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.
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Greetings, Melissa and BeBe :-) It's Fall, time to start baking! This is a wonderful recipe. My question, your thoughts re adding coffee (stirring while adding to prevent curdling) to the egg, oil milk, liquids mixture vs at the end of the blending process. Overall liquid will have cooled a bit. Any "harm" in doing things that way? Lisa G.
Hi Lisa, I don't think there would be any problem at all. If you are using instant coffee, you could make it with 1/2 cup hot water, stirring to dissolve the granules then adding cold water to reach the 1 cup mark.
Hi BeBe, thank you for your reply to my question. That's great news, really! This is delicious cake and I love the idea that all liquid and all dry "each" have their own container and associated steps. I should also ask in the interest of science and structure, that at the end of all the steps as described in your recipe, now that I have eliminated the addition of coffee at the end of the process (having combined it with the egg, milk, etc), there's a 30 second final stage mixing which I would think relates to a final reinforcement of structure. Give things a final scrap and still do the remaining 30 seconds of beating? Or would this be "over-beating". Thank you again for your assistance and this delicious recipe. :-) Lisa G.
You can skip the final 30 seconds of mixing.
Great! Thank you again for your help. Delicious cake. My line of "hungry cake eaters" are standing by. ;-)
Hi! I just made 1/2 recipe to test it. It's in the oven now. I was a bit confused as to what speed to mix on after adding the coffee. Instructions say to add coffee slowly so that took a little time . I added on slow as to avoid any splashing out of the bowl. Does that time count toward the 30 seconds? And what speed do you mix on once the coffee has been added on slow? Medium? Thanks for your help! The batter tasted amazing.
Sorry for a second post about this cake, but I took it out of the oven, let it cool and taste tested it right away! :) Amazing cake. So moist. I was wondering though why the coffee added in the end has to be hot coffee and not cool. How hot should it be. I feel like I'm going to melt the butter by adding hot coffee. lol
Just wanted to share my results - tender, moist, chocolaty, beautifully baked, flat on top I don't think I'll even have to level!! So for my test batch I made half the recipe, put it in a 10" round pan because that's what I'll be using for my cake. I placed 3 flour nails near the center and it baked exactly 25 minutes at 350. Perfect results! I'm impressed. My layer was 1 to 1-18" high so I'll be baking 3- 1" layers for my cake then filling. That way I won't have to torte!
Thanks again for this delicious recipe. I used Callebeaut Cocoa powder. It was natural not Dutch Process. Can either be used with this recipe? I didn't see Dutch Process stated anywhere.
Hi Gloria, You can count the time you are pouring as part of the mixing time. I mix on low/medium just until the coffee is mixed in. The water in the recipe can be just warm enough to dissolve the coffee crystals. In theory, the hot/warm water is to help the cocoa dissolve into the cake batter, though I have not had a problem with the sifted cocoa dissolving. I'm happy the recipe turned out well for you and that you like it. It is one of our favorites. For this recipe you should use only natural cocoa powder.
HI, just wondering about the temperature to cook the cake; is it 350 degrees celcius of farenheit? Sorry if this is a silly question!
Hi Jamie, It is 350 degrees Fahrenheit
When freezing the layers do you let them cool completely before placing in the freezer? When thawing do I thaw layers in refrigerator over night and then decorate the next day? Worried about condensation problems, freezer burn, ice crystals, etc. Please help. Also can you help with a time line. Baking 6,8,10,12" layers for a wedding on a Saturday.
Hi, Do you think the regular method of mixing will also hold up well under fondant? Thanks!