m going to be trying this cake for father’s day. I’m a little nervous because I’ve never seen a recipe for a cake or frosting like this at all before. So does using melted butter for the frosting really make it come out like in your pictures? I’m just imagining the frosting will look more runny doing that.
Just softened!
Wow! This really is amazing! I’m very much a beginner cook so I was nervous to try it, but it turned out impressively yummy. My only problem was that the frosting didn’t turn out exactly right. It seemed oily — like 3 sticks of butter was too much. It may have been because I don’t have an electric mixer and I was using an old fashioned hand-crank kind, which may have not mixed it up adequately. I sure gave my arms a workout trying to mix it as much and as long as possible on each round though — lol! Do you think that was my problem or what else might I have done wrong? Fortunately, it still tastes great, nonetheless! My boyfriend says it’s the best birthday cake he’s ever had. Thanks for such a great recipe!
Hi Cynthia, I think the butter was too much too…… too runny. Next time I will try half that amount of butter.
Ok… so i keep looking over this recipe and it makes me really nervous!! No butter in the cake??? in a chocolate cake?? How can that be acceptable. lol. The frosting worries me more. Argh, I wanted to make this on Saturday for my mum, please tell me its worth the risk???
Yes it is worth it, all they can do is not like it as well as another recipe.
I made my cake with Nescafe coffee and used another filling; caramel treat and fresh cream; tasted fantastic!!!
The cake is amazing. The frosting was a lot of sugar. I will just dust with powder sugar.
How long would it take if I make this as cupcakes?
Hi Kez,
See my cupcake recipe using this cake recipe. Thanks!
Mine didnot turned out like urs :((( the cake was falling apart and the frosting was as dark as the cake 🙁 where did I go wrong?
Absolutely love this cake. I have made it 3 times in the last month for birthdays and it is a huge hit. My icing is soft after mixing so I ice the first cake then refrigerate. I then put the top cake on and finish. I will put this in frig then finish frosting after a few minutes with remaining frosting.
Made for Father’s Day today – amazing!!!! Thanks for sharing.
This really is a great cake recipe! Thank you! 😀
I made this recipe yesterday for fathers day, and it was soo delish!!! Will be making it again for my twins birthday this week!!! Thanks!! #BestChocolateCakeEver
Help!!!!! Instead of espresso powder what can we use?
I bought little packets of instant coffee and used more than the recipe called for to make up for using coffee instead of espresso. I dissolved it in the hot water for the cake and in the milk for the frosting and it turned out great!
Wow…the first thing out of my husbands mouth was “this is the best cake ever!” It really lives up to its name. It turned out moist and very rich. A little goes a long way. This is my new favorite chocolate cake recipe. Can’t wait to take it to a party!
Please Robyn give me a substitute for espresso powder,as I don’t get it easily where I stay!!!! 🙁
the other day i made your chocolate cupcakes and white frosting for my niece for her birthday..piled them into tiers like a cake and gave them chocolate sprinkles…..it was a HIT….everybody loved them!..one of the easiest, fastest and TASTIEST recipes i have ever tried…thank you to bits for this!…tomorrow i make your best choc cake ever recipe for my daughter’s birthday…i know it will be amazing!…also shared your recipes and site on my facebook, gotta spread the word when you find something this good…
p.s., i also used nescaffe instead of espresso powder….worked just as well!
Just wondering, are we supposed to use unsweetened cocoa powder or… and isn’t 5 cups of confectioner sugar a little too sweet? =X I have not tried baking this tho. Will try as soon as I find time =D Can’t wait
I love the cake, but when I tipped it over to put on wire rack half of the bottom stuck on the sheet. I greased it but should I grease it more?
Would parchment paper work better?
I actually used a Spring Form cake tin, greased the bottom and sides AND lined the bottom with baking paper to be extra safe and the cake turned out perfectly.
I made this with 2/3 cup of Truvia instead of the sugar, as my husband is diabetic. It turned out fantastic. Thank you for the recipe.
Thanks for sharing how you made it diabetic-friendly!!! xo
Hi Nancy,
Do you think any other sweetener for diabetics would work, if I don’t have Truvia?
Hi, this is such a wonderfully moist cake just as we like.
Instead of boiling water, I added a cup of boiling whey water which I had in hand.
And the outcome was fantastic.
How cool is that?!
First recipe review ever – I need to submit a review of this cake. This cake is amazing! Made it for work and it was gobbled up! Beautifully moist and delicious. Only it took much longer than 35 min in my oven, it was more like an hour. Though maybe that was because I made it in one tin rather than two.
Five stars!
I just made this yesterday for my grandmother’s birthday and everyone loved it! Mind you I’ve made quite a few chocolate cakes and this is definitely one of the best recipes I’ve tried. Only critique was that the frosting was a touch too sweet but that is just our personal preference. I’ll probably add more cocoa next time, or do you have any suggestions? I don’t know how you could go wrong with this recipe, it is so easy to follow! I used a cruddy cheap-o hand mixer and I had no problems with the frosting… but when I added the hot water to the batter, I panicked a little because It looked so runny, I was sure I messed up, but alas, my worrying was all for nothing since it turned out perfectly. Anyway, thank you so much for sharing this, I would’ve been too selfish to share it with anyone :p I can’t wait to try your Southern Caramel Cake, sounds soooo good!
xxx
I made this yesterday! I was also a little worried because the batter looked runny after adding the hot water, but the cake turned out perfectly. It looks just like the picture. So good!
Awesome cake …. me and my family just loved it……. only the Chocolate Frosting dint turn out the way it looks in the pic….. but the cake was awesome… yum
this really is The BEST chocolate cake ever!!
Oh my….this cake is divine!!!! I actually made it for my son’s 2nd Birthday. He has multiple food allergies and believe it or not, I was able to make a dairy and egg free version of this and it turned out beautifully!!! The frosting was especially decadent :-). I just used soy milk instead of normal milk, egg replacer powder rather than eggs andDairy free spread instead of butter. I also used decaffeinated coffee powder rather than the espresso powder.
Just a note: I didn’t melt the dairy-free butter for the frosting as I was afraid it might be too runny for my cake.
Thank you so much for this gorgeous cake recipe!!!
Oh my….this cake is divine!!!! I actually made it for my son’s 2nd Birthday. He has multiple food allergies and believe it or not, I was able to make a dairy and egg free version of this and it turned out beautifully!!! The frosting was especially decadent :-). I just used soy milk instead of normal milk, egg replacer powder rather than eggs andDairy free spread instead of butter. I also used decaffeinated coffee powder rather than the espresso powder as I didn’t e want the kids climbing the walls :-).
Just a note: I didn’t melt the dairy-free butter for the frosting as I was afraid it might be too runny for my cake.
Thank you so much for this gorgeous cake recipe!!!
It sounds like you over beat your frosting and the fat separated. once this happens, there’s no fixing it. Try mixing on a lower speed or less mixing between additions of sugar.
CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi looks amazing however there seems to be a lot of liquid. Would you estimate that a cup would average about 40z of dried ingredients and 8 fluid oz of oil and milk ???? Really want to try this just checking the American to UK weights. Thanks
Hello! I live in Bogotá Colombia and I’m baking the cake at this moment. Wheb it got to 35 mins at 350 and it was smelling like it was burning. When I opened the oven it was still completely under cooked… So I turned down the temp to 300 to see if I can save it… Bogotá is located at 8200 feet above sea level so it is a cold city and at the same tine we are close to the ecuador. I know the baking powder and baking soda proportions chance and I adjusted them. But the baking time and temperature are completely different. It took 1h30 mins aprox at a 160 Celsius … I hope this helps Anyone with the same climate conditions… Since I changed the temperature a few times and had to open de oven, the cake didn’t turn out ok, it cracked at the top… But following the new directions I’m sure it will come out nice. I know I am going to give it another try!
Make sure your baking powder and soda are fresh.
I am a cake virgin, but Im determined to make this for my son’s 2nd birthday next month. What size of tins do i use please?
Thank you
Hi Robyn, i am trying this recipe in a few day’s time and i was wondering if it was necessary to add the baking soda? Can i just add the baking powder???
And for the confectioner’s sugar, will normal sugar work? Or if i blend normal sugar in a mixer, will the result turn out as good as confectioners sugar??? Thank you for the awesome recipe… can’t wait to try it! Please advise me…
I can tell you that Baking powder and baking soda are two different things. I’m not that good with words and sciency stuff, but they react differently on different ingredients. Here’s a quick article about the difference if you want to know more: http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/bakingdesserts/a/Baking-Soda-And-Baking-Powder.htm
And confectioner’s sugar is also different from normal sugar. Confectioner’s sugar is powdered, so it “melts” better in to the other ingredients. Normal sugar is grainy and crystallized, so I believe it needs warm water/liquid for it to melt, and you don’t have that in the frosting, so no, it does not work.
These are really some basic know how that you might learn from trial and error (meaning you read the recipe wrong, and later on realize after adding the ingredients that damn it, I read that wrong!) If you don’t know that much about cooking, its bets to stick to the recipes for now, until you get the hang of what works and what doesn’t work. When you get the “idea” of recopies, then you can go wild and alter them as you please.
To Robyn:
I have read a lot of comment’s for this cake, and it seems promising! I rareley make chocolate cakes, because the once I have made ALWAYS turn very dry and not that good tasting, BUT. My cousin asked me to make her a cake for her confirmation, because every year my cakes get better and better. I hope I have finally found the perfect chocolate cake recepie, so I can make even more variety of cakes in the future!
narmolaina is absolutley correct, Mehn. You must be new to baking, because you MUST use EXACTLY the ingredient called for when baking. Have you ever even SEEN confectioners sugar? Of course you can’t make frosting with granulated sugar.
i made this amazing recipe of yours last week for my daughter’s 15th…..cannot describe in words to you how it turned out…..my family FLIPPED over the cake!…fabulous…just FABULOUS!…thank you for sharing….easy peasy to make with incredible results….soon i will be trying out your southern cake recipe also….
This certainly IS..THE BEST EVER CHOCOLATE CAKE recipe!!!
with gratitude from Bosnia and Herzegovina!..yes you have followers in Europe!
Seems yummy! Looking forward to bake it for my best friend’s approaching birthday 😀
Just one doubt, is the baking temperature & time same for a microwave?
Just made this awesome awesome cake, I was also really woried about the consistency but it turned out beautifully, just wanted to know what size tin u would use for a square cake? Definately will be sharing this with all my friend here in South Africa. Thanks xxx
I have never been able to make a good cake from scratch.. now mind you I’m not a cake maker, but love to make cupcakes so that’s what i made.. i used jumbo liners and they turned out AMAZING!! try to resist and wait until they are cooled because they are so worth it.. haven’t made the frosting, but this cake mix will definitely be my go to chocolate cupcake recipe from now on! no more box mixes for me! i also added a large dollop of sour cream which i do to all my mixes to make them a little softer and it worked just fine as well.. thank you for the amazing recipe 🙂
The recipe is really great and easy to follow but I wonder if it calls for a bit too much baking soda (?) I have the baking soda after taste in my cake 🙁 which kind of ruins it for me as I hate that taste. plus there were a lot of holes (most like air sacks) in my cake. not sure how we can avoid that. i have just started baking so may its just the techniques.
Holes usually form when you are blending, due to the batter squishing down the air. After blending for some time, tap/drop your bowl on the table to let the air bubbles out.
I loved the cake, but I thought the frosting was a too sweet. I will definetly make the cake again, but use my own frosting recipe.
I just made this cake for my daughter’s 2nd birthday and it was a big hit. The cake was dense and moist and the frosting was light and creamy. The espresso powder did wonders in bringing out the chocolate flavor. I will definitely be making this again!
I’m baking this in the oven now and worried I messed up. I put it in a tube pan….. Since its so moist I’m never going to get it out on one piece am I? I may end up quickly baking another cake tonight (its for a friend’s birthday) and keeping this one for the family :). Oh darn.
Sue, I have made this cake and always use a tube pan. It SHOULD come out fine, if you prepared the pan in advance. Good Luck!
Wow!!!! Turned out great: the right consistency and it is moist!!!! What an impossibly delicious treat. Very glad I just stumbled across this recipe Robyn. My family loved it and I will probably be baking it again for my boyfriend’s birthday in 2weeks!!! Cheers.
I don’t usually write recipe reviews, but this cake turned out so delicious that I just have to write about it.
I am an American living in Russia, and for my Russian boyfriend’s birthday I wanted to surprise him with something specifically American-tasting and traditional: a rich chocolate cake. I’m not a very good baker, and I’m scared of my Russian gas oven, so I wanted a relatively simple and foolproof recipe. This turned out perfectly. My boyfriend took the cake to work and shared it with his Russian colleagues, who loved it so much that they sent me a private message thanking me for the tasty treat. I also managed to squeeze in a bite before the others gobbled the whole thing up, and I have to say – it couldn’t have tasted better. Rich, moist, dense and very chocolatey. The perfect chocolate cake.
I should add that I had to tweak the vanilla extract ingredient a bit. It’s hard to find vanilla extract in Russia, so instead I used a real vanilla bean. It was too soft to grind up, so instead I dropped it into the batter whole, mixed the ingredients for about a minute to let the vanilla flavor infuse the mixture, and then removed the bean (it’s easy to spot in the batter because it’s long and black). I did the same with the frosting.
Thanks so much for this recipe! I’m never going to search for another chocolate cake recipe again!
This cake rocks! I LOVED it! One Suggestion; the frosting was really sweet. Also, the cake overflowed the pan. Maybe tone it down on the baking powder and soda.
I also hated the flavor of the espresso powder in the cake.
I guess that that’s just me, though!
LOVE!
I want to make this cake in a sheet(traybake) tin, I will cut the cake in half so I have an almost square cake. My tin is 14″x 9″ would the recipe work in that? I think it must be equivalent in capacity to a 12″ square tin.
How many does this recipe serve please. Sandra
Robyn, this truly IS the best chocolate cake ever. You are correct on that claim. I have made the Hershey chocolate cake recipe many times, with much success. But, it was always just good. It was well, great. But, NOT SPECTACULAR. Your addition of the espresso powder elevates this cake to a whole new realm. I made this cake for my husband’s birthday party this past Sunday…this time with your tweaks…and I was proclaimed best cake maker EVER, by the crowd of friends. Every last bite got eaten. So, thank you so much for this recipe. I will never search again for just the “perfect chocolate cake.” I have found it, here.
i made this cake for a party that i had (i’m 17) and everyone loved it. i don’t even like chocolate cake but this cake was just amazing, i can’t wait to make another one.
I’m looking forward to making this cake tomorrow but wanted to confirm one ingredient: should the cocoa powder be sweetened, or unsweetened? Anyone who has made this cake, please chime in! Thank you in advance!
Hi Christa. Use unsweetened cocoa powder. Good luck!
HI,
I made this for my sons 1st Birthday party, it went down a storm. Everyone thought it was shop bought (funny how now-a-days people expect shop bought to be better than home made).
Anyway, agreed – best Chocolate cake ever.
PS I didn’t have espresso powder so made some strong real coffee (ground my own beans) and poured that in. Seemed to work!
Hi with the sugar for the frosting is it icing suger or custer suger im from australia thank u
icing sugar 🙂 enjoy
Well then I think that you probably did something wrong…..everyone else loves this cake including me :)Maybe re-read the recipe and see if there was something that you missed. It is THE BEST CAKE EVER!!!
I’m so glad i stumbled upon your recipe on the web. I needed to make an easy chocolate cake as a Thank You gift, and my regular chocolate cake recipe requires many ingredients that were not at hand.
I used brown sugar instead of white & halved the quantity, because I just needed one small cake.
Even without the frosting the cake tasted delicious! But with it, it was super decadent and rich 🙂
I’m so glad you loved it, Aditi. Thanks so much for your comment!
Hi. Can I just make sure that I am right in assuming that you also have to put the frosting between the two cakes to stick them together? This is the same frosting recipe that I always use (except for the espresso) and It is very rich and sweet. Has anyone just used whipped cream between the layers instead?
Also my frosting usually dries quite hard (like an icing) but the quantities are not the same.
Should this frosting be the consistency of cream? Please reply as I have over 30 family members coming to my house for lunch and I want to impress them (:
Wendy,
The frosting is a buttercream, so it will have the soft, velvety texture of a rich, fluffy buttercream. Not hard at all. The cake itself is not overly sweet, so I recommend this frosting recipe with the cake whole-heartedly. Especially for making it the first time.
I have used the classic Hersheys chocolate cake as my go-to potluck or party contribution for years. I call it my Viking cake because its so moist it gets kind of rustic lookin – big and decadent and almost falling apart under the frosting, mmm. Can’t wait to try this with the added espresso powder!
When u say cocoa are you talking about unsweetened natural cocoa powder?
Yes, she is.
OH-MY GOD it was the best cake i ever made. soooooo moist and yummy. Although i am just a beginner baker but my husband simply loved it. I didnt had confectioner’s sugar and baking soda, so i ended up using regular sugar and baking powder. But still it turned out great. This recipe is definitely a keeper. Thank you so much for sharing.:)
I loved the cake! I used less sugar and less butter for the cream, but the recipe is great and very easy to make!
Not tasted yet, but the cakes look decadent sitting in the kitchen. Waiting for it to cool before I put the frosting. Hope my 3 year old likes it, it’s for her birthday!!
made this cake yesterday, it turned out absolutely amazing everyone loved it! thanks so much for sharing this recipe is definitely worth keeping! x
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the cake!! I tried the frosting 2xs, threw the first batch out thinking I had done something wrong. Tried again- nope. Greasy, almost gritty texture. Milk didn’t incorporate and couldn’t spread on the cake with out some serious effort due to desperation. Keeping the cake recipe, using my old stand-by butter cream recipe.
I just made this yesterday for a friend’s daughter’s 2nd birthday party, it was delicious! I used the vanilla buttercream frosting recipe (doubled) from your chocolate cupcake recipe as I thought it might be too much chocolate for the kids. Result? Super yummy!!! It was so moist and I can’t wait to make it again and try the chocolate frosting.
(I dyed some of the vanilla buttercream frosting with the juice from frozen raspberries heated in the microwave to make a pink border, yum!)
Hello!
I would like to try this recipe in a few days time!
Is the quantities stated above enough for a 13×9 inch pan?
And will the texture of the cake be easy for carving? Would like to shape it to a sphere!
Thanks!
Hi. I am in Australia and have been unable to find espresso powder. Would it be ok to use coffee essence and if so then how much of the essence should I use?
I also have an espresso coffee machine, so if I use coffee from this then how much should I use?
I am so looking forward to making this cake on the weekend but want to get it right
I really want to try this cake for my friends. This is the first time I’m making a cake so I was wondering how much is 1cup=in grams
Hey Robyn
A friend recommended this and Im dying to try it out… Could you post the weight (gram) equivalent for the ingredients?
Thanks
K
thanks for the recipe. the cake tastes fabulous, but I wasn’t able to remove it from the pan in one piece. it broke in several places. any idea why?
Can you make this recipe without any expresso or coffee? Would it still taste as good? I’d like to make a cake today without going to the store and don’t have any coffee ingredients. Thanks.
I am making it today without the expresso powder. I will let you know the results 🙂
Sorry for the lame question, but, do you use Salted or Unsalted butter? What has everyone used??
ALWAYS use unsalted butter in any baking recipe. You never want to add extra salt since it will definitely alter the taste. Good luck!
I don’t normally comment on things but I just had to on is one. I made this cake this afternoon and just have to say how utterly amazing it is. Quick, easy and delicious! I halved the recipe but will do the full version in future. I’ve had trouble finding a good chocolate cake recipe in the past but I think I have found it!
And to answer an above question I used Unsalted butter but that was only because it was all I had.
This recipe is from the back of Hershey’s coca container….
Hi Brad,
As I say in the post, my chocolate cake recipe is based on the Old Fashioned Hershey’s Chocolate Cake. However, the recipe is not the same nor is it the one on the back of the box. I grew up on the Hershey’s Chocolate Cake Recipe and love it. There are a few changes that I’ve made that do make a significant difference though, in my opinion.
Thanks so much for stopping by,
Robyn
can you sub the espresso for coffee instead?
I would not substitute the espresso. I’ve made other chocolate cake recipes that use coffee and the flavor and is not the same.
I am going to make this tomorrow. I live I’m high altitude and high humidity area, how should I adjust?
Hi Robyn,
I made this cake yesterday for 30 family and every person cleaned their plates – some were even eating the crumbs from the serving platter.
The frosting was amazing also, but I have a large amount left over. I have made cupcakes today and iced them but still have a lot over. Can I freeze the frosting to be used later? If so, then should I just put it in a plastic container to freeze?
Please advise as it is just too good to throw away
Does the expresso powders make for a coffee aftertaste for non coffee drinkers?
I’ve made this cake several times and it is great.
The espresso powder just enhances the chocolate flavour and there is no coffee aftertaste at all. Just make sure you use the correct amount since it is pretty strong.
Not at all!! I hate coffee and this cake is amazing! The espresso is my new secret ingredient to intenisfy the chocoalte and take it to a new level. Try it. I promise you will not be turned off by the coffee.
It truly is the best chocolate cake ever. I made it last week it turned out just like the picture ,but I replaced the chocolate frosting with a simple nutella ganache. Everyone loved it, and it smells absolutely divine, so thank you so much.
Do you have a good vanilla cake moist recipe cake will like to make it for my daughters birthdsy ty
made this for my husband. love it! do you have a recipe for white cake and frosting? thx!!!
Hi Emily,
I just shared my white cake recipe and thought you might still be looking for one. Here’s the link: https://addapinch.com/cooking/2013/08/09/the-best-white-cake-recipe/#.UgWoaVO8rx4
Hi I know that using boiling water with cocoa powder helps it bloom but can I use 1 cup of boiling milk instead of water I’ve made the hersheys chocolate cake and found that I didn’t like that the cake tasted like low fat chocolate water ..Lol so will Milk give a better taste if I used it instead?
Love it, simple fast and delish
i made this cake and added chocolate chips to the batter. i sprinkled chocolate chips at the bottom, middle, and top. i made it in one big pan. i didnt add expresso but i can only imagine how great it would taste. what i love abuot this recipe EVEN after 2 days the cake is still moist!!!! this is the best homemade recipe and i love it! next time i plan on keeping the chocolate chips i added AND put the EXPRESSO POWDER!!!!!!!! GREAT RECIPE!!!!! LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I forgot to add the boiling water!! You think its now trash?
I’m having trouble finding espresso powder. Can I use instant espresso coffee instead?
King Arthur and Williams-Sonoma both have great espresso powder that I use. If you absolutely can’t find it, you can use the instant espresso coffee (not as much) or just omit it until you can find it. I highly recommend using the espresso powder as it does not leave the bitter or coffee aftertaste – it only enhances the flavor of the chocolate.
Love this cake!! Made it yesterday as a test run and today for my hubby’s birthday. Wanted to let anyone who’s interested know about a tweak I made. I don’t have powdered espresso, but I do have great coffee beans. I ground them very fine and made a very strong pot of coffee, let it get nice and hot and used the hot coffee in place of the 1 cup of boiling water. This cake is amazing! I also boiled (very briefly) a package of frozen raspberries and added a tablespoon of sugar, strained it all and am using that as part of the middle layer of the cake. Thank you so much for this recipe!
just a quick question i was wondering if it is possible to make it in one cake pan instead of two without it falling apart on me ??
You’d have to use a bigger cake pan.
Do you use dark cocoa powder or regular cocoa powder?
I normally use regular unsweetened cocoa powder.
Made it today. Robyn was right- it’s not for the faint of heart chocolate people. The frosting was too sweet for me, but that’s just me. I used instant espresso coffee powder, but put a little less than the recipe said. The directions were perfect, though. Next time I’m going to half the frosting recipe and only put it on one cake. The other will be for me and my mom, who found the frosting overly sweet. Overall, pretty good. Loved how moist the cake was.
~Isabella
Thought the addition of boiling water would be weird, but it is moist and fluffy and terrific consistency.
I was craving chocolate cake so I set out to find a good recipe since store bought is never satisfying after I attended CCA in SF for a baking degree… After reading reviews I thought I’d try this one out even though it had so little egg in it for cake; which was a good thing because there was no lingering egg after taste! I loved it so much, I had my sister make cup cake for my baby shower. every one loved them and she got lots of compliments on her home baking skills… thanks for the great recipe! I added it to my keepers 🙂
This really is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted. I made it for my birthday party and I can’t wait to make it again!!
Love love love it!! Ive baked this cake 3-4 times so far and everyone who has tried it has had nothing but glowing feedback! It is so moist and delicious, and easy to make!
The frosting has changed my life. It is my go-to chocolate fosting now, used on this cake, yellow cake, cupcakes, you name it.
Thank you!!!
question! the first time I made this, I didn’t read the instructions for the frosting. I made it like a normal butter cream would be made and it came out delicious. This time I followed instructions and it came ok, it doesn’t look like the frosting in the picture you have up, it asnt as light and fluffy looking. Am I supposed to refrigerate before using or wait for the butter to be cool before addingin the sugar? what did I do wrong???
Awesome! Nice moist choc cake yet simple.
Hi! Your cake looks sooo awesome! I am going to be trying it this friday and I am so excited. I am only 11 years old but i love to bake! I just had 1 question- What brand of cocoa did you use?
~thanks I am sure this cake will taste great!
Hi Sofia,
I’ve used a few different brands of cocoa powder and have found only slight differences with the various brands. I normally use Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder. I can’t wait to hear how the cake works for you and how you like it!!! Let me know!!!
Robyn xo
Hi! Can I make this cake without the espresso powder? It is for kids and I don’t want them to go crazy on the coffee!! What do you think? Maybe decaf coffee? Thanks.
The cake was easy but the frosting came out bad. It was oily and rubbery. Had to throw it out. Looking for a frosting now.
thank you so much for the recipe,it was my first time to bake a cake last night and it was perfect,it is indeed simple to make and every one at home loved it.I never knew that baking can be so easy.
I am a chocolate cake snob. I make any and every chocolate cake recipe I can find- and modifications thereof- the gooey-est most decadent. THIS is truly the most amazing chocolate cake ever! I have made it twice and both times it tuned out perfect and got rave reviews! I hate coffee anything but the espresso powder in this makes the most intense chocolate flavor.
could I have the recipe in grams etc please.
Hi.
Made this cake last week. The batter seemed really thin, but ignored my instinct and poured it into a springform pan, and sure enough it started leaking through it. Had to pour it into a regular cake tin, after a lot of cleaning, haha. Is this supposed to happen? I didn’t add any extra liquid…..
The cake tasted great though…. light and moist!!!
I am gonna bake cake this Saturday will 2 eggs be enough to make the cake spongy n moist?thnk u
What if I accidentally put 1 cup milk in the chocolate frosting? What can I do now ? Please respond ASAP
Hi I accidentally put a cup of milk in the chocolate frosting? What can I do?
I was wondering if anyone has tried this recipe with cake flour and if so, did you use the same amount as the all purpose flour that the recipe calls for and how did it come out?
Wow, I can’t wait to try this recipe. Old Fashioned Hershey’s Chocolate Cake Recipe has been my go to favorite chocolate cake recipe for several years. It gets better and better if you can get it to last a couple of days. Thankfully, someone out there (YOU!) are willing to mess with perfection!
Made it yesterday:) it was great, everyone thought it was delicious:) had to bake it for a little while longer but otherwise easy peasy. A keeper! thank you:)
Hi Andrea,
My recipe is based on the classic Hershey’s chocolate cake recipe, but I got a bit heavy-handed with modifications for my version. Thanks!
Hi! I have a question. I am celebrating my twins birthday on Friday. Do I have to make the cake on the same day? Or can it be made ahead? Should I refrigerate it??
Thanks!!!!
You can bake the cake a day ahead, if needed. It does not have to be refrigerated. Happy birthday to you twins!!! How fun!
Hi,
I baked this cake for my husband’s birthday and it was such a hit with my friends & family. Thanks a lot for sharing this!!!
WOW! Absolutly the best chocolate cake i ever tasted. I made it last night with my 4 yr old son for my wife’s brithday. she loved it….i made a huge error but recovered pretty well. Having my 4 year old involved complicated it a little…he kept mixing as i was measuring and adding. Everything went well until i added 2 cups of water instead of 1…reading off my iPad i saw the 2 from the ingredient above (vanilla) and went with it. Realized after mixing that something was wrong…i immediately consulted Dr. Google and turned oven down to 250 and baked for almost 2 hours… i covered and went to bed pretty sure i would start over in the morning. I decided to keep it. While it didn’t rise above the cake pan edge it was moist and not heavy. I made the frosting this afternoon and we just sang Happy Birthday…the 4 yr old and his little brother (2 yr) loved it as did my wife. I’m just waiting for everyone to fall asleep so i sneak another piece….
You speak the truth, ma’am. A friend asked me to bake this for her boyfriend’s birthday, and it was indeed, the best chocolate cake we’ve ever had.
Hi! I’m a cupcake maker and I want to know if I can use the same recipe for cupcakes or if I have to change some things! This recipe looks great and I want to try it right now!
Saludos desde Perú 😀
I dont have any espresso powder.. Can I make it without it ?
This cake is incredible! It made me look like a pro..i made it and took it in to work for a birthday cake..unbelievably delicious! So glad i found it just in time.. Thank u
Hi, I’m looking to make a cake for my twins 4th birthday tomorrow. I was wondering if you had a marble cake recipe? I love chocolate but I’m thinking this might be too much chocolate for them! Thanks
This cake is incredible!! U made me look like a genius.. I found it two days ago and i made it for a co-workers birthday.. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but it was better than perfect.. I learned from the past, that my stove runs hot, so i checked it at 25 mins.. and that was just right.. thank u so much.. i used Ghiradelli natural unsweetened cocoa and king arthur flour espresso powder.. WOW!
I was thinking about making this cake but using the frosting from your Fudge Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting for the filling. My wife loves peanut butter and chocolate together. I thought this would be a nice surprise and cut some of the sweetness. Any thoughts on using the peanut butter frosting?
That sounds perfect!!!
Robyn,
I made this cake, but did use the Peanut Butter Frosting for the filling and it was excellent. It is a great combination! Thank you so much for the recipes.
Hi Robyn,
I made this cake a while ago and it turned out amazing! I’m a big chocolate lover so it was just perfect for me and my friends. I just wanted to ask if it could be used to make cupcakes?
It was reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy awsomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee….. I finally got a perfect recipe for Choco cake, but the frosting wasn’t like your frosting though. You told us with the help of mixer what if we want to make with our hands 😀 …
Yeah please tell another recipe of Chocolate Frosting… plzzzzzzzzz thanks a lot
At first, when I saw the ingredients, it seemed like a regular cake recipe, something you could make from a recipe like Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” chocolate cake. But after I made it, I was amazed! it was so incredibly moist, and oh my gosh, well, the frosting was absolutely perfect. I have never made a frosting so creamy and so light! I mean, it was so light, but not in that fluffy way. and after I waited for the cake to cool and frosted it, it did resemble the picture! I was very pleased and would definitely recommend this recipe! it so good–my mom even commented, There is nothing better than coming home and eating chocolate! this is definitely a fantastic recipe~ thank you so much!
What a Fabulous Chocolate Cake. I have made it twice now both times it has turned out perfectly. I have just made it for my sons 8th Birthday he loves it so do his brothers, friends and family a hit thankyou so much. Oh the frosting is a firm favourite with the kids.
Made this as a trial for my son’s first birthday cake and it was fantastic! Have fed the trial cake to 12 different people who all agreed that it was a perfect cake for the occasion! Thankyou. I was a little concerned with the consistency of the batter but it rose beautifully and remained lovely and moist. I made one single cake with the ingredients rather than two and it just required a longer cooking time. Beautiful. Thanks again.
I made this cake and it was amazing. I did not use the espresso powder and it was still a very moist and yummy cake. Thanks for sharing your recipe. Definitely a keeper! 🙂
This is honestly the best chocolate cake recipe I have EVER come across. I’ve made the cake a few times and it just gets better! My boyfriend loves it more than anybody, he finished one cake within a few days and then asked me to make another one! By far the best recipe anybody could ever use 🙂 10 STARS for this one 😀
Hi, so funny to see this the recipe has been in our family for 70 years,was in a book I made for my nephew and he called me from Boston a few days ago while making it, our only difference, we sour the milk by adding a couple of teaspoons of vinegar, makes it really rich. I have always make the icing with cocoa and coffee, so glad you posted this, need to make it again soon.His turned out perfectly and he got lots of raves.
hey love the recipe.. but I faced a problem my cake didn’t rise that well, is it because I added half a cup of rum in it? could you please help me out…
It very well could be, Maria. I would recommend making the recipe as listed first to make sure you think it needs anything else or revisions first. I have a feeling the addition of the rum threw off the measurements of the recipe and impacted the outcome.
is all purpose flour same as plain flour?
Hi Jessica,
Yes, all-purpose and plain flour are the same. You just won’t want to use self-rising flour in this recipe and cake flour makes the cake too tender.
Hello
Just a quick question because i am about to bake cake in a few minutes.
Can i use springform pan instead of regular tin, will it rise the same way.
Plus my cakes dont get a rise, could u sugguest me some tip because i havr to bake this cake for like 25 people and im a bjt nervous.
I would not recommend using a springform pan as they are not tightly sealed for this cake batter and you’ll end up with a huge mess. 🙂
I made this because we were craving chocolate. This is the most moist cake I have ever baked. Instead of adding the espresso powder, which I did not have, I made a cup of strong coffee and added 1 Cup of this, taking care of the espresso and the boiling water. It worked perfect. This is going to be a regular at our house. This would also be delicious with a cream cheese frosting.
I’m in the same boat, no instant coffee so the espresso idea works well. I just made it a bit weaker for this recipe. the chocolate cream cheese frosting is a great idea too. just made up a batch while the cake is baking.
So glad you love the cake, Rebecca. If you are having difficulties with the frosting, you may want to try letting your butter cool a bit after it has melted or simply going the more traditional route of just using butter that has softened rather than having been melted. Let me know if this works for you!
I have tried MANY recipes and This is now my favorite chocolate cake recipe!! Thank you for sharing! It is so moist and not too rich. Love it!
Thank you so much, Mary! I’m so glad you enjoy it as much as we do. xo
My mom has been making this cake for 50+ years. It was created during WW2 when an Army wife wanted to use her leftover coffee. So she added it to the recipe and served it to her husband and fellow serviceman……they loved it and gave it the name Servicemans Choc. Cake. I’ve been making it for 40 yrs. and also an make it without the eggs and milk by substituting other ingredients.
These recipes are from the Hershey’s can of cocoa powder…..
Hi Shannon,
My recipe is based on the classic Hershey’s chocolate cake recipe, but I got a bit heavy-handed with modifications for my version. Thanks!
Absolutely love this! just a quick question though, my frosting isn’t the same colour as yours and is quite dark. Is that alright? would that make a difference in taste?
Hi Aamna,
It could simply be from a difference in the cocoa powder or other ingredients. I’d recommend that you taste the frosting to make sure you like it. Good luck! xo
Do you have to add the espresso powder? What purpose does that serve?
While you don’t have to, Nicole, I highly recommend it. The espresso powder, which is different from just adding coffee, enhances the flavor of the chocolate much like a vanilla extract enhances other flavors.
Hello Nicole,I used instant coffee instead of espresso powder,just gives it a little richness,you can omit if you want!
Robyn,
Made this for my mother-in-law’s birthday. She adored it! I did have two issues: 1) the cake batter overflowed the pans while baking, 2) same problem with the frosting being rather oily. I live in Colorado at about 5800 ft. not sure if altitude causes the rising issue. I am baking it again, today. Not sure how to prevent the batter overflow, but will use softened butter rather than melted. Do you think it would turn out if made as a sheet cake?
Hi GG,
So glad your mother-in-law loved it for her birthday! I think if you had problems with it overflowing the cake pans while baking, it *might* have something to do with the altitude, but I’m not 100% certain. I’ve not had that issue. What I would recommend would be either dividing the batter across 3 pans to make a 3-layer cake or, as you asked, bake it as a 9×13 or sheet cake. Using softened butter should help with the frosting issue you are having, too.
Good luck and let me know how it turns out for you as a sheet cake!
High altitude baking can be a challenge, especially cakes. I lived at a 5555 altitude and had cakes bubbling over all the time. Here is a web page that explains what you need to do and why. It is quite helpful!
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipe/high-altitude-baking.html
Hi Robyn,
Could you use dutch processed, unsweetened cocoa powder for this recipe? Thank you!
Can I use dutch processed cocoa?
Awesome chocolate cake! I was looking for the perfectly moist chocolate cake and found it. I didnt make the frosting bc I was in search of pb buttercream frosting!! (there’s a local cupcake truck in the area- and they don’t always make the chocolate and pb frosting cupcakes…nor do I always want to pay $3 for a cupcake) I cut the recipe in half and made ‘two bite’ cake rectangles with the frosting-we’ll see how long they last 😉 I am freezing most of them to only have a treat once in a while and hope that keeps the fabulous texture. My milk had just soured so I subed almond milk and had to melt chocolate cuz didn’t have chocolate powder. Came out great! Will keep this booked marked Ty!
I’m going to make this cake today and hopefully it comes out like i imagine:) wish me good luck 🙂 i know how to bake but it all depends on the ingredients am i right or am i wrong?? 🙂
You weren’t kidding – this truly is the best EVER chocolate cake!…and it is such an easy recipe which I love! My family finished a whole cake in 2 days and my step-daughter (who is a self-proclaimed non frosting eater) said it was the BEST chocolate frosting ever as she proceeded to lick the spatula and the bowl clean. I can’t wait to try your other recipes!
Yay! So glad your family loved it and she now loves the chocolate frosting!!! xo
please , can you give me this recipe larger as needing to make a 12 inch cake as for my sisters wedding. Thanks Maria xxxx
I want to make this for a birthday tomorrow, but I only have a large square cake tin… Do you think I can cook it in that, and just cut the cake horizontally to layer it?
Also, why is self raising flour not a suitable replacement for plain flour in this recipe?
Love the pics and description, thanks for sharing!
If you only have one cake pan, I would recommend cooking one layer, save the batter for the remaining layer and then cook it. Alternately, you can see the chocolate cupcakes recipe and use it. It is sized more appropriately for a one layer cake.
https://addapinch.com/cooking/2013/02/07/chocolate-cupcakes-recipe/
Just Finished the cake and I had trouble with the frosting also. Should of made cream cheese frosting. It taste good just not glossy and it didn’t go on the cake very well. Put in the fridge and if it don’t slide off it will taste great. Need to practice.
Would it be wrong to serve this to a no-coffee drinking Mormon? Do you think she would taste the espresso?
Oh my, if your craving chocolate , this is it. Like I posted earlier had trouble with frosting but it tasted fabulous. It gets 5 stars from me.
I had two major problems with the cake….It didn’t rise much and the frosting separated so much that the top layer slid off the bottom layer. Of course I ate it but couldn’t serve it to company so I had to throw it out. BUT, it was DELICIOUS! I let the butter soften at room temp so I just don’t know what happened. I would love some suggestions as I want to try and make this again tomorrow. One more thing….the cake batter was extremely watery and I wonder if this had anything to do with the cake not rising. I followed the directions exactly as written.
Hey this recipe looks great, it’s my moms birthday today and I’m thinking about using this one to bake her a cake,but I have a question. Can I leave out the one teaspoon of espresso powder without ruining the cake?
What kind of Espresso powder you don’t say? Being mor Specific would be helpful thank you
I used Starbucks Dark espresso powder (the only one my local grocery store had) and it was too intense, even though I put half of what the recipe called for. People who love coffee liked the flavor, but as a non-coffee drinker myself, I thought it went beyond enhancing the chocolate flavor to dominating it. I know this isn’t helpful in regards to what you should use, but I hope it gives you an idea of what not to use!
Try coffee extract … I added it to the wet ingredients for the cake and added it at the same time as the vanilla extract in the frosting – worked great. I used the same amount called for the expesso powder.
I made this recipe for my husbands birthday yesterday and it was a huge hit! Thanks so much. I got a little worried after I added the cup of boiling water because the consistency became incredibly runny, but after a minute or two of beating it thickened up a bit.
I has one spring pan and one regular and for some reason the bottom burned a little in the spring foam pan… why is that? Also, it wasn’t messy at all. The spring foam pan was fine in that respect, I just don’t understand why it burned a little and the other didn’t.
This is simply the world’s most sinful chocolate cake ever!!
I made it to bring in to work ( birthday tradition ) and people just can’t stop with the delish compliments!
One small problem though it took ages to cook and because i had to check on it several times , it sank a wee bit in the middle but no one could tell – I live in Kenya at 5889 ft above sea level so not certain this didn’t affect it ..
Used my own frosting recipe though, but this was similar to yours in many ways
Thank you this recipe is definitely a keeper !! <3
Hi Robyn, so let me understand this, no butter/margarine is used in the batter mixture?
why do we use vegetable oil?
I ask this because I usually cream the sugar and butter before adding eggs and then flour.
but your method is way more exciting.
Also I am in Ghana and the most readily available flour is hard flour or soft flour… hard to get the all purpose flour where I am.
In this case will it do to use the soft flour/pastry flour?
So for the cocoa, is it unsweetened cocoa powder, just straight cocoa powder that’s basically good chocolate dust, or semi-sweet cocoa/chocolate chips, baking chocolate bars….?
Do you think soymilk could work as a substitute for the milk?
I made this cake the other day.. To me it was very delicious but unfortunately I made it for the wrong crowd who doesn’t appreciate good food. But at least my little nephew said it was very delicious and even brought it to school for lunch!
Just one question, if I have leftover batter, can I use it to make cupcakes?
Hi Kay,
So glad you and your nephew enjoy it! Yes, the batter is perfect for cupcakes!
I made this cake for my boss on her birthday. It is the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted. This is also the first homemade cake I’ve ever made. Really really easy. I get teased for making 4 ingredient baked items, so this was a step up for me. I’ve got some street cred now! LOVE IT.
Dying to try this recipie! Im guessing your in america though? Im all the way in Scotland 😀 just wondering about the butter for the frosting, how much is a stick of butter? thanks 🙂 Gayle xx
1 stick of butter is 1/4 of a pound or 8 tablespoons.
This sounds so good! I have a quick question though, does it freeze well? I’m a college student, and don’t really have time to bake it and frost the cake in the same day. Would freezing the cake a few days before I need to frost it make the cake dry/crumbly?
I was a little wary when I saw the title of this post, because I thought I, in fact, had the best chocolate cake recipe. But then I realized you based yours off of the recipe I use (Hershey’s). The Hershey’s recipe is TO.DIE.FOR., so I can’t imagine how good it must be after your improvements. I have never had a better chocolate cake in my life.
Hello I really would like to try your cake but not good converting cups to grams for us English hope you help thank you
Hi! I’m about to make this cake for my Mother’s birthday, and will try to cover this with fondant. Would that be fine? I mean, is this dense enough to hold on the fondant (plus I’ll make this a 6 x 4 layered cake). I hope to hear from you the soonest 🙂 Thanks!
I am making this cake for my little girls 5th birthday party. Can I double this recipe and if so what size pan would you suggest I use?
What can be used in place of egg and in what quantity?
My family loves this cake! thank u:)
It’s my first time to bake a cake. I tried many times your posted moist chocolate cake. I love it. Thanks for sharing. 😉
Can I bake without the baking soda?
hi there, can I make this without the espresso powder? if I make it with espresso, will it have a strong coffee flavor? I’m not so crazy about coffee. thank you 🙂
Just wondering if you ever got a response to this? I am not a coffee drinker and wondered if not adding it would be okay?
Hi Samantha, I am a coffee lover but ran out of my instant nescafe 43 when I did another of this cake this morning, is also very good just ate a piece of cake but I prefer with the coffee though. I love this cake Thanks Robyn.
Great recipe, so glad I found it, it’s quick, easy and came out perfect – thanks!
This was so good and so easy to make! Love the taste and richness! Added a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it was heavenly
This cake was really good and moist! Very easy to make! Added a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it was heavenly! Most def a keeper!
This cake was very good and moist! Is was easy to make, add a scoop if vanilla ice cream and it was heavenly! Most def a keeper!
This great chocolate cake recipe. It’s rich and moist. It gets better the next day. Thank you for sharing
I am thinking of making this for my daughters birthday. Would this cake work for a three tiered cake? It looks very moist and I was afraid it might break apart when I stacked the layers. Thanks
Hello – I am so excited to try this recipes. I did notice if you mentioned the brand of cocoa powder you used. If I missed the mention I do apologize?)
I dont really like coffee. Should I just skip the espresso or is there a good substitute?
I’m a little late and you may have tried this already but personally, I wouldn’t skip the coffee/espresso. My husband could not like coffee less (like wont even kiss me with coffee breath haha) and he says he can’t even tell when I add coffee to most chocolate things I bake. It really just enhances the chocolate and makes it incredible. I recommend giving it a try!
Definitely use the espresso! It will not taste at all like coffee!!! Just enhances the flavors!!
I’m excited to try this! Most chocolate cakes don’t taste anything like chocolate!!!
i just loved it & all my friends did tooo….thanks a lot
Hi, u just got the cake out of the oven and I can see that it hasn’t risen as much as yours. It’s actually quite flat.. I’m thinking of doing the batter again to get 4 layers so I can get the height. I added the baking powder and soda but didn’t work.., should I increase amount?
hello..its my first time to bake and i just finish baking but sad to say not the same as yours. my cake did not rise its still flat. my frosting is too sweet because i accidentally pour 1 cup of milk. and when removing the cake from the pan it sticks ,so difficult to remove thou i already brush butter its sides and makes the cake unrecognizable circle.. but it really taste good,thumbs up.. im planning to make again and hope it will be succesful next time.
Don’t bake this cake if you live in higher elevations. There’s far too much leavening in the recipe; my cake fell in the center. 🙁
Hi Katie,
Sorry it gave you issues at high-altitude. My friend Kelley at Mountain Mama Cooks has great tips for converting baking recipes for higher-altitude baking that should be helpful. Here’s a link: http://www.mountainmamacooks.com/high-altitude/
Just made this recipe today. It came out perfect! AWESOME texture. I didn’t have any espresso powder so I just left it out and it was still wonderful. So with it, I bet this is to die for.
I’m so glad you loved it, Mary! It is one the cakes my family requests the most!
I just made this recipe and WOW so good! Excellent recipe! I didn’t have to make any adjustments at all. Everything came out perfectly. I didn’t have the coffee so I Ieft it out but I can see how it would have added. This recipe is a keeper. Thank you so much!
hi, i’ve been searching for a good chocolate cake recipe and I think I may have found it but before I begin I need to figure out the conversions from cups to grams. different websites have different conversions so its all really confusing to me. could you tell me how much flour, sugar and milk you used (in grams and ml) please?
Thanks for this amazing recipe!! I made it for my sons 5th birthday and added kit kits round the edge, with M&M’s on top. It was decadent and a big hit. Will definitely make this one again.
I don’t have espresso powder, so I’m going to omit, but I’ll be replacing the boiling water with coffee…I report back how it turns out!!
I’m 64 years old haven’t baked before ever about 6 weeks ago decided I would try baking as I enjoy cooking a Choclate cake that’s what I wanted to do
I came across this recipe what I like about a good cake it has to be moist so this th one decided on
To cut a long story short it was the best cake I have eaten my really loved and I made what a great success
I have one for my daughters and grand daughters birthday and others on order
This recipe has been a real success in our family
Thank you
I made this yesterday for my Moms birthday, it turned out amazing!!! Will definitely be making it again. I didn’t have cocoa powder so used melted chocolate chips instead, and substituted the veg.oil for coconut oil. Worked great! And it did rise nicely too 🙂
Not sure what I did wrong, sprayed pan but after cooling for 10 min couldn’t get cake out of pan. Tried loosening a bit with knife, finally came out but much of bottom broke up. Any suggestions???
I buttered and floured the pan really well, then after cooling I ran a knife all around the edges and set it upside down on a cooling rack, tapped on the bottom and the cake fell out.
Made this last night and it is oh so good! My frosting did seem really oily. I had to add lots more sugar. Should I cut the butter some? Or just have softened and not melted?
Made this cake recipe today and paired it with my favorite peanut butter icing recipe…PERFECTION!!
Note to anyone making this cake:
When I added the water I freaked when it got so thin but go with it, cake turns out great…as for the comments about the cake sticking to the pan, make sure cake is cooled before popping out I dip my pan in ice water which helps.
DEFINITELY using this recipe again!!
Thank you Robyn for the recipe, our fathers day desert was a success my whole family loved the cake, all i could hear was ummm ohhh this is good stuff who made it? I made 3 and I decorated one with strawberries dip in white chocolates, im a star baker in my family now. Im taking this recipe all the way to the islands now Samoa.
This cake is amazing!! Thanx for the recipe!! It is chocolately but not too rich and just a beautiful texture!!
I made this cake hoping to find the best chocolate cake ever and I think I did! Everyone loved it! My only comment is that the icing is almost double what you need. I would definitely cut the recipe in half next time and there will be a next time!
Thanks!!
Loved this recipe and my house of taste testers did too! I would cut the icing recipe in half though, it made a huge bowl full. The cake is rich, moist and delicious. I’ll be keeping this recipe for sure!! I used a shot of espresso instead of espresso powder, heavenly!!
Thanks
Hi I live in the uk and don’t bake using cups can it be done measuring in either ounces or grams?i plAn on using this recipie to make a giant cupcake
Hi,
I want to make a chocolate rum cake using this recipe. Can you please tell me if I should substitute the 1 cup boiling water for dark rum. Is the quantity too much or do you have any other suggestions? Thank you!
Rohini
Can I use coffee liqueur instead of espresso?
I only made the cake, not the frosting. Came out great. The cake was gone in 2 days!! Delicious!!!
Awesome! The mixture seemed way to runny and I was preparing for a flop but I got two perfect cakes, and the icing is amazing- I made about 2/3rds of the icing recipe as it made quite a lot. I also used instant coffee as I was freaked out by the idea of espresso grains in there
” Best chocolate cake ever” is what my guest said after they had this cake. My search for a best chocolate cake ended here. Thank you sooo much robyn for the wonderful recipe.
This cake is the bomb!!
I baked this cake as per recipe and it is amazing! However, I need to make in as one cake in a 12 inch round pan and figure doubling the recipe quantity would suffice but can you advise baking time for this please?
Have you got the baking time for a 12 inch round cake?
Hi Maria,
I’ve not made it in a 12-inch round cake pan before so I’m not able to give you the baking time changes.
Hi! I just tried this recipe but substituted your frosting for cream cheese cookie frosting. The cake itself turned out wonderfully, rising well and everything. I will be serving it tomorrow so I am just wondering if it will keep overnight or should I put it in the fridge? Thanks so much!
The cake does not need to be refrigerated, but cream cheese frosting does need to be refrigerated. So, since that is you used a cream cheese frosting, you’ll need to refrigerate the cake.
Made this cake yesterday for my hubby’s birthday andit was a hit! Easiest chocolate cake ever and turned out very well. Thanks!!
hello, I baked this recipe just a few days ago and overall it went well however my cake was not as moist/gooey looking as the one in the pictures if anything I think it was a bit dry and I put in 1/2 cup of oil as you said so I don’t understand why and also it wasn’t sweet enough. Next time I will add more sugar do you think I should increase the oil to 1 cup rather than half cup?
Hi everyone, I have made this cake twice in two weeks…I won’t even bother to try a different recipe because this one is so perfect. I noticed some of you said that the cake didn’t rise…mine didn’t look like it was as high as it should be but I went a head and frosted it anyway. When I cut into the cake it was surprisingly the perfect texture for a decadent chocolate cake. Yummy…
Thanks so much, Martina. You made my day!!! xo
5 stars!
No espressopowder is to be found in my tiny village. And the cake is for tomorrow. Kan one use espresso grownded coffee? Any ideas?
Oh my gosh Robyn! This cake is phenomenal and most definitely the ‘best chocolate cake ever’. I made it this weekend and still had enough mix to make 12 cupcakes too! I must have used a big cup but the cake came out perfect and is certainly a recipe I will use over and over again! Thanks Robyn x
Hi,this was the best cake I have ever cooked at home.it turned out perfect and the taste was awesome.the cake was super moist! thanks
Hi! I was wondering what kind of expresso powder you used so I could look into ordering some. My local grocery store does not carry any. 🙁
Hi Miranda,
I’ve included a link to ground espresso powder in the recipe from Amazon if that helps you!