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The Best Chocolate Cake recipe combines cocoa and coffee to create a chocolate lover’s dream. Add your favorite buttercream frosting to make it perfect! Keep reading to find out why coffee, buttermilk, and oil play important roles in this chocolate cake recipe.
We’re a family that loves to double down on chocolate. Peanut butter is a favorite, too, and my No Bake Cookies combine both with oatmeal.
And when birthdays roll around, I always feel like I really need cake. Deep, dark, chocolate cake. The best chocolate cake.
For birthdays, we have to do it up right by making my version of cake bliss.
But, as you may have caught on at some point by reading MBA, I like to do things in excess – you know a little mound of frosting will never do in this household.
I need to swirl a pile of it on top, and then top it off with ganache just for the fun of it. So when I organize birthday parties – I of course go a little overboard.
Is there any other way to be? Not if you’re Jamie.
THE BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE WITH COFFEE
This cake is dark, moist, rich and incredibly decadent. Seriously, it’s the best chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted.
A little bit of coffee blends amazingly well with the cocoa to create the most intense and delicious chocolate cake that you’ll ever taste.
Don’t freak out if you don’t like the taste of coffee. You actually can’t taste it in this cake!
Coffee simply enhances the flavor of chocolate. In this cake, it deepens that rich, chocolatey flavor.
If you are really opposed to using coffee, you can swap it out for water.
You can also use espresso powder – use a teaspoon of espresso powder along with 1 cup of water in place of the 1 cup of coffee.
USE OIL AND BUTTERMILK FOR A MOIST CHOCOLATE CAKE
Buttermilk plays two important roles in making the best chocolate cake.
In addition to adding an ever-so-subtle tang, the acid in the buttermilk helps keep this cake incredibly tender and makes for a moist chocolate cake recipe.
If you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, simply use this buttermilk substitute and you’re golden!
This cake also uses oil instead of butter. While butter provides a lot of flavor in recipes such as 7UP Pound Cake and Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes, oil gives cakes a lovely, light texture.
Since the combo of unsweetened cocoa powder and Dutch-process cocoa give this cake so much chocolatey flavor, we don’t necessarily need the flavor of the butter to compete or overpower the chocolate.
Cocoa can also easily dry out cakes, so using a neutral-flavored oil in combination with the buttermilk makes sure both the chocolate flavor and moist texture of this cake really sing.
HOW MUCH CAKE DOES THIS RECIPE MAKE?
I most often make this recipe into a double-layered cake using two 9-inch cake pans. Occasionally I will bake it into a sheet cake in a 13×9-inch pan.
You can also bake it into chocolate cupcakes, though! You can get anywhere from 24-36 cupcakes, depending on how full you fill the tins. You’ll want to bake the cupcakes for 20-30 minutes.
I have even used this recipe to make a bundt cake. When using a bundt cake pan, I bake it between 35-40 minutes.
You might be wondering if you can bake this in 8-inch cake pans instead of 9-inch cake pans. Yes, you can, but you may have a little bit of batter leftover. Just be sure to start checking for doneness a tiny bit earlier than noted in the recipe card.
HOW TO TOP MY FAVORITE CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE
What’s a cake without some frosting?
My homemade buttercream frosting is a delicious way to top the best chocolate cake.
Rich chocolate cake paired with sweet vanilla buttercream? Sign me up.
If you are a true chocolate fanatic and want double the chocolate, I would go for chocolate buttercream frosting instead.
If you really want to play up the coffee angle, why not try using a coffee buttercream?
And who doesn’t love chocolate and strawberries together? Top your chocolate cake with sweet strawberry frosting for a play on chocolate covered strawberries!
I have even paired this cake recipe with chocolate ganache and salted caramel to make a Double Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake.
DOES HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CAKE NEED TO BE REFRIGERATED?
Can you store your chocolate cake at room temperature or does it need to be refrigerated?
The answer depends on how long you want to keep it and what kind of frosting you used.
Unfrosted cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days. To make it last longer, you can tightly wrap and refrigerate the cake for up to a week or even freeze it for a few months.
Chilled cake is actually a bit easier to decorate, so a lot of cake decorators prefer to work with cold cake instead of cake that is fresh from the oven.
If you frosted your cake with buttercream, it can be stored safely at room temperature for up to 2 days. Store in the refrigerator if you want it to last longer, up to 5 days.
If you used cream cheese frosting, the cake must be stored in the refrigerator and will keep for up to 3 days.
I don’t recommend freezing frosted cakes.
And remember, frosted cakes are their best the first day or two. After that, the texture won’t be quite the same.
Here’s a little storage cheat sheet for you:
Unfrosted cake:
- Room temperature: Up to 3 days
- Refrigerator: Up to 1 week
- Freezer: Up to 3 months
Cake frosted with buttercream:
- Room temperature: Up to 2 days
- Refrigerator: Up to 5 days
Cake frosted with cream cheese frosting:
- Refrigerator: Up to 3 days
No matter how you frost and decorate it, the best chocolate cake is the perfect sort of cake for a birthday or just a Tuesday. Make sure to enjoy it with a very large glass of ice-cold milk – or coffee!
The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa optional
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup strong black coffee
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Frosting of choice, such as:
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa(s), baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix on low until dry ingredients are thoroughly combined.
- Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for about two minutes; the batter will be thin.
- Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
- Frost as desired.
Video
Notes
- The Dutch process cocoa is optional – it simply provides a great depth of flavor and color to the chocolate cake.
- This cake also pairs beautifully with a simple chocolate ganache.
- The coffee really brings out the depth of the chocolate (you won’t even taste the coffee at all!), but if you really don’t want to use it, feel free to substitute water.
- For an egg substitute, simply add one mashed banana or 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce for each egg.
- This recipe will make about 24 to 36 cupcakes. Bake at 350 degrees between 20 and 30 minutes.
- You can also make a bundt cake with this recipe. The cake should bake for about 35 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
- Get tips on high altitude baking.
- Very slightly adapted from Ina Garten
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this two days ago. I did alter it a little. I only used 3/4 Cup Strong black Coffee. and I melted 4 oz of Dark chocolate into it before mixing it into the cake.
Define. So Moist.!
The BF Loved it. after he finished his first piece. He found Where I was talking on the phone and looked at me with Huge Puppy eyes begging for more.
I was wondering if there was something to substitute the coffee with? I don’t drink coffe and wouldn’t use it in my baking. I wanted to know if I could use something else in place of the coffee & still get the same richness & dark chocolate flavor? Thanku.
Jennifer-
Honestly, you can’t really taste the coffee very much, it just adds a depth of flavor that is not achieved with plain boiling water. I haven’t made this recipe with hot water, but it’s definitely an option. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
So I live in colorado and tried to make this cake today… it sort of exploded in the oven, any suggestions for high altitude? I saved one of the cakes, not sure about the other…
Jen-
I have absolutely zero experience at high altitude, but hopefully someone else will chime in.
-Jamie
I am trying out this recipe right now, will post as soon as its done and eaten. I was wondering how do I use the coffee? Do I mix the coffee grains in with the hot water to make 1 cup?
J-
You just need a cup of fresh, strong, brewed coffee. That’s it! :)
-Jamie
I made this cake the other night and it was really good. I was wondering if you have a recipe for a vanilla/yellow cake that is just as good! Thank you :)
Hi may I know why there isnt butter in this recipe?
Pris, I’m not sure why you’d expect butter. Most cake recipes I come across are made with vegetable oil, not butter. There is butter in the buttercream recipe, that can be found on Savory Sweet Life’s website.
– Jamie
Hi Jamie.
I made this cake for my brother’s birthday recently. It was a big hit! And cake-baking is not my specialty! I’ve been experimenting with not such good results. But this one was a “WOW”!! I want to make another one today just so I can turn on the oven to warm up! It’s a balmy 7 degrees here in PA. It warmed up from zero early this morning!
Thanks so much for the recipe.
:)
Deb-
That’s great to hear! I’m so happy it was such a hit. And, I can relate with the weather…it’s -4 degrees here in Ohio today! Time to bake!
-Jamie
Can I cut this recipe in half and put it in 2 6″ cake pans?
Brooke, you can definitely give it a shot. The cake layers might be a bit thinner than the full version, because cutting the recipe in half would be more appropriate for 4.5 inch pans (which don’t exist). Just watch them closely while they bake. You don’t want the cake to get too dry.
– Jamie
I’d like to try it, but curious if this is a dense/heavier cake that holds up well & is good for carving, or it is crumbly and not at all sturdy?
Thanks,
Stacie
Stacie, this cake is pretty moist and dense, but I have no idea if it would carve well. I’ve never tried.
– Jamie
Thanks Jamie,
Will put this one on the back burner for now & make it when it’s just for my kids. It looks amazing, so it will definitely be made when I’m finished making my friends cakes. My kids won’t mind if it’s crumbly LOL & if it is sturdy, I’ll have a new go-to recipe for future requests :-).
Have a great day,
Stacie.
Hi, can I substitute vegetable oil for melted butter? Will there be any difference?
Planning to make it tomorrow.
Nalinee,
The fat content of butter is very different to canola oil. You can certainly try it, but I’m not sure how it will turn out.
– Jamie