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.
RATE THIS RECIPE
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe
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?!
Check out @mycakeschool for more!
This is the BEST chocolate cake recipe I have ever found! My family went nuts for it! Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out perfectly! Thanks so much for this great recipe!
Oh - I also made it for a client and used applesauce instead of the oil, and it turned out just as good as the original recipe! Very moist and rich.
Hi Jeanf, Wonderful, I'm happy your family liked the cake. Thank you so much for posting your thoughts on this recipe......using applesauce instead of the oil is a great tip.
So good! I froze some like you suggested.
Oh. The rest of my comment disappeared. Lol. Will the cake be dry when I thaw them in the future? Do I need to use sugar water? Thanks
Hi Cc, glad that you like this recipe! The cake will not be dry at all once thawed. In fact, not that I would recommend this, but we thawed a layer from this recipe this week and it was SO good...and we laughed later when we realized that it had been in the freezer for 6 months! haha ;0) It was still just as good (had been wrapped in plastic wrap & foil)
Hi Melissa, That's hilarious. Thanks for your reply.
Hi Can i use this recipe for a 10 inch round cake, if so how long do i bake
it for. Thanks
Hi Naomi, Yes, you can use this recipe for a 10 inch round cake, you will need 6 cups of cake batter for a 10 round and 2 inch deep pan. At 350 degrees it will bake in 45 to 50 minutes. You should use a rose nail in the center of the pan to help distribute the heat for even baking. Hope you like the recipe.
Hi Bebe. This is my favorite cake and the one I use when I don't need a Mud cake. YUM! I could use some advice. Do you think this would hold up under fondant- with a coconut pastry cream filling in the layers? My client wants it with a Godiva Chocolate Liqueur infusion. I though I could make the dam with chocolate ganache and ganache under fondant. The cake also has a multi- lop fondant own and fondant bowling pins on sticks. Yikes. I'm afraid a more durable/denser chocolate cake would not work well with the pastry cream- texture-wise, with the pastry cream so delicate, and this cake would be great ( with buttercream). Any thoughts? Thank you.
Addendum to the above- other option is put a thick layer of chocolate buttercream under pastry cream, dam with BC and crumb coat.
Hi paintmycake, This recipe will hold up to fondant. I would not use a thick layer of chocolate buttercream under the pastry cream. It would be delicious with a buttercream dam for the pastry cream filling and a buttercream frosting. However, if you are going to cover the cake with fondant, our first choice would be to use a ganache dam to keep the pastry cream in place and ganache (not too thick) under the fondant. The buttercream would work under the fondant but ganache is our preference. It just makes such a nice smooth and firm surface on which to lay the fondant. Good luck with the cake, it sounds delicious!