The Only Chocolate Cake Recipe You'll Ever Need
Seriously, the only one.
This one is an absolute knockout and scales up beautifully if you ever need to. It is so moist, and so chocolatey, and remains that way for a lot longer than most standard cakes. It also freezes well. The key is the boiling water added at the end. The batter will be much thinner that a standard cake, but trust me, it's a knockout!
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Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (396 g) sugar
- 3/4 cup (63 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (9 g) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (2.8 g) kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon (2.3 g) espresso powder homemade or store-bought
- 1 cup (227 g) milk or buttermilk, almond, or coconut milk
- 1/2 cup (99 g) vegetable oil or canola oil, or melted coconut oil
- 2 large (100 g) eggs
- 2 teaspoons (9.4 g) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (227. g) boiling water
Instructions
- 1
Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray, buttering and lightly flouring, or brushing them with homemade chocolate pan release.
- 2
For the chocolate cake:
- 3
Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well.
- 4
Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter until well combined.
- 5
Distribute cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans (or use a 9 x 18 pan). Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the chocolate cake comes out clean.
- 6
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely.
- 7
Frost the cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting or Vanilla Buttercream frosting, or whatever frosting you desire.