Sour Cream Chocolate Layer Cake
This Sour Cream Chocolate Cake is a recipe from Scientifically Sweet Chocolate cookbook and it is so soft, moist and plush with a smooth, balanced chocolate flavor. I cover it with the most delicious chocolate whipped cream cheese frosting that tastes like ice cream. It is light and airy while also tasting rich and creamy. This butter-based cake batter makes beautiful layers that are perfect for stacking. If you love making chocolate cake, check out my most popular Best Moist Chocolate Cake.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
- Soft and tender texture - these cake layers are so soft and fluffy that your fork will just slide right through them. The combination of butter, sour cream, hot water and melted chocolate shortens the texture so it melts in your mouth.
- Smooth chocolate flavor - you will love the smooth chocolate taste that comes with sour cream in the batter. A bit of cocoa powder with melted dark chocolate adds just the right amount of chocolate flavor without making it taste bitter. Sour cream complements the natural acidity of chocolate and balances the sweetness.
- Even, flat cake layers - the batter bakes up evenly to make nice flat cake layers that are perfect for stacking. They also freeze very well so you can plan ahead to make the cake in advance.
- Whipped cream cheese frosting - this luscious frosting is inspired by a recipe from my mom. She used to make a frosting with cream cheese and cool whip for every cake at every celebration and it was so good. This is my chocolate version with fresh whipped cream and it tastes like chocolate ice cream!
INGREDIENTS FOR CHOCOLATE SOUR CREAM CAKE
- Butter - you can use salted butter or unsalted butter for this recipe. If you use salted butter, then reduce the added salt by half.
- Granulated sugar - simple white sugar will keep this cake sweet and moist.
- Cocoa powder - you can make do with basic quality flour, sour cream and milk, but you should get your hands on some good quality cocoa powder. It's the main flavor and you want it to shine so use the best you can find. I love to use this Dutch Process cocoa
- All purpose flour - you do not need specialty cake flour to make a wonderful chocolate cake. Just be sure to measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour is the most common mistake and leads to tough and dry cake. The most accurate way to measure flour is using a scale. If you don't have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, spoon it into your measuring cup and use a knife to level it off. This batter is meant to be quite runny so refrain from adding more flour to make it thicker.
- Pure vanilla extract - vanilla is essential to enhance the flavor of the cocoa to elevate the chocolate flavor. I love this Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla extract.
- Salt - this is one of the most important ingredients in chocolate cake. Without salt, cocoa-based desserts can just taste flat no matter how much cocoa you add. I always use fine table salt for baking as the finer crystals disperse and dissolve readily. If you use kosher salt, you will need to use twice as much since it is less dense, and it doesn't have the same impact on flavor enhancement compared to iodized salt for baking.
- Eggs - two whole eggs will set the structure of this cake and help emulsify the batter.
- Sour cream - it's one of the star ingredients that makes this cake so tender. It contributes cultured dairy undertones, rich flavor and body (thanks to its high protein and fat content) that complement the cocoa taste.
- Dark chocolate - you'll need pure dark chocolate for the cake batter and the frosting. I use semisweet chocolate for this recipe, and anything between 50 and 60% cocoa solids will work. You can blend semisweet chocolate with my favorite bittersweet chocolate callets which are very convenient.
- Cream cheese - this frosting is divine. It is whipped chocolate cream cheese frosting that tastes like chocolate cheesecake ice cream!
- Cream - you'll need whipping cream with at least 35% milk fat to make the frosting. It is light, creamy and not too sweet.
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR SOUR CREAM CHOCOLATE CAKE
- STEP 1). First we make the liquid chocolate concoction by combining chopped dark chocolate, boiling water and sour cream into a smooth pudding-like mixture. Be sure to whisk the chocolate and hot water first until melted and smooth to let the water cool down before stirring in the sour cream otherwise you might get some curdled milk protein. Curdled milk protein is not in this recipe.
- STEP 2). Next up, get the dry ingredients together. Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and blend well.
- STEP 3). Now the all-familiar creaming stage. You might expect me to say cream for 5 minutes until very pale and fluffy, but I won't. There is such a thing as over-creaming. It can actually lead to a dry cake! Adding so much air into the batter might make it fluffy but also dry. Think about crisp sugar cookies - the more you cream the butter and sugar, the crispier the cookie because of all that air that's built in.
- STEP 4). For this cake, just cream for 2 minutes or so until the butter and sugar are smooth and lightened by a shade. Beat in vanilla and eggs until evenly combined and the mixture is soft and pillowy. Then begin adding the flour mixture alternately with the liquid chocolate mixture in about 3 stages, mixing on low between additions, until the batter is smooth.
- STEP 5). Ready, set, BAKE! This cake will bubble and puff as it bakes and then will shrink slightly on cooling so you should be left with more-or-less even layers.
HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
This will blow your mind - it has no butter and it is incredible! It's a creamy, airy chocolate cream cheese frosting that is delicately sweetened and lightened with a pile of fresh whipped cream folded in. From the fridge this frosting actually tastes and feels like ice cream.
EXPERT BAKING TIPS
- Have all ingredients at room temperature. This ensures that they blend evenly together to make a homogenous batter for the best texture and even rising.
- Use full fat sour cream. The standard fat content of regular sour cream is 14%. If you use light sour cream with 5% milk fat, the recipe will still work, but it will lack some of the richness and tenderness.
- Ensure cream cheese is soft. Cold cream cheese is harder to breakdown which means it is more prone to leaving lumps in your frosting. Blend the cream cheese thoroughly with sugar before adding the cream for the smoothest texture.
- Use a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients for best results.
RECIPE FAQ
This recipe works with both Dutch process and natural cocoa powder. For a darker color like in this photo, I use high fat Dutch cocoa powder. My preference is this one and this one. Natural cocoa has a wonderful fruity flavor and I like to use it as well. You can use Hershey's natural cocoa or this one that I love.
Sour cream really makes this cake delicious and it's one of the star ingredients, but if sour cream is not available to you where you live, you can also make this recipe using an equal amount of full fat Greek yogurt. Another suitable substitution is crème fraîche which is a type of fermented dairy product somewhere between yogurt and sour cream.
It's not more fat! Moisture comes from liquid, not fat. So you can add more butter and more oil, but it will really just make the cake more dense and more tender by shortening the texture. Fat will not make a cake moist as only liquids can add moisture. This cake is moist because of the correct proportions of liquid to dry ingredients.
If your cakes baked up with a small crack at the top, it may be that your oven runs hot which dries out the surface or the batter was too dry from too much flour. For best results, use a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients. It may also happen if you let the batter sit out for too long before baking. In this case the leavening agents will react in the batter and release gases before the batter sets and the gas will escape through the surface of the batter instead of being trapped as air bubbles in the cake crumb structure.
If you see large holes through the cake crumb, this is called tunneling. It is a common phenomenon that happens for various reasons including uneven distribution of leavening agents or over-mixing the batter. You can read all about the science of tunneling in cakes in this article.
STORAGE AND FREEZING
Store this cake at room temperature, covered or in an airtight container for up to a day, then refrigerate it for up to 5 days if keeping it for longer. Bring it to room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving.
Yes! I often make the cake layers in advance and freeze them for when I need them. To do this, let the cake layers cool completely on a wire rack. Once cool, wrap them individually in plastic wrap, and then wrap them in aluminum foil. Place them in a resealable plastic bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
Sour Cream Chocolate Layer Cake
Ingredients
Cake batter:
- 3 oz (85g) semisweet dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
- ½ cup (118ml) boiling water
- ⅔ cup (160ml) full fat sour cream
- 1 ⅔ cups (235g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (21g) cocoa powder (I prefer this Dutch cocoa or this one)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 oz (227g) cream cheese, softened
- ¾ cup (90g) powdered confectioner's sugar, sifted
- 3 oz (85g) semisweet dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cups (315ml) 35% whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 8-inch round cake pans, dust lightly with flour or cocoa powder. The cocoa powder helps the batter cling to the sides of the pan to help it climb up and rise higher. Line the base with rounds of parchment paper.
- Make the cake batter. Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl and pour over boiling water. Let stand for a minute and then whisk until smooth. Whisk in sour cream and set aside.
- Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk to blend well.
- Combine softened butter with sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl and use a handheld mixer on medium-high speed to whip for 2-3 minutes until smooth, light and fluffy.. You can also use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until well combined after each addition. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three parts alternating with chocolate/sour cream mixture. Once all ingredients are combined, mix on high speed for 5 seconds to help emulsify the batter.
- Divide mixture evenly between prepared pans and smooth it out. Bake for 25-28 minutes until the tops spring back when lightly touched and the cakes begin to come away from the sides of the pans. A skewer inserted into the center should come out clean and the cakes should rise quite evenly with a flat surface. Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes before inverting. The cakes are very soft and delicate so don't turn them out too early.
- Make the frosting. First whip the cream. Pour the cold whipping cream into a large bowl and whip until it holds stiff peaks. Set aside ⅓ cup (80ml) of whipped cream in a medium bowl for the filling. Place soft cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and mix for about 1 minute using an electric handheld mixer on medium-high speed until very smooth. Add sifted powdered sugar and mix until very glossy, lump-free and a bit fluffy. Add melted, slightly cooled chocolate and vanilla and mix until blended. Add about ½ cup of whipped cream and fold it in quickly until evenly blended to lighten the mixture. Then continue to fold in the remaining whipped cream in two batches until combined. Work quickly because the cold cream can set the chocolate and make the frosting stiff.
- Make the filling. Take 1 cup of the prepared frosting from above and add it to the medium bowl with the reserved ⅓ cup of whipped cream. Fold it together very gently to make a lighter filling for between the cake layers.
- Assemble the cake. Once cakes are cooled, place one cake layer on a serving plate. Use a large offset spatula to spread the filling over the top, spreading it out gently to the edges. Place the other cake layer on top so it aligns with the sides of the bottom layer. Cover the entire cake with frosting and use the offset spatula to even out the sides and make swooshes and swirls on the top layer. Decorate however you'd like, sprinkles are welcome!
Amazing cake, so light and moreish. The instructions were very clear and easy to follow. Can't wait to make more from you. Thank you for an incredible recipe x
Thanks Andrea! I love this recipe and I'm so glad you chose to make it!
Good stuff!
Hi
Can I use glazed cherries instead ?
Thanks .
Hi Carmen! I wouldn't recommend that as it will make the filling overly very sweet.