Today I’m sharing our FAVORITE classic chocolate cake recipe of all time. This amazing Chocolate Cake from scratch is our go-to recipe, and always gets rave reviews! It is rich, moist, and absolutely delicious!
For years, we searched for the perfect chocolate cake recipe, but were never satisfied. They were either too dry, too crumbly, too soft, not chocolatey enough, and so on.
When we finally tried this cake, we knew that our search was over! It’s super moist, has the perfect amount of chocolate, and is sturdy enough to hold up to fondant if your design calls for it.
As a side note, this chocolate cake recipe (along with several of our other popular recipes) uses the Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.
This is a popular method for creating a slightly denser, more melt-in-your-mouth texture. If you are new to this method, you may be interested in watching our free video here: The Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.
If you would rather not go the Reverse Creaming Method route, don’t worry! We’ve also put this Classic Chocolate Cake scratch recipe into the standard Conventional Method of Mixing as well.
This also makes for a perfect chocolate cake! It’s the same decadent chocolate taste but with a fluffier texture. When making chocolate cupcakes, this conventional version is the recipe that we use! Here is the link:Classic Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe
Classic Chocolate Cake {Scratch Cake Recipe}
Ingredients
- I use the reverse creaming method with this recipe
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 2 3/4 cup (322g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (82g) unsweetened cocoa (lightly spoon into cup then sift)
- 2 teaspoons ((10g) baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon (2g) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (2g) salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) (226g) unsalted butter, softened (do not soften in microwave) I cut 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. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate a few minutes
- 1/4 cup (54g) vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1cup (220g) milk
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (220) hot coffee, it can be instant or brewed
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Grease and flour THREE 8 inch cake pans
- In a mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk for 1 minute to blend.
- Add softened butter a few pieces at a time while the mixer is on low speed. Mix until the dry ingredients look like coarse sand and the dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, milk , oil and vanilla until blended.
- Method is important when using the Reverse Creaming Method. With the mixer on low speed, SLOWLY add approximately 1/2 of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 1 1/2 minutes at medium speed. Don't mix above medium speed. Scrape the bottom and sides of bowl. Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating for 20 seconds after each pour. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl.
- Slowly add the cup of hot coffee and mix another 30 seconds until blended. The batter will be very runny. Don't worry!
- Pour into 3 prepared 8" pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center of the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes 10 minutes on a rack and then turn out of the pans.
- *Yields approx 9 cups of batter.
- Making cupcakes? Check out our Classic Chocolate Cupcake Recipe (conventional method of mixing for fluffier cupcakes) Holds up well to fondant
Notes:
- CAKE TIP: To increase moistness of layers, cool another 10 minutes and while still very warm double wrap the individual layers in plastic wrap and freeze for up to a week. To freeze longer, use plastic wrap then put into a freezer bag or aluminum foil and freeze for up to 2 months. If you need the cake right away, even freezing for a couple of hours will increase the moistness.
Looking for a FABULOUS Chocolate Doctored Cake Mix Recipe? We have an amazing recipe just for you!: Chocolate Sour Cream Cake (Doctored Cake Mix Recipe)
This doctored cake mix recipe is out of this world, and nobody would ever guess that it started with a mix. Sometimes you just need a quick and easy doctored cake mix recipe and this is one of our favorites.
As we mentioned earlier in our post, you can make this same scratch Classic Chocolate Cake recipe but using the conventional method of mixing instead of the reverse creaming method.
This is the mixing method that I use when making chocolate cupcakes also. You can find the traditional mixing version of this recipe here: Classic Chocolate Cupcakes (Although it is listed as a chocolate cupcake recipe, it works great for fluffy chocolate cake layers as well!)
* We have another amazing chocolate cake recipe for you to keep in your Recipe File of Favorites! Hop over for a fantastic Devil’s Food Cake recipe!
Much like our classic chocolate cake, this moist chocolate recipe also has a wonderful melt-in-your-mouth quality: Devil’s Food Cake Recipe from Scratch . There’s no such thing as too many chocolate cake recipes is there?
Thanks for stopping by! It seems like the perfect day to make a chocolate cake. We hope that you enjoy the recipe!
Don’t miss our full collection of the BEST Cake and Frosting Recipes in our Recipes Section! If you’re interested in cake decorating as well, make sure to check out our Free Cake Tutorials Section where you can select tutorials by category.
Finally, if you’d like to access our full library of hundreds of cake decorating video tutorials, you should consider becoming a member of My Cake School! We have tutorials for all skill levels of cake decorating and memberships are only $30/year. You can find all of the details here!: Membership Details for MyCakeSchool.com
Hi Andrea, Yes, you can omit the 1 cup hot coffee and replace with 1 cup hot water.
Hi BeBe,
This cake is so delicious! I know you said your layers are higher than 1″ once baked (I posted that mine came out at exactly an inch). What do you suppose would cause mine to not rise as high as yours? I followed the recipe to a T including the mixing time. When it came time to mix on medium speed I used no. 4 on my 5 quart Kitchenaid mixer. Should I have gone to no. 6 to mix?
Looking at some remarks I noticed a discrepancy in the ingredient ( instructions) with the cocoa powder and your response to someone asking about the weight. I’m wondering which one is correct. (or I could be reading it wrong)
Ingredients read: 1 cup (82g) unsweetened cocoa (lightly spoon into cup then sift)
But in your response to Maria Jan. 4, 2017 you wrote: ” I sifted the cocoa then lightly spooned it into a cup”… If your cocoa was not sifted that may be the reason your weight was more.
So the first way sounds like its saying to sift AFTER spooning into a cup, but then you tell Maria to sift the cocoa then lightly spoon into a cup.
I only ask because I followed the actual ingredient instructions and my cup to weight measurement was way off too. I did not sift until after as stated in the instruction. Could this have affected the height of my layers. I wouldn’t think so unless the extra cocoa made the batter heavier. Any help would be appreciated as I LOVE the flavor and moistness of this cake.
Hi Gloria, Thanks for catching that discrepancy, I obviously answered the question without checking the recipe instructions. I just weighed a cup of the cocoa powder to double check the weight and it is 82 grams. I also checked the gram weight chart in the Cake Bible and 1 cup of cocoa, lightly spooned into a measuring cup for dry ingredients and it is also 82g. I don’t think an extra Tablespoon would have affected the cake but you say yours was way off, so that is possibly a factor. If there was too much cocoa in the recipe the batter could have been too stiff causing low volume. Other causes of cake layers not rising as high as they should are: Baking powder, baking soda out of date or wrong amount used, oven temperature too high, not using the suggested pan size. Unrelated to your question, but sometimes we want 3 layers just because we want more frosting with a slice of cake. Our cake recipe may only have 6 1/2 to 7 cups of batter so we put a bit over 2 cups batter in each of the 3 eight inch pans. The cakes only rise about 1 1/4 inches high but after the cake is filled and frosted it is still a nice height.
Thank you BeBe! Then mine DID come out perfect! I baked 3 laters in 3 8” pans and the height of each layer after being baked was approximately an inch to 1-1/4”.
I’ve tried several of your cake recipes and I love them! I have a question… do you sift the flour in this recipe, and for all your other cake recipes as well? If so, do you measure the flour first then sift, or sift then measure?
Thank you!
Hi Marie, Thank you for your nice compliment on our recipes. I do not sift the flour in this recipe. I think almost all of the recipes on the site have the flour unsifted. We whisk the dry ingredients to blend and this also aerates the flour as sifting would. When recipes state 3 cups flour, sifted –flour is listed first so measure flour then sift. If it states, 3 cups sifted flour — flour is listed second so you would sift then measure. I do think that is hard for most people to remember so I will always state in parenthesis after the ingredient (measure then sift ) or (sift then measure). It is a good idea to have a digital scale then it would make no difference because you are using the weight measurement. Hope this helps.
This is day of Pinterest, blogs and reviews, etc. I personally don’t care for reviews that don’t review the product. So, I can say, I tried this cake 5 times. It is remarkable. Here is my review:
For my wedding cakes, I simply prefer the reverse method. In my humble opinion, the cakes are sturdier. I was not happy with my chocolate cakes and frankly cater to budget friendly brides so I typically try to use cocoa powder instead of bar chocolate. I was very skeptical about this recipe since it didn’t have bar chocolate but never again.
I had a bride try a piece yesterday that I layered with a caramel cream cheese buttercream. She simply could not speak. Finally at the last bite, she looked at me and said, “I don’t want to finish it” You know that was good. She had her sons with her (11 and 13). All 3 stated it was the best cake they have ever eaten. She tried a Sticky Toffee cake I made and decided on this chocolate cake even though the groom doesn’t eat chocolate. Wow!
I only made 1 adjustment, we have Keurig and I was afraid the coffee wouldn’t be strong enough, so I added 1 T of instant coffee to each cup. Other than that, no adjustments. I let the cakes cool for about 15 minutes, then wrapped them in plastic wrap, then foil and froze them. I read freezing warm cakes makes them really moist. These were very moist and flavorful.
I will never make another chocolate cake but this one. It is absolutely delicious.
Hi Dadee, You have definitely made our day with your nice review of the recipe. I am so happy that you are using it for your customers!! Thank you for taking the time to post your thoughts on this cake!!
I am making the chocolate cake from scratch in Utah at 5,000 elevation. What do I need to do differently to make sure it comes out ok. I live in Texas so I am not use to baking in high altitudes. Thanks!
Hi Karolyn, I’m sorry but we do not have experience with high elevation baking as we live near sea level. Here is a link to a Craftsy post about baking at high elevation that I think you will find helpful.
link to craftsy.com