Easy Chocolate Cake

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!

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

1. Preheat your oven to 350ºF 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.
2. 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.
3. Now we’re 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 it’s also developing the cake’s structure.
4. Once you’re done mixing, add in your hot coffee. Mix that up until it’s just combined.
5. You can see the batter is very liquid and that is normal. Divide the batter evenly between two 8″ cake pans.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out cleanly.
7. 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

1. 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 I’m using mini chocolate chips is that they are easier to melt. If you can’t find mini chocolate chips, you can chop up regular chocolate.
2. Then heat up your heavy cream. I microwaved mine for about 1 minute but you can also heat on the stovetop as well.
3. 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.
4. Sift your powdered sugar and cocoa powder together to remove any lumps
5. 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
6. 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

1. Trim the domes off the tops of your cakes with a serrated knife so they are flat.
2. 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.
3. Place your second layer of cake on top.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Make sure your cake is cold and your ganache drip has cooled to 90ºF (barely warm to the touch) before dripping or it will run down the side of the cake.
8. 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.
9. Next, I add a swirl of buttercream around the top border using a 1M piping tip.
10. All that left to do is add our candy and cookies on top and we’re done!

FAQ

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Easy Chocolate Cake

An easy chocolate cake recipe that requires no special mixing method or ingredients. This chocolate cake is super moist, decadent and delicious! Makes two 8″x2″ round cakes with fudge frosting and a chocolate drip. 

4.96 from 124 votes

Print Rate Never Miss A Cake

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 40 mins

Serves: 6 cups

Calories: 416kcal

Author: Elizabeth Marek

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 1/2 tsp baking powder
• ▢ 2 tsp baking soda
• ▢ 1 tsp 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 1/2 cup
• ▢ 2 tsp 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 tsp vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 tsp salt

Chocolate Drip

• ▢ 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate
• ▢ 4 oz heavy whipping cream

Equipment

• ▢
  Kitchen Scale

Instructions

Easy chocolate cake instructions

• Heat oven to 350ºF and prepare two 8” cake pans with cake goop or another preferred pan release 
• 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. 
• 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. 
• 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. 

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 Tbsp at a time. Then vanilla and salt. Whisk on high until fluffy. 
• whisk in the cooled ganache. Frosting is swill be softt. Chill for 20 minutes if you want it firmer. 

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 90ºF before piping onto the cold cake. 

Notes

You can freeze your layers by wrapping them in plastic wrap and then freezing them until you need them. Freezing your layers locks in moisture so they don’t go stale. 

If you want your cakes to be super moist, you can add an extra ounce of oil

To make your easy chocolate cake recipe egg-free, use a commercial egg replacer like King Arthur egg replacer or sugar free applesauce instead of the eggs. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 416kcal (21%) | Carbohydrates: 50g (17%) | Protein: 4g (8%) | Fat: 23g (35%) | Saturated Fat: 15g (75%) | Cholesterol: 51mg (17%) | Sodium: 272mg (11%) | Potassium: 253mg (7%) | Fiber: 3g (12%) | Sugar: 35g (39%) | Vitamin A: 400IU (8%) | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 57mg (6%) | Iron: 2.5mg (14%)

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