I’m so excited to share this new scratch Chocolate Sour Cream Cake recipe with you!
You may have tried a couple of our other treasured chocolate cake recipes including our scratch Classic Chocolate Cake as well as our homemade Devil’s Food Cake, but let me assure you that there is always room for another fantastic recipe- especially when chocolate is involved!
While we still love our other homemade chocolate recipes, this new Chocolate Sour Cream Cake is ultra moist, flavorful, and has an amazingly soft texture.
My favorite chocolate doctored cake mix recipe is a Chocolate Sour Cream Cake, and I’ve wanted to make a scratch version of this recipe for the longest time. We also receive requests often about how to turn our popular scratch White Almond Sour Cream Cake Recipe into a chocolate cake.
After lots of trial and error, I’m happy to say that we’ve found THE ONE!
This Chocolate Sour Cream Cake is similar to our classic chocolate cake in some ways, as they both have the same amount of cocoa and coffee, giving it a decadent chocolate flavor, but the sour cream also adds a softness that I wasn’t expecting.
I actually thought that this sour cream version would be slightly more dense than my other chocolate cakes but the opposite is true. It truly melts in your mouth.
Sometimes our reverse creaming method cake recipes have a slightly denser texture that makes them better for layer cakes but not ideal for cupcakes. However, in this case, we found this recipe to be fantastic for cupcakes as well. Love the versatility of this cake!
While you can make this recipe using the traditional method of mixing, we tried the cake both ways and the reverse creaming method for this recipe was the clear winner.
It’s amazing how two cakes that contain the same ingredients can turn out so differently just based on the order and mixing technique of ingredients!
All of the steps are fully explained in our recipe below, but if you would like more information on the Reverse Creaming of Method of mixing, hop over to this post for additional details and a video: The Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.
Our Chocolate Sour Cream recipe makes a bit more batter than usual…closer to 9 1/2 or 10 cups. This is perfect for three 9 inch cake layers, but if you’d like you can also make three 8 inch layers and just pour a few additional cupcakes to sample. At my house, extra cupcakes for sampling is always reason to celebrate ;0)
There are so many frosting and filling recipes that would be amazing with this Chocolate Sour Cream Cake recipe (Chocolate Buttercream, Vanilla Buttercream, Cherry, Cream Cheese Frosting, and Peanut Butter Buttercream, just to name a few), but today we decided to pair it with a new addition to our Recipes section for Seven Minute Frosting.
This Seven Minute Frosting is very similar to our Fluffy White Frosting recipe, but the process is slightly different and we use real egg whites rather than pasteurized.
The result is a luscious cloud-like frosting that is light, yet holds stiff peaks very well, making it simpler to frost and pipe with. We used this same Seven Minute Frosting recipe in our homemade S’mores Cake! The marshmallowy flavor works perfectly with this recipe!
We hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as we have! It’s hard to pick a favorite when it comes to the scratch chocolate cakes in our Recipes section, but this definitely gives the others a run for their money. We think you’re going to love it!
If you try it, we’d love for you to leave your cake photos & feedback in the comments below!
Don’t miss our full collection of cake and frosting recipes in our Recipes Section!
Chocolate Sour Cream Cake from Scratch
Ingredients
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 2 3/4 cups (322g) All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup (82g) unsweetened cocoa
- 2 teaspoons (10g) Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon (2g) Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (2g) Salt
- 1 stick + 5 Tablespoons (1/2 c. + 1/3 c.) (185g) Unsalted Butter (I sliced the butter into 1 inch pieces onto waxed paper leaving on the countertop for 8 to 10 minutes. It will still be quite cool when adding to the dry ingredients. You should be able to make a fingerprint when you press the butter. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate for a few minutes.)
- 1 cup (242g) Sour Cream
- 1 c. (220g) Milk
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla
- 1 cup (220g) Hot Coffee
For the Seven Minute Frosting
- 2/3 cup (150g) water
- 2 cup (400g) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon (2g) Cream of Tartar or 2 Tablespoon (30g) white corn syrup
- 4 egg whites
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
Directions
Instructions for the Cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour three 9 inch pans. This recipe uses the Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.
- Add dry ingredients to the bowl of your mixer and mix for one minute to blend (sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt)
- Add butter a few slices at a time and mix until it reaches a crumbly, sandy texture. Be careful not to over-mix beyond "sandy" consistency.
- In another bowl, combine sour cream, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Using a fork, mix together. This is all of your wet ingredients except for the coffee, it will be added to the batter later.
- Set a timer for 1 ½ minutes and SLOWLY add half of your egg mixture to your butter/flour mixture while mixing. Start mixer on low speed then increase to medium for the remainder of the 1 ½ minutes. Do Not Mix Above Medium Speed.
- Stop mixer, scrape the sides and bottom of bowl, and add half of the remaining egg mixture. Mix on medium speed for 20 seconds.
- Stop mixer, scrape down the sides if necessary, and add the last of the egg mixture. Mix for 20 more seconds on medium speed.
- Slowly add HOT coffee and mixing for 30 seconds to blend. Batter will be runny but that is okay!
- This recipe makes about 9 1/2 cups of batter.Pour into 3 prepared 9" pans and bake at 325 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center of the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean.
Instructions for the Seven Minute Frosting
- Make sure the mixing bowl and beaters are clean without a trace of grease. Any grease will keep the egg whites from increasing to full volume.
- Use a separate bowl to separate the eggs. You will be using only the whites and if a yolk happens to break and gets mixed in, the recipe will not work. Place the egg whites into the bowl of your mixer and add the vanilla. Set aside until time to beat the whites.
- In a saucepan, add the water, sugar, cream of tartar (or white corn syrup). Cook on medium/high heat. Do not stir, or stir just enough to distribute the sugar. You don't want sugar crystals sticking to the sides of the pan. The mixture will begin to boil and become clear. After it boils for a minute or so, remove from the heat, you will be able to see that the sugar has dissolved.
- Beat the egg whites and vanilla to the soft peak stage. This happens rather quickly. At soft peak stage, the egg whites will not form peaks but will just fall over, cloud like. At this time, with the mixer beating on low speed slowly pour in a small stream of the hot sugar syrup into the egg whites. Avoid hitting the beaters as you pour because the hot syrup could splash onto you. Increase the mixer to high speed and beat approximately 7 minutes ( it could be longer if using a hand mixer) until stiff peaks form (stiff peaks stand straight up).
- The frosting should be used right away as it sets up rather quickly. The cake can be kept at room temperature or refrigerated. Leftover frosting can be refrigerated or frozen. We found that we did not need to rewhip, but instead just used a fork to lightly stir.
- Makes 10 cups frosting
- (This recipe can be halved. The recipe posted is doubled so that I would have plenty for filling, frosting, and decorative piping).
Sounds delicious! Love the frosting too! :-)
This cake looks and sounds wonderful. I was wondering…as I like to make tall cakes, can you give me a guess-timate as to how tall a 3 layer 8″ cake might be? Thank you.
Hi is this cake ok for tiered cakes, also can it be used if sculpting a cake thank you xx
Can’t wait to try this recipe! Just wondering if you made it with 2″ or 3″ high cake pans?
Many thanks!
Rachel
Hi Cheryl, Yes, this recipe can be used for tiered cakes. We have not used this recipe for carving but I think only simple carving could be done while the cake was well chilled.
Hi Rachel, We used 2 inch deep pans.
Wow can’t wait to try this ! Can i use greek yogourt instead of sour cream since we don’t have this in Europe ! Many thanks !
Thank you for always sharing good recipes. This chocolate cake is good to covered on fondant.
Thank you
Hi Karine, Yes, you can use yogurt instead of sour cream. Hope you will enjoy the recipe.
Hi Mercedes, Thank you for your nice compliment. Yes, it will hold up to fondant.
Hi Paula, I did measure the height of this cake after it was completed. It was 4 1/2 inches high. That could vary with the amount of filling and frosting you use. Hope you enjoy the recipe.
Hi again! Thanks for clarifying that you used 2″ high pans. My other question is whether you used Dutch-processed cocoa or “natural” cocoa powder? If a recipe doesn’t specify, I generally go with Dutch-Processed, but I figured I might as well doublecheck before I get started on the recipe. Many thanks again!
Hi Rachel, we used natural cocoa powder (Ghirardelli 100% unsweetened cocoa). I hope that you enjoy the cake!
I made this tonight almost everyone liked the cake. My son and myself was the only ones who didn’t care for the icing. I did torch it like you would meringue and they thought it tasted like marshmallows.
Mmm, I only have Dutched cocoa – it will probably mess with the leavening right?
Hi. Rachel, yes, you will need to use natural unsweetened cocoa
Loved this cake. If I wanted to make a smaller version, like just a 2-layer 8″ how would I adjust the ratio’s of ingredients? Many thanks!!
Hi Susan, I am happy you like the cake. You could half the recipe and you will have 2 1/2 cups batter for each 8×2 inch pan. Your cake layers will be 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches high. It sounds short but it will still look good once filled and frosted. I’m not sure how to adjust the leavenings for 3/4 of the recipe. If you decide to make the whole recipe, you could fill the two 8 inch pans and use the rest for cupcakes. The cupcakes will freeze well if kept airtight .
This is my favorite chocolate cake recipe. I made this smash cake for a first birthday and the cake was super moist!
Thanks so much for your feedback, Leslie! So happy that you liked the recipe, your cake is adorable!
This cake is a keeper !!!!! But forgot to ask you something…What type of border is this ??? I want to try making it…but not sure what top you used…Will await your answer… Thanks, Angie
Hi Angie, We did not make a note about what piping tip was used, possibly a Wilton French tip, but we will do some piping tomorrow to check it out and get back to you.
Hi Angie, The piping method used on this cake is the reverse shell. Melissa used the Ateco 869 tip. You may need to order that tip online. You can use the Wilton 8B tip to achieve the same look, it is just a bit smaller.
This choc cake is a HomeRun!!! Made this cake last night..so yummy. I used King Arthur Black Cocoa Powder. YUM!
Wonderful!! We’re so happy you like the recipe! I’ll have to give the black cocoa powder a try, that sounds great!!