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 there! Just a clarification as I overlooked it last time. I have to bake using bain marie method, right? Sorry I got confused towels soaked in water. I’ll opt to reduce the recipe by 1/3 and use the 8” x 4” pan. Thank you!
Hi Kay, No, the cake is not baked using the bain marie method. Heather’s recommendation to use damp tea towels (wet them then squeeze out the excess water) will give you an insulating effect, allowing the sides and center of the cake to bake at the same rate. The tea towel would be folded to fit around the sides of your cake pans. You could also use Wilton Bake Even Strips. Here is a link to a video show how to use Wilton strips.
link to youtube.com
If you do a google search, there are other videos on making your own bake even strips
Thank you BeBe for the clarification. I would have made a huge disaster! I’ve watched the video and it’s very helpful. I made your chocolate marble cake using 2 different depths (same pan size), and they came out in different sizes. Using soaked towels would have made a difference.
Thank you for all the help and wonderful recipes!