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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.
Want to know onethings…
Instead of kosher salt normal salt available in india can be used..?temerature would be 176 degree as in whole time till the cake is baked..??withr
Shivani-
Normal salt can be substituted and the temperature would remain the same during baking. I hope this helps.
-Jamie
I made this today because it had such great reviews for my mother in law’s brithday (a true test ;) )
While the flavor was really good, i found it a little gummy. Did you happen to have this problem?
Thanks!
Holly-
If you found the texture to gummy, my first thought would be that it was a bit underbaked. I have made this cake more times that I can count and I have never had an issue with the texture. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Jamie
Hi, is it okay if I use cake flour? will it affect the recipe? thanks!
Angela-
You should be fine using cake flour. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
This recipe sounds great ! I’m going to make this for my friends 18th birthday. One question: Can I use melted butter instead of oil ? I really don’t like the taste of vegetable oil
Alexa-
Butter can be substituted in this recipe. I hope this helps.
-Jamie
My husband and I made this together on Valentines day. When I say we, he mostly watched, but it was still fun. DELICIOUS!
Happy Valentines Day!
Susan-
I’m so glad you had the chance to try it. I hope your Valentine’s Day was wonderful. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
This is by far the BEST chocolate cake ever. I made it for a bachelorette party with raspberry preserves for filling and buttercream coating. It was *heaven* :) . Coffee + buttermilk do wonders for chocolate cakes.
L
Liz-
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cake! Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
THE BEST chocolate cake EVER! Made it last night exactly from your directions for the first time. Given all the wonderful reviews it received, I wasn’t worried in the least about taking it along to a church dinner. And that chocolate buttercream recipe was perfect with it. I’ve been looking for THE perfect chocolate cake/chocolate buttercream combo for my birthday cake (can you say chocoholic?!) and this is, indeed, perfection! Thank you for such a moist, luscious recipe!
Susan-
I’m so glad you had the chance to try this recipe and happy that you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for stopping by.
-Jamie
I made this just now, followed the recipe exactly (except the 2 Tbsp King Arthur cocoa), real buttermilk, room temp coffee, 9-inch pans. It looked beautiful after 20 minutes but when it was time to take them out, they had FALLEN. I’m so dissappointed. I used natural cocoa, not Dutch processed, I hope that was not my problem. Your pictures are just beautiful. I was hoping for a nice tall cake like that. Luckily it’s just for a small family function so I can get away with cutting them in half circles and stacking them four high.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! It turned out amazing and was a huge hit at my party. The flavor and texture are perfect. I’ve learned that I can trust your recipes, so I don’t hesitate to make one I haven’t made before, even for guests. My only problem is that I can’t stop eating it! :)
Kaitlin-
I am so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for stopping back to let me know that you loved it.
-Jamie
This is seriously the best chocolate cake I have ever made from scratch! I wanted to do something different for my 25th birthday (Jan 9th, 2015) and so I found this recipe and my dad opted to make it for me. I wanted to help cause I like baking and so we made it together.
We used all the ingredients except for King Arthur Flour Black Cocoa. Also, we didn’t have buttermilk on hand and so I looked up on the computer how to replicate buttermilk. It said to use Homogenized milk (same amount as you would buttermilk) and then add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to it, let it sit for 5 minutes or until thick and then it’s good to use for the batter. We also cooled the coffee until it was luke warm before adding it into the mixture as it didn’t specify if it should be poured in hot or not. We did exactly that and this cake turned out phenomenal!
The cake was everything you’d want: Moist, rich, the perfect amount of dense and fluffy, and the best part, chocolatey! I thought adding the coffee would make the cake mocha flavoured, but it didn’t.
At the end of January, there was another birthday in the house and I made the cake again as requested by the birthday boy (who is 56 haha). He loved it so much he wanted it again!
So thank you for this delicious recipe! It will be used over and over again! <3
Shelley-
Thanks so much for reporting back on your success with the recipe and thanks so much for stopping by!
-Jamie
Hi Jamie,
I’m just curious, can one use instant coffee in one cup of hot water instead of brewed coffee? I’m just curious because I don’t drink coffee or have a coffee maker but I do have instant coffee for friends that come over and a friend of mine wants this cake for her birthday. :)
If not, Starbucks is only a 5 minute walk from my house and they make super strong coffee so I can just go there and buy a cup. :)
Shelley-
Instant coffee mixed into the hot water will work just fine. I hope this is helpful. Thanks for visiting.
-Jamie