Chocolate Cake is one of the most beloved cakes of all, with very few haters. Loaded with chocolate, cocoa powder, and a chocolate frosting, a moist and creamy chocolate cake can bring a huge smile to anybody’s face.
But making this delightful treat at home comes with its hassles, traditional Chocolate Cake recipes are mostly tiresome and consume a lot of time. Although options like Chocolate Cake premixes are also available, these cannot compete with a simple and easy freshly baked chocolate cake.
In this recipe today we are going to share a delicious yet simple recipe for all the Chocolate Cake lovers out there. This cake gets ready in no time and tastes heavenly. Stay tuned.
Why make Chocolate Cake at Home?
Baking chocolate cake at home comes with a range of benefits that can be great for you and your loved ones. Here is a list of reasons why making chocolate cake at home is substantially better than getting it from your local bakery.
Quality Control:
First things first, the quality of the food you eat determines your health, and satisfying your sweet tooth must not come at the expense of your health. This is what makes making chocolate cake at home, a better option.
In this process, all the ingredients pass through your hand and you decide the quality of ingredients to be used so that your loved ones can enjoy this delectable treat without harming their health.
Customization
Getting a Chocolate cake from a store or your local bakery does not allow you to alter the ingredients as per your needs and requirements, on the other hand, while making it yourself you can always alter the ingredients as per your choice. Whether it is the amount of sugar to be added or gluten-free flour, you can always customize things to your liking.
Easy on the pocket
Usually baking a cake on your own is often considered to be more pocket-friendly than purchasing one from the bakery. This is true especially when you are hosting a dinner or a party and have to prepare a chocolate cake for a large bunch of people. Since you always have basic ingredients like flour, eggs, sugar, etc at home, making the whole experience more economical.
Know your Ingredients
Before getting started with any recipe, it is always important for the readers to get acquainted with the ingredients used in the recipe and realize the importance they play in the making of that recipe.
The same is true with this ultimate Chocolate Cake Recipe, before diving deep into the recipe for making this delectable cake, let us first take a quick look at some of the key ingredients used.
All-purpose flour
What would be a cake recipe without all-purpose flour, it provides the base for almost all types of cake sponges and in this recipe for Chocolate Cake, all-purpose flour is one of the most important dry ingredients that provides the perfect balance of softness and density to the texture of the cake.
Cocoa Powder
Whoever wondered where that chocolatey color and texture came from? Well, cocoa powder is the secret behind it. It does the work of making your cake look and taste chocolatey without making your chocolate cake extra sweet.
Buttermilk
Buttermilk is the key ingredient in this recipe that helps to make your cake fluffy and spongy. Buttermilk has active agents that make your cake rise excellently, giving you a soft and light chocolate cake base to work with.
Instant Coffee
Instant coffee provides a kick of chocolate flavor to the cake on one hand and provides extra color to your chocolate cake, making it taste and look just like the store-bought ones.
Heavy Cream
Heavy cream is used as an agent to make the mixing process smooth and give a creamy frosting. It is used in the place of milk as the latter would not sit well on the cake and give the slopping appearance.
Vegetable oil
The kind of fat you use to make moist chocolate cake plays a crucial role in determining its texture even after it cools down. Vegetable oil is a good option of fat that is used to make chocolate cake, this is because it provides the right amount of moisture and helps keep the cake tender even after it is refrigerated.
Expert Tips to make the best Chocolate Cake Recipe
Follow these tips straight from the expert’s kitchen along with these simple instructions to master the art of making the perfect Chocolate cake recipe. These small tips will remind you of the minutest details and that will determine how you make this recipe and cake comes out in the end. Keep reading
Measuring is the key
Baking is all about the art of using ingredients in the right quantity, and the slightest mistake in the measurement can ruin your cake. So make sure to use measuring cups and scales to get wonderful baking results.
Use quality Cocoa Powder
The kind of cocoa powder you use can define the flavor and texture profile of your chocolate cake, so make sure to use the highest quality of unsweetened cocoa powder to get the best results to make the cake.
Avoid overmixing
This tip is vital for any cake recipe. While combining the dry ingredients with the wet ones, make sure to mix only until well combined and use gentle hand movements with the cut and fold technique. This is because mixing thoroughly will lead to the activation of gluten as a result the cake will come out dense and tough.
Let the cake rest
You must the layer cake to cool before icing them with buttercream frosting. If you skip this step and try to frost warm cake layers, the frosting will melt and leave a slick finish.
Therefore, before working with frosting, it’s crucial to at least let the cake layers cool to room temperature. You can also place them in the refrigerator to chill if you have the time.
Recipe Card
The Ultimate Chocolate Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 ½ cups / 187 g all-purpose flour
- ½ cup / 43 g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp / 4 g baking powder
- 1 tsp / 4 g baking soda
- 1 tsp / 6 g salt
- 1 ½ cups / 300 g sugar
- ½ cup / 118 ml vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup / 236 ml buttermilk
- 1 ½ tsp / 7 ml vanilla essence
- 2 tsp / 2 g instant coffee
- 1 cup / 236 ml hot water
For the frosting
- 1 cup / 227 g unsalted butter
- 3 cups / 360 g powdered sugar
- ½ cup / 43 g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp / 5 ml vanilla essence
- 4 tbsp / 59 ml heavy cream
Equipments
Instructions
- Grease two 8-inch cake pans with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, sieve through one and a half cups of all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and half a teaspoon of salt.
- Next, add one and a half cups of sugar and mix all the dry ingredients well.
- In a separate bowl crack 2 large eggs and add buttermilk, and vanilla essence. Give this mixture a good whisk and pour in the dry ingredients, half by half.
- Gently fold the ingredients together.
- Next, add 1 cup of hot water to 2 teaspoons of instant coffee, and mix. Add this coffee mixture to the prepared cake batter and combine it well.
- Divide the batter equally and pour it into the prepared cake tins.
- Place in the oven and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25-30 minutes
- Once done, insert a toothpick in the center of the cake, to check if it has baked properly. If not then feel free, to bake it for another 2-3 minutes.’
- Place the cake tins on a wire rack and let them cool down to room temperature. Once cooled, de-mold the cakes and remove the parchment paper from the bottom. Set aside.
For the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Into a mixing bowl add butter at room temperature and whisk it for 2-3 minutes, using an electric whisker.
- Now fold it using a spatula and whisk it for another 1 minute. Gradually add in all the sugar while mixing. Whisk for another 1-2 minutes.
- Add in the cocoa powder and vanilla essence. Mix again.
- Next, pour into the heavy cream and whisk this mixture until soft peaks form. Fold the ingredients using a spatula.
Assembling the cake
- Slice a thin layer of the cake, and set it aside.
- Spread the prepared frosting between the cake layer and cover it generously with the frosting.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Once set, cut using a sharp knife and serve this delectable chocolate cake.
Video
As you slice your Chocolate cake into big-sized pieces ready to be served to your loved ones, we want you to feel a sense of accomplishment that you have created this masterpiece with your hand. We hope this creamy and soft delight brings a smile of joy and satisfaction to your face.
Try this amazing recipe to make the best Chocolate Cake you can use it as a birthday cake who like dark chocolate and let us know how you liked it through the comments below.
1 comment
This chocolate cake recipe looks incredible, The step-by-step instructions and video make it easy to follow, even for beginners. I love that it uses basic ingredients, yet the result looks so rich and decadent. The moist, fluffy texture of the cake is perfectly captured in the photos, and the frosting looks divine. This recipe is definitely going on my must-try list—thank you for sharing such a tempting treat.