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Chocolate Cake from Scratch

Last Updated On: January 03, 2024 | Published: October 07, 2012 by Melissa Diamond | 374 Comments
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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.)

The BEST Classic Chocolate Cake Recipe from Scratch! MyCakeSchool.com. So decadent, moist, and delicious!

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
Decadent Classic Chocolate Cake from Scratch! This amazingly moist and delicious homemade chocolate cake is one of our most popular! My Cake School Online Cake Classes, Cake Recipes, and more.

 

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

The Reverse Creaming Method is a popular method for creating a slightly denser, more melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Cakes using the Reverse Creaming Method often have a finer crumb and you'll notice while preparing the recipe that the ingredients are added in a different order than what you may be used to.

With this method, the butter is added to the flour mixture/dry ingredients to create a crumbly moist sand-like mixture rather than creaming it with the sugar. The combined wet ingredients are slowly added to the batter rather than alternating between wet and dry ingredients. 

Some of our recipes that use this method are our Orange Dreamsicle Cake, Scratch Strawberry Cake, Yellow Cake, and Pink Lemonade Cake.

If you are new to this method, you may be interested in watching our free video here:  The Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing!

**If you prefer to use the traditional creaming method, check out our Chocolate Cupcakes recipe! The only difference in this recipe is the mixing method. You can use this recipe for cake layers as well.

Coffee is a common ingredient in scratch chocolate cakes like this one (as well as our Fudge Cake and Chocolate Sour Cream Cake). The purpose of the coffee is that it enhances the chocolate flavor in the cake.

It is unlikely that you will be able to detect any of the coffee or espresso flavor in the recipe, but it does seem to add a richness to the chocolate that we think you'll really enjoy.

It is fine to use a decaffeinated coffee, or if you need to skip the coffee altogether, you can substitute with hot water instead. Adding hot coffee (or hot water) further develops the cocoa, which deepens the chocolate flavor.

This scratch chocolate cake can be kept in an airtight container or under a cake dome at room temperature for a couple of days. After that, we recommend moving it to the refrigerator for freshness.

If you refrigerate this cake, make sure to move it to the kitchen counter 2-3 hours before serving so that it will have plenty of time to warm and soften.

Because of the butter in the cake as well as the frosting, it will become firm when chilled.

Yes, just as with most of our cake recipes (from lemon cake to orange cake, strawberry cake, and more), these chocolate layers freeze beautifully.

Once the cake have cooled a bit, wrap the warm (or room temperature) layers individually in plastic wrap followed by aluminum foil. For extra support, we like to place each layer on it's own foil-wrapped cake cardboard and then wrap. Freeze for up to three months!

To thaw, move the wrapped chocolate cake layers to the kitchen counter. Unwrap after 30-45 minutes (once condensation is no longer forming on the wrapping).

Assemble and decorate as usual. Some bakers like to assemble the cakes while the layers are still partially frozen as they are less fragile.

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. 

The BEST Classic Chocolate Cake from Scratch! So decadent, moist, and delicious! Recipe by MyCakeSchool.com!

The BEST Classic Chocolate Cake from Scratch! So decadent, moist, and delicious! Recipe by MyCakeSchool.com!

Chocolate Cake from Scratch

BY Melissa and Bebe
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.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 26 minutes
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15
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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.  
4.56 from 65 votes (65 ratings without comment)

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374 Comments

  1. Hi Dawn, I'm happy you are giving it a try. It is unsweetened cocoa, not dark cocoa. I used Ghirardelli but whatever your favorite brand is is fine. Hope you like it.

    Reply

  2. Hi, We usually have only 1% milk around the house. Should I buy full fat, or will the 1% work? I could also use part regular liquid Cremora. Thank you.

    Reply

  3. Hi Judy, You could use the 1% milk and I don't think you will notice much difference. The extra fat in whole milk helps to make the cake tender and give it a finer crumb so being careful not to over beat the batter and it will be fine.
    I don't know the ingredients of liquid Cremora, but if you think it will add a bit of fat, I think I would give that a try.

    Reply

  4. Hello! I'm new to My Cake School and I absolutely LOVE everything on here! You are wonderful teachers and so creative! Thanks for sharing your skills and passion. It is very appreciated!! I do have a question regarding this recipe. Do you bake all 3 cakes at the same time and, if so, do you rotate them half way through? Or should they be baked individually? Thanks!

    Reply

  5. Hi Lauren, thank you for your sweet comments about the site. I bake all three cakes at the same time, with 2 pans on the top oven rack and one on the bottom. When the top 2 are done I then move the cake pan from the lower rack to the top to finish baking. I stager the cake pans as much as possible so they will not be directly above or below one another.

    Reply

  7. I have tried a gazillion Chocloate cale recipes; never satisfied!!! Until now!!!!! I'm thrilled!!! LOOOOOOVE THIS RECIPE!!!! Ty Ty Ty

    Reply

  10. Hi Donna, yes, you can use buttermilk instead of milk. I would increase the baking powder from 1/2 teaspoon to 1 tsp. because of the increased acidity of the buttermilk........and keep the 2 teaspoons baking soda as written

    Reply

  11. I need a substitute for the vegetable oil. Would it be better to use additional butter, extra virgin olive oil (which my client can tolerate), or applesauce? Need to know asap for a cake I have to make for Tuesday!

    Thank you so much!

    Reply

  12. Hi JeanF, you could use additional butter for the 1/4 cup veg. oil.....melt the butter. Also, I think it would be fine to use extra virgin olive oil

    Reply