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The BEST Moist Chocolate Cake recipe
This is the ONLY chocolate cake recipe you'll ever need! It's SO moist and rich, not too sweet and just keeps getting better with age. It never dries out. Pair it with my Best Chocolate Frosting and it's a chocoholics dream! Bakeries all over the world use my recipe and have built successful businesses from it. Try it and you'll see.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup (250g) all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup (56g) cocoa powder (I prefer this Dutch cocoa or this one)
NOTE: if you prefer natural cocoa, my preferences are Ghirardelli 100% Cocoa and Hershey's Unsweetened
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
- ¾ teaspoon (4.5g) fine table salt
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup (120ml) vegetable oil (I prefer sunflower oil)
- ¾ cup (180ml) full fat sour cream
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) hot coffee
To make a single layer chocolate cake, try my ULTIMATE Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake.
If fudgy chocolate brownies are your thing, try my BEST Thick Homemade Brownies.
NOTE: for best results, use a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients.
Instructions
- Preheat the 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. Do not use springform pans since this batter is very fluid and it can leak out.
- First prepare the coffee and keep it hot. If you are using instant coffee, add 1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules or 2 teaspoons of espresso powder to 1 cup of just boiled water and set it aside while you prepare the batter.
- Combine dry ingredients. Use a fine mesh sieve to sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl. Add both sugars and salt and whisk to blend very well so the ingredients are evenly combined, pressing out any lumps of brown sugar.
- Combine wet ingredients. Add eggs, oil, sour cream and vanilla to a medium bowl and whisk to blend well. Use a spatula to make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then pour in the wet ingredients. Mix with an electric handheld mixer on medium-low speed until blended. You can also mix it in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium speed or mix by hand using a wire whisk starting in the center and slowly dragging the dry ingredients in from the sides to combine evenly with the wet ingredients. It will be thick and somewhat dry. Add the hot coffee gradually in two stages to minimize clumps forming and mix until evenly combined and the batter is smooth. The batter will be quite thin.
- Bake. Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans and tap the pans on the countertop to allow any large air bubbles to surface and pop. Bake for 30-33 minutes until cakes spring back when pressed gently and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes before running a knife or offset spatula around the sides and inverting the cakes onto the rack to cool completely.
- While the cakes are cooling, prepare my BEST Chocolate Fudge Frosting.
- Assemble the cake. Once cakes are cooled, place one cake layer on a serving plate. Use a large offset spatula to spread about ¾ cup of frosting over the top, spreading it out 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. Enjoy!
