Simple yet decadent Chocolate Cake Recipe that is the perfect base for many different buttercream frostings. Makes two 9″ cakes that are great for stacking.
Easy Chocolate Cake Recipe
Need a rich and moist cake recipe? I’ve made this recipe a few times and I enjoy it each time. It’s really no big secret of a recipe. In fact, you may have seen it or made it yourself. I found the recipe on the back of a box Cake Flour.
Yep, this recipe is from the back of a Swans Down Cake Flour box. I guess they wouldn’t post a bad recipe on the box, would they? I didn’t have sour cream that the recipe calls for, so I substituted whole milk in its place. You could also go to the Greek Yogurt route as well.
Do you know the “trick” to getting your cakes out of a pan?
Parchment paper and butter. Again, no big trick, just an extra step. I usually use non-stick spray with flour and that does pretty well. But if you want to make sure that the cake WILL release with ease, butter your pan, put down parchment paper, and butter it again.
Once the cake is done baking, leave it in the cake pan for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack.
Tips for a flat cake top
If the top is domed, you can cool it upside down to help with flattening it out. I also use a Wilton Cake Leveler
to cut off the tops. And, here’s another tip, turn your cakes upside down on the cake pedestal.
In the photo above, the bottom cake is upside down and the top cake is sitting flat on top of it. When I’m ready to frost the cake, I’m going to cut the top off and flip the cake over. This achieves two goals; 1. A flat cake top and 2. Less crumbs in your crumb coating.
Try it the next time you frost a cake and let me know what you think!
If you’re in the mood for rich chocolaty desserts, you may want to try these Copycat Starbucks Flourless Chocolate Cookies, some Hot Chocolate Bread Pudding, or whip up a sheet of Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars!
This recipe is part two of a three part series including Peanut Butter Cookie Dough and a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake.
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 3 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 1 cup butter
- 2 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/4 cup cake flour
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup hot coffee
Instructions
- Remove butter from the fridge. Chop chocolate and place in a double boiler. Melt chocolate and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Prepare two 9 inch round cake pans with cooking spray with flour and parchment paper and set aside.
- Cream butter and add in brown sugar. Beat in a mixer until smooth. Add one egg at a time until light and fluffy. Add cooled chocolate, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Alternate adding in the flour and cream and mix until just combined. Remove from mixer and hand stir in water and coffee.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30 minutes.
- Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Leave them inverted to help flatten the cakes if they are domed.
- Once cakes are cool, wrap them in plastic wrap and then place them in the fridge or freezer.
Notes
Recipe from Swann's Cake Flower
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Uh uh… Mine just collapsed!,I followed the recipe to the t, but somehow it didn’t work for me.
It could be a few things. #1- Your oven temperature may be off. Try adding an oven thermometer to see what it reads. #2 – It may not have been cooked all the way. Test it with a toothpick. #3 – It was over beaten and there was too much air in the batter. The flour and milk should be mixed until just combined. Do not over stir. #4 – Opening the oven early in the baking cycle can cause major temperature fluctuations. Don’t open the door until the last 5 minutes of cooking. I’ve had many cakes collapse in the center. It’s a learning curve. If it is cooked all the way through, extra frosting will fill in the area or flip the cake over and frost the bottom. Good Luck on the next cake!
I think u r right Karyn. I did open the oven halfway thru the cycle.im certain that it caused my cake to collapse.well like u said I managed to cover up my flaw with choc ganache.
N guess what! my folks enjoyed the sweet treat!I ll b careful next time though!
Thanks for ur quick reply,u saved my day.n a big thanks for sharing this recipe!
Hi I know I’m quite late leaving a comment.. but I did make this cake.. I followed the recipe exactly.. my butter and sugar ratio was kinda off. I had to add about a whole stick of butter and a bit more to get the right consistency.. the cake came out beautifully.. thanks for the tips.. definitely plan on baking more..!
Thanks for the feedback. I’m going to search for where I got the recipe from… I made this cake back in 2012 and while I do strive to always add the right amounts, typos happen. Maybe it was supposed to be 1 and 1/4 cup and somewhere along the way in different recipe plug-ins it got messed up. I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out. Thanks for letting me know.
why would you put it in the fridge or freezer yuck, I would put this in a 9×13 pan instead of round pans. what can you use if ya dont have cream.
There are a few reasons why bakers will place a cake into a fridge or freezer. First, you want to bake a cake ahead of time so, you can freeze it for three months. Having a chilled cake from the fridge helps with frosting the cake. There will be fewer crumbs flaking off into the frosting and less likelihood of ripping the cake. Most professional bakers will crumb coat and cake then flash freeze the cake to trap in all those crumbs so that you don’t have them on the finished cake. It’s perfectly acceptable to bake a cake in a square pan. If you don’t have heavy cream, you can combine 3/4 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of melted butter for every cup of heavy cream. I hope that helps.