This is my favorite homemade chocolate cake recipe. This chocolate cake recipe is super moist and has a light texture for a triple-dose chocolate flavor, top with chocolate buttercream. This chocolate layer cake can also be made as a sheet cake. See the recipe note.
Original publication in 2013. Now with more explicit instructions and more detailed descriptions. I hope you enjoy the new features in this recipe!
Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake… But better
The pictured cake is a mixture of chocolate buttercream with a mock devil’s food cake. Do you remember the Devil’s Food chocolate cakes you can get in a restaurant or from a box mix? This cake is the same but completely homemade. You can see the reddish hue.
How to make chocolate cake
This is a simple chocolate cake! The batter doesn’t require a mixer. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients in one bowl. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients or vice versa. Add the hot coffee to the mixture and whisk it together. The batter for the cake is very thin—divide it between 2 9-inch cake pans. You can stretch it to make 3 or 4 8-inch or 9-inch cakes. You can also make a quarter-sheet cake with a 9×13-inch pan. See my recipe notes for details.
Lately, I’ve been using sour cream
There are two ways you can make this cake batter, as shown in the video tutorial. The slight difference is due to the wet ingredients. You can use buttermilk or hot water to make the recipe. You can also add sour cream. It doesn’t matter how you do it; the formula is the same. You can reduce the liquids by adding sour cream!
Original Version (pictured and written below). The original recipe makes a thin batter. This cake is extra soft and has a deliciously fluffy texture.
Sour cream Version (written in the recipe notes and demonstrated in the video tutorial). This is a way to make the batter thicker and give the cake more structure. My vanilla cake is also a favorite of mine.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Two 9-inch cake pans should be greased. Line the pans with parchment paper rounds and then grease the parchment papers. The cakes will release effortlessly from their pans when covered with parchment paper. (If you find these parchment papers rounds for cakes helpful, please see this post & video.
Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Set aside. Mix the oil, eggs, and vanilla on medium-high speed with a stand or handheld mixer. Mix in the buttermilk until well combined. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. Add the hot water/coffee and beat on low speed to combine. The batter is very thin.
