This easy chocolate cake recipe is not only easy to make but makes an incredibly moist, fudgy, and decadent chocolate cake that is sure to please even the pickiest of chocolate lovers! Best part? You only need one bowl and 10 minutes to mix! If you love my death by chocolate cake but want less fuss, this is the cake for you!
What's In This Blog Post
Easy Chocolate Cake Ingredients
No fancy ingredients here but some people ask me about substitutions.
This recipe calls for hot coffee which intensifies the flavor of the chocolate. It doesn't make the cake taste like coffee at all. If you don't want to use coffee, you can substitute a dark beer like Guinness (heated) or just hot water.
I'm using Hershey's cocoa powder for this recipe because it's a natural cocoa powder that is a little acidic. That acid reacts with the baking soda and actually tenderizes the gluten and makes the cake extra moist.
If you don't have Hershey's cocoa powder or want to use Dutch-processed cocoa powder like Cocoa Barry extra brut (which is not acidic), then replace the baking soda with baking powder.
The oil in this recipe all makes the cake extra moist, if you want your cake to be even more moist, you can add an extra ounce of oil. Oil-based cakes always stay softer than butter-based cakes but they are a bit more delicate.
How To Measure Ingredients
If you've followed my blog for a while, you know I like to measure my ingredients using a scale. It's faster, cleaner, and more accurate than using measuring cups BUT for some of my easier and beginner cakes like this one, I also include the measurements in cups because honestly, the cake is so forgiving you don't need to be super accurate.
When measuring flour with cups, it's important to spoon the flour into the cup then level it off with a knife. Do not pack your measuring cup or you could end up with too much flour which will make your cake dry and hard.
How To Make Easy Chocolate Cake Step-By-Step
- Preheat your oven to 350ĀŗF and prepare two 8"x2" cake pans with cake goop or another preferred pan release. I love cake goop because you can make it yourself, it lasts forever and is much cheaper than buying a commercial pan release.
- Place your flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of your stand mixer and stir for a few seconds to combine.
- Now weāre going to add in our eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla and mix our batter on medium speed for 2 minutes. This mixing is not only combining our ingredients together but itās also developing the cake's structure.
- Once youāre done mixing, add in your hot coffee. Mix that up until itās just combined.
- You can see the batter is very liquid and that is normal. Divide the batter evenly between two 8" cake pans.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out cleanly.
- Let your cakes cool in the pans for 10-15 minutes then flip them out onto a cooling rack to fully cool down before frosting. I like to put mine in the freezer for 30 minutes to flash cool them so I can frost them right away.
Easy Chocolate Frosting
- First, we need to make our ganache. Go ahead and measure out your semi-sweet mini chocolate chips and heat them in the microwave for about 30 seconds. The reason Iām using mini chocolate chips is that they are easier to melt. If you canāt find mini chocolate chips, you can chop up regular chocolate.
- Then heat up your heavy cream. I microwaved mine for about 1 minute but you can also heat on the stovetop as well.
- Pour your hot cream over the chocolate and let sit a minute or two then whisk until smooth. Let this cool before adding it to your buttercream.
- Sift your powdered sugar and cocoa powder together to remove any lumps
- Cream your softened butter until smooth, then start adding in your powdered sugar mixture. Then add in your salt and vanilla. Whip until light and fluffy
- Fold in your cooled ganache until everything is combined. Frosting will be soft.
Tips For Decorating A Cake
You don't need a lot of fancy tools to decorate a cake but it helps to at least have an offset spatula, bench scraper, and turntable. You can find inexpensive cake decorating sets online or at cake decorating stores. 
If you need more information on how to decorate a cake for the first time, you can follow my easy tutorial on how to make your first cake.
How To Decorate A Chocolate Cake Step-By-Step
- Trim the domes off the tops of your cakes with a serrated knife so they are flat.
- Put some frosting between the layers and smooth it out with an offset spatula so the frosting is flat. You can even add in some nuts or candy like I did or just leave it plain.
- Place your second layer of cake on top.
- Then cover the whole cake in a thin layer of frosting. This is called the crumb coat and it seals in the crumbs of the cake so they don't get into the final layer of frosting. Chill your cake in the fridge for 15 minutes before adding the final layer of frosting.
- Frost the cake in your final layer of buttercream and smooth out the sides and the top. I use a bench scraper to smooth the sides and clean up the top edges with the offset spatula. Put the cake back in the fridge to chill while you make the ganache drip.
- Heat the chocolate for 1 minute in the microwave. Add the cream and heat for one more minute. Let everything sit for about 5 minutes then stir until smooth.
- Make sure your cake is cold and your ganache drip has cooled to 90ĀŗF (barely warm to the touch) before dripping or it will run down the side of the cake.
- Start by adding the drips to the outside edge then fill in the top with the rest of the ganache and smooth it out with your offset spatula.
- Next, I add a swirl of buttercream around the top border using a 1M piping tip.
- All that left to do is add our candy and cookies on top and we're done!
FAQ
Yes! I did a little test batch with some leftover cake batter and they rose up beautifully. I only filled the cups about halfway. Some overflowed because I filled them too much. Did not stop me from eating them though!Ā 
Absolutely! You can wrap your cakes in plastic wrap and freeze your cake layers right after you bake them and lock in the moisture so the layers stay super moist. Just defrost and stack like your normally would.
You can also freeze fully decorated cakes. Wrap them in plastic wrap before freezing and then when you're ready you can defrost the cake in the fridge for 24 hours before serving.
Yes you can! You can substitute a nice gluten free flour mix like Cup4Cup or Bobs Red Mill gluten free baking mix.
The great thing about this cake is that you can easily switch out the milk for almond milk, soy milk, or even coconut milk! You can even make the chocolate drip dairy-free by using a bar of dairy-free chocolate and water instead of cream. Check out my water ganache recipe for more information.
There are a lot of commercial egg replacers out there but so far I like the King Arthur egg replacer the best. If you don't have that, you can use ā cup of unsweetened applesauce or one mashed banana in place of the eggs.
Yes! If you want to use melted butter instead of oil you definitely can and sometimes I do
Recipe
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale
Ingredients
Easy Chocolate Cake Recipe
- 10 oz AP flour 2 cups
- 14 oz granulated sugar 2 cups
- 4 oz natural cocoa powder like HERSHEYS 1 cup
- 1 Ā½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 8 oz buttermilk room temperature - 1 cup
- 8 oz hot coffee or hot water - 1 cup
- 4 oz vegetable oil Ā½ cup
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
- 6 oz unsalted butter softened
- 10 oz powdered sugar
- 1.5 oz cocoa powder
- 1 oz milk
- 10 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 6 oz heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
Chocolate Drip
- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate
- 4 oz heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Easy chocolate cake instructions
- Heat oven to 350ĀŗF and prepare two 8ā cake pans with cake goop or another preferred pan releaseĀ
- Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on low 5 seconds just until combined.Ā
- Add in the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape the bowl.
- Turn the mixer down to low and add in the hot coffee and mix until just its just combined.Ā
- Pour the batter into your prepared cake pans.
- Bake the cakes for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes in the pan for about 15 minutes (or until the pan is barely warm to the touch) then invert onto wire racks to cool completely before frosting.Ā
Fudge Buttercream Instructions
- Heat the cream until just steaming and pour over chocolate (or microwave your milk and chocolate together for 1-2 minutes until steaming) Let it sit for 5 minutes and whisk until smooth.
- Place the softened butter in the bowl of your mixer with the whisk attachment and whisk until smooth
- Sift the cocoa powder and sugar into the butter and continue whisking. It will by dry and crumbly at first, keep going until smooth
- Add in the milk 1 tablespoon at a time. Then vanilla and salt. Whisk on high until fluffy.Ā
- whisk in the cooled ganache. Frosting is swill be softt. Chill for 20 minutes if you want it firmer.Ā
Chocolate drip recipe
- Heat the cream until just steaming and pour over the chocolate (or microwave your milk and chocolate together for 1-2 minutes until steaming) Let it sit for 5 minutes and whisk until smooth. Transfer to another bowl and let cool to 90ĀŗF before piping onto the cold cake.Ā
Hanako says
Hello Liz š Avid fan here š Can you make the measurements into grams? I am so poor at numbers and we are used to use grams here in Norway š pretty pretty pretty please š thank you so much š
The Sugar Geek Show says
Just hit that metric button under the ingredients and you got grams š
Abbey Burke says
Hiya Iām from the uk do you use self raising flour or just plain four ??
The Sugar Geek Show says
UK has cake flour, google shipton mills cake and pastry flour
Kimberly says
Okay, I feel like a dummy asking. Are heavy cream and heavy whipping cream interchangeable? I can only find one (heavy whipping cream) in my grocery store and googling comes up with conflicting information.
My soon-to-be 15 yr oldās birthday request was a chocolate and yellow stacked cake! Looking forward to baking your cake recipes this weekend. š
Elizabeth Marek says
For this purpose yes they are
Monica says
GREAt Day! Can you use melted butter instead of veg oil?
Elizabeth Marek says
You can but it won't taste quite as moist
Corneluis says
Hi, love your strawberry cake. I have made it 4 times! Every slice was amazing. I need help in the 1st 3 ingredients for the chocolate cake above.
10 oz AP flour 2 cups
14 oz granulated sugar 2 cups
4 oz natural cocoa powder like HERSHEYS 1 cup
The measurement in the front doesn't match the measurement at the end of the line. Which is correct?
Elizabeth Marek says
Hi there. These are correct. 1 cup of flour weighs 5 ounces. 1 cup of sugar weighs 7 ounces. This is why we use a scale. Different ingredients weigh different amounts.
Zelma says
Hello! Can I make this recipe using a hand balloon whisk or electric whisk?
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes you can
Saima says
Good recipe but wish it was in metric
Elizabeth Marek says
You can select the metric button on the recipe card
Rashmi says
Hey Liz,
Can i bake this cake in one 9" sq cake pan? Pl. guide on temp and time settings of convection
Love
Rashmi
Elizabeth Marek says
Please use the cake batter calculator above the recipe to adjust the amount of batter
uma g says
thank you so much for this recipe...it was great for my blackforest cake. I am making this again. question, how much instant coffee do i add to half cup of hot water? my cake raised alot. any reason for that?
Elizabeth Marek says
It should say on the container how much instant coffee you should add to one cup (8 ounces) of water
yaren says
i made this cake for my brother's cake and everybody seemed to love it! it was so easy to make and delicious nonetheless, looks like it's gonna be my go to choc cake recipe š
Angie says
Hi liz , will This recipe be enough for 3 6" layers Pans 2" tall each or would i have to do 1.5 batch?
Elizabeth Marek says
You can use the cake batter calculator above the recipe to figure out how much you need to make.
JANE M says
I would like to bake this recipe in 2x 10" x 2" pans. Will I have to adjust the baking powder and/or baking soda amounts since the tin surface area is larger? I adjusted the rest of the recipe so I have 9 cups of batter.
Thanks for your help.
Elizabeth Marek says
No you do not need to make any other adjustments
Bless says
Hi I have to make a wedding cake and the bottom 10inch of the 3 tiers is chocolate. Will This recipe hold up well for a tiered cake with proper dowelling. Tanx.
Elizabeth Marek says
Yes it will
Kimberly says
Three months ago I asked a silly question and got a prompt reply back. I appreciate the time you took to answer my question and was able to use the recipe with confidence (that I wasnāt messing up a simple instruction).
I alternated this recipe with the funfetti cake recipe for my 15 year oldās birthday cake. It was a huge success and the chocolate cake layers were the clear winner. Both recipes stacked well for a four-layer double barreled cake.
Using your recipe again this week to donate a birthday cake to a deserving 11 year old girl.
I appreciate the wealth of information and tasty recipes you share on your blog. Thank you!
Sheri says
Looking forward to tasting this. Currently, the cake is in the freezer awaiting the big day. Can this frosting be made up a day or so ahead of time and be kept in the refrigerator and/or frozen for a certain amount of time?
Sugar Geek Show says
Yes check out my easy buttercream frosting recipe for more info. This frosting can last 2 days at room temp, 2 weeks in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer.
Bree M says
I absolutely LOVE this chocolate cake. I am Australian and have only every known the typical chocolate mud cake recipes when it comes to cooking a chocolate cake. This simple chocolate cake has changed the way I cook and my customers love it !
Chonte' says
Best chocolate cake recipe EVER!!!! Thank you so much for sharing.
Julie says
I love the batter scale calculator you provided, thank you! I did have one question about weighing out the eggs when the amount isn't an even say "2 eggs". How do I weigh 2.66 eggs?
Sugar Geek Show says
I'd recommend using a scale for all of your baking, so that way if you use the batter calculator it will be easier to weigh out weirder amounts. One large egg is generally 2 ounces. https://sugargeekshow.com/news/digital-kitchen-scale/
Steph says
Would this chocolate cake taste good with your vanilla easy buttercream?
Sugar Geek Show says
Absolutely!
Jessica says
Hello, I just made this recipe. Can I put it in the fridge for two days until Iām ready to frost the cake? Thank you
Sugar Geek Show says
Hi! I would wrap the cakes in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer until you're ready to frost. They can sometimes dry out in the fridge.
Veena says
Hi, would callebaut cocoa powder work with this recipe?
Thanks
Kristen Chang says
Delicious both cake and frosting. I will be using this as my chocolate cake recipe from now on. Before, I had about 3 I liked but this is better than them all.