Chocolate Cake from Scratch
This amazing Chocolate Cake from Scratch is ultra moist and so rich and decadent!
We always get rave reviews from this chocolate cake recipe. It is one of our go-to chocolate cakes for all sorts of fillings and frostings (from Almond Joy Cake and Mint Chocolate Chip Cake to Chocolate Oreo Cake and more.)
Table of Contents
Why we Love It
There are so many reasons to love this amazing chocolate cake. Here are just a few:
- Velvety soft, moist texture
- Decadent and rich cake for chocolate lovers
- Makes plenty of batter for an impressive three layer cake
- Perfect go-to chocolate cake for birthdays and other special occasions
How to make a Scratch Chocolate Cake
*You can find the full, printable recipe for this rich chocolate layer cake further down in this post, but here is a quick rundown of how we made the cake!
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease and flour three 8 inch cake pans (We often line our pans with parchment paper as well)
- In a mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: sugar, all purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk these dry ingredients for 1 minute to blend.
- Add softened butter a few pieces at a time while the mixer is on low speed. Mix until the dry ingredients look like coarse sand and the dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, milk , oil and vanilla until blended.
- With the mixer on low speed, SLOWLY add about half of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 1 ½ minutes at medium speed. Scrape the bottom and sides of bowl. Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating for 20 seconds after each pour. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl.
- Next, slowly add the cup of hot coffee (prepared instant coffee or brewed) and mix another 30 seconds until blended. The chocolate cake batter will be very runny. Don't worry!
- Pour into 3 prepared 8" pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center of the cake springs back to the touch or a small wooden pick comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached.The cake layers will pull away ever so slightly from the sides of the pan.
- Cool the cakes 10 minutes on a wire rack and then turn out of the pans.
- *Yields approximately 9 cups of batter, plenty for three 8 inch cake pans and a nice, tall cake!
Recipe FAQs
More Chocolate Cakes
Aside from today's rich chocolate cake, we have created many more Chocolate Cakes that we love!
Some of our most popular are: Marble Cake, Chocolate Velvet Cake, German Chocolate Cake, and Black Forest Cake.
Chocolate Cake from Scratch
This moist, decadent classic chocolate cake from scratch is the BEST! This cake recipe uses the Reverse Creaming Method of mixing, creating an extra moist cake with a tight crumb and velvety texture.
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Ingredients
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 2 ¾ cup (322g) all purpose flour
- 1 cup (82g) unsweetened cocoa (lightly spoon into cup then sift)
- 2 teaspoons (10g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (2g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (2g) salt
- 1 cup 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, softened (do not soften in microwave)
- ¼ cup (54g) vegetable oil (we use Canola oil)
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup (220g) milk
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (220g) hot coffee, it can be instant or brewed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Grease and flour THREE 8 inch cake pans
- In a mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk for 1 minute to blend.
- Add softened butter a few pieces at a time while the mixer is on low speed. Mix until the dry ingredients look like coarse sand and the dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, milk , oil and vanilla until blended.
- Method is important when using the Reverse Creaming Method. With the mixer on low speed, SLOWLY add approximately ½ of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 1 ½ minutes at medium speed. Don't mix above medium speed. Scrape the bottom and sides of bowl. Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating for 20 seconds after each pour. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl.
- Slowly add the cup of hot coffee and mix another 30 seconds until blended. The batter will be very runny. Don't worry!
- Pour into 3 prepared 8" pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center of the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes 10 minutes on a rack and then turn out of the pans.
- *Yields approx 9 cups of batter.
- Making cupcakes? Check out our Classic Chocolate Cupcake Recipe (conventional method of mixing for fluffier cupcakes) Holds up well to fondant
Notes
- These cake layers can be wrapped individually in plastic wrap, followed by aluminum foil, and frozen for up to three months.
- Thaw at room temperature, removing the wrapping after 30-45 minutes.
Loved This Recipe?!
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Hi Melissa/BeBe I just tried the reverse method for the first time making your chocolate cake recipe and it worked a treat, everyone at home said it was the best they have ever tasted including myself, I will be making this from now on, thank you so much for this great recipe.
Hi Marie, Thank you so much for posting your thoughts on this cake ! We are very happy you like the recipe!
Is there some way I can turn this in to a German Chocolate Cake? Geeze, I've had several requests for them lately and I know it's usually the German Chocolate bars for the flavoring. Do you think I could add them to this melted? I don't see much difference in any recipes except on the original you have to separate the eggs and I've got to make this in a 1/2 and 1/4 sheet. I don't like having to whip and fold the whites..
Well I didn't scroll down far enough and you have a German Chocolate Cake recipe....that's what happens when you're tired....lol
Hi Colleen, Yes, being too tired and overlooking something happens to us all the time. I think it would be best to use the German Chocolate recipe. I would be worried about adding melted chocolate to the above recipe, it would add more liquid to the 2 cups liquid already in the recipe. The coconut pecan filling is what really makes the German Chocolate Cake and that could be used with this recipe ........the texture of this recipe is just not as fluffy as the chocolate cake in the German Cho. recipe.......the folded in egg white give it that fluffiness
Oh my! This cake is just devine and totally addictive. This is the first time I have tried the "reverse creaming" method and I must say my mixer didn't cope very well - but I think this was more to do with the butter not being soft enough. I have always softened butter in the microwave which I didn't want to do this time but even leaving out on the bench for some time didn't soften it enough (I had the same problem making the buttercream). Think I will try a different brand of butter.
Hi!
What kind of icing was used for this cake? Pls. Post the ingredients and procedure.
Thanks.
Hi, what is the best method for taking out the cake from the pan? After cooling it in the pan for 10 min - I took it out and half of the bottom stuck to the pan. I greased it prior to putting in the batter. Can I use wax paper?
Hi Shall, To ensure that your cakes will not stick you should cut a circle of wax paper or parchment paper for the bottom of the pan. Grease the pan with shortening, put in the circle of wax paper. Also grease the top of the wax paper. Sprinkle a small amount of flour over the pan, tap it all around the pan, turning out the excess flour. If your cakes cool too long in the pan, this can also cause sticking. We typically just generously grease and flour our pans with the exception of cakes with fruit in the batter, those tend to have more sticking problems so we add wax paper.
Quick question, everything I see one of your cakes in the videos they look lovely and tall. Each time I bake a cake using the same recipes mine seem to fall. I can't think of what I might be doing different than you. Any thoughts? Maybe I need to add a rose nail or something similar to the middle? I don't usually bake cakes larger than 8 or 9 inches.
Hi. I made this recipe last night, and the flavor is yummy, texture is great (I love a nice, dense cake), but the sides caved in, all the way around both layers. I did make only two layers (used a parchment collar) because, with the amount of batter, I thought the layers would be too thin if I did three. Any suggestions about why the sides caved in? I followed the recipe exactly - even weighed the ingredients - and was careful not to overmix. All fresh ingredients. Thanks!
Hi Michelle, I am sorry there was a problem. There are 9 cups of batter in the recipe and I usually put 3 cups of batter in three 8 inch pans for this recipe. Possibly there was too much batter for your 2 pans, even with the cake collar. Another thought is, did you spray the parchment collar with a non stick cooking spray, if so the batter would have nothing to hold on to as it was rising. Also, cooling the cake too long in the cake pans can cause moisture to form inside the cake pan causing a problem. Cooling for 10 minutes is usually enough time to cool. It is disappointing to have something go wrong but I hope you will give the recipe a try another time.