What are some delicious chocolate cake recipes?

The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe – A fast, simple, and delicious one-bowl chocolate cake recipe! Updated with gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free options!

The most delicious chocolate cake recipe. Ever? There are several claims about the greatest chocolate cake recipe. I understand. Yet after just one mouthful of this rich, creamy chocolate cake with chocolate icing, everyone at the table exclaimed that it was the finest chocolate cake they’d ever had.

Thus, in my home, this chocolate cake recipe has taken over.

When the accolades poured in, I didn’t even think about telling them how simple it was to make.

In all honesty, it was one of the simplest cakes I’d prepared in a long time, but I just smiled and thanked them.

The praises kept flowing as we proceeded to eat the cake and sip our coffee or iced cold milk.

Then the requests for the recipe started.

When people ask for the recipe and tell you what occasion they want to serve it at, you know they enjoy what you’ve created.

It is, in my opinion, one of the best compliments you can get as a chef.

The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever

It was wonderful to hear that they felt the cake was equally as amazing after their final mouthful as they did the first.

Here’s another amazing feature of this dish. Without the use of a high duty mixer, the cake batter may be produced in a bowl. Of course, this only makes things simpler, but this is a dish that my Grandma would have loved to prepare in her little kitchen with a whisk and a bowl. And I’m sure it would have turned out perfectly, too.

I’m not going to lie: this recipe creates a really rich, luscious chocolate cake. So if you are a faint of heart chocolate cake person, this is not the cake for you.

Based on the Old Fashioned Hershey’s recipe, I went a little overboard with certain alterations, trying cake after cake until I got it exactly right, but the final product was well worth it. The crumbs left on the plate gave that away.

Ingredients

You’ll need the following materials to make this chocolate cake.

all-purpose flour
sugar
unsweetened cocoa powder
baking powder
baking soda
salt
espresso powder – I provide additional information about espresso powder below.
milk – Other options include buttermilk, almond milk, oat milk, and coconut milk.
oil – Vegetable, canola, or melted coconut oil may be used.
eggs – when baking, I like to use room temperature eggs
vanilla extract
boiling water

Step-by-Step Instructions

Prep. Preheat the oven to 350º F. Spray or grease two 9-inch cake pans with baking spray and gently dust them.

Whisk dry ingredients. In a large mixing basin or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well.

Mix in wet ingredients. Mix in the milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract on medium speed until fully blended. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter until well combined.

Bake. Divide the cake batter equally between the two cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the chocolate cake comes out clean.

Frost. Remove from the oven and cool for approximately 10 minutes before removing from the pan and cooling fully. Frost with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.

Espresso Powder

The use of espresso powder in both the chocolate cake and the chocolate icing, in my view, was one of the components that truly brought this cake recipe to life.

If you haven’t tried a little espresso in your chocolate baking, you should.

The espresso elevates the tastes in the same way that vanilla extract does, and I now consider it an important element of my spice cabinet.

Espresso powder is simple to acquire at the grocery store or even online if local grocer doesn’t generally have it, but I use it regularly and it may become pricy. I began producing my own handmade espresso powder and haven’t looked back since! It’s incredibly simple to prepare and have on hand!

Trust me when I tell that it is well worth the effort to have only for those occasions when you are baking with chocolate!

Thus, if you have a chocolate cake aficionado in your midst, bake this dessert for them. If they’ve had a difficult day, this will undoubtedly lighten it for them. If they’ve had a good day, this chocolate cake is a terrific way to celebrate!

Let me repeat: this boosted traditional chocolate cake + this Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe = the finest chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted!

How to Make Ahead and Store the Homemade Chocolate Cake:

The cake and the chocolate icing may both be prepared ahead of time. Let the cakes to cool fully before wrapping each layer in plastic wrap and placing them in a gallon zip-top freezer bag. The cake layers may be frozen for up to a month.

Just take the cake from the freezer and place it in the refrigerator to defrost while still wrapped. Then, frost the cake once it has completely thawed.

Store the cake at room temperature on the counter. To keep the cake fresh, I put it in a cake dome.

Chocolate Cake Modifications You May Be Interested to Know About:

Please keep in mind that I have revised the recipe to incorporate some new items that I have used over the years. This chocolate cake has proven to be much more flexible than I had anticipated! I’ve included some of the tweaks I’ve tried that I believe you may be interested in.

As a Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Recipe:

I’ve successfully made the cake into a gluten-free chocolate cake recipe by substituting an equivalent quantity of gluten-free flour for the all-purpose flour stated in the recipe.

As a Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake Recipe:

To make the cake a dairy-free chocolate cake recipe, I’ve used almond milk as well as coconut milk in place of the dairy. Although not dairy-free, I’ve substituted buttermilk for the milk with excellent results.

As an Egg-Free Chocolate Cake Recipe:

To make the cake egg-free, I substituted 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce for the 2 large eggs called for in the recipe. You may see that the cake may need to be baked for a few minutes longer. Always use the skewer to check for doneness.

To Use Butter and Other Oils:

I tried the chocolate cake recipe with other oils in addition to butter. I experimented with substituting melted coconut oil for the vegetable oil specified in the recipe. I’ve also tested using the same volume of melted butter in place of the oils in the chocolate cake. Although it does change the texture of the cake somewhat, it is still wonderful and worth trying if you want to use butter instead of oils in your chocolate cake.

The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe {Ever}

Dessert — 45 mins

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Servings 24

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Recipe for the Greatest Chocolate Cake – A fast, simple, and delicious one-bowl chocolate cake recipe! Gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free choices have been added!

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon espresso powder, handmade or purchased
1 cup of milk, buttermilk, almond milk, or coconut milk
1/2 cup vegetable, canola, or coconut oil, melted
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Preheat oven to 350º F. Spray or grease two 9-inch cake pans with baking spray and gently dust them.

For the chocolate cake:

In a large mixing basin or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well.
Mix in the milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract on medium speed until fully blended. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter until well combined.
Divide the cake batter equally between the two cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the chocolate cake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and cool for approximately 10 minutes before removing from the pan and cooling fully.
After adding the hot water, the cake batter will be quite thin. This is right, and it yields the most delicious and moist chocolate cake I’ve ever had! xo

Freezer Friendly

Let the cooked cake layers to fully cool. Cover them tightly in plastic wrap, then foil. Put each layer into a freezer bag and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight with the wrapper still on before serving. The next day, the layers are ready to fill and frost.

High Altitude: If you reside at a high altitude, alter the recipe to reflect your altitude.

Nutritional information is for the cake only.

Do let me know how you like it.

These are some more ways I like to create this cake!

Chocolate Cupcakes

If you want to make cupcakes from this recipe, check out my recipe for the greatest chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing. This recipe yields a perfect dozen chocolate cupcakes, so you may scale it to create as many as you need! Talk about simple!

9×13 Chocolate Cake

I love this version! It’s a tasty, scaled-down version that’s ideal for potlucks, reunions, tailgates, and road trips! I’ve also reduced the frosting to get the frosting-to-cake ratio that my family enjoys. That is unquestionably a winner!

Large Chocolate Sheet Cake

This recipe, when scaled for a crowd, bakes wonderfully in a rimmed half sheet baking pan and is ideal for all kinds of get-togethers. Consider it the 913’s big brother! This recipe calls for Fudge Icing, but you may use any frosting you like instead!

That’s all there is to it. There are several ways to enjoy this delectable dessert. There is almost one for every requirement. But, if I’ve missed one, be sure to let me know and I’ll work on it for you! 🙂

Several of you have inquired whether there is a way to prepare an equally excellent Vanilla Cake Recipe. Friends, I’ve tested, tested, tested, and now I can happily declare YES! I’ve also shared the finest Vanilla Cake I’ve ever had!