If you’re looking for a rich chocolate cake recipe that comes together using only cocoa powder (no melted chocolate), then this recipe is it! This moist chocolate cake is packed with flavour, and is topped with an incredibly delicious chocolate cream cheese frosting. Based off my 5 star rated vanilla cake recipe, this chocolate cake WILL NOT DISAPPOINT!
How I developed this recipe
So I’m a huge believer in a rich chocolate cake having actual chocolate in it. Most chocolate cakes that I’ve tried that DON’T have chocolate in them, just don’t have that deep rich chocolate flavour that you (well.. I) want in a chocolate cake. Many basic chocolate cake recipes also have this kind of distinct after taste to them because of the baking soda, which I’m not very fond of (I know… I’m very picky haha!). Which is why I developed my original rich chocolate cake recipe with real chocolate.
However, many of you have been asking for a rich chocolate cake recipe that doesn’t have any chocolate in it, only cocoa powder. Honestly, I didn’t think it was possible! I tried many recipes, and either the cocoa was too over powering and left you with a dry after taste in your mouth (because of excess cocoa powder in the recipe to try and achieve that rich flavour), or the cake just wasn’t chocolatey enough. One thing that was common in all of my trials is that I used the traditional ‘hot water method’ of making chocolate cake. So, I decided to change that, and instead used the creaming method to see if that made a difference.
I decided to use my vanilla cake recipe as a base since you guys LOVE that recipe, and OMG it was the best thing I ever did. What did I end up with? A rich, moist, decadent chocolate cake with NO CHOCOLATE IT IN! Only cocoa powder. Safe to say I proved myself wrong.
How to make this chocolate cake
This recipe comes together really easily – just follow the steps as stated and I would recommend using the gram measurements (all ingredient quantities are in the recipe card at the end of the post) 🙂
Begin by preheating your oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 5 on the recipe card below if you don’t have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornflour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, instant coffee powder and cocoa powder. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
In another bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine – see note 2 on recipe card), cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between eggs).
Add in your vanilla, vinegar and half a cup of the buttermilk, and mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
Finish off by adding in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining 1 cup of buttermilk, and fold it in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold it into the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 3 on recipe card).
Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins, and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting with the chocolate cream cheese buttercream recipe below, or another frosting of your choice.
How to make chocolate cream cheese frosting
If you haven’t tried a chocolate cream cheese frosting before, you are missing out! It’s honestly one of the most delicious chocolate frostings I’ve ever had – no joke!
Being by creaming your butter for a few minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Either use a hand mixer or stand mixer on a medium high speed. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
Add in the icing sugar in 3 batches while mixing on low. Ensure that each batch of icing sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
Next add in your cold cream cheese and vanilla. Mix just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing (see note 4 on recipe card).
Lastly add in your cocoa powder and mix until well combined and smooth. Avoid over-mixing.
How to decorate this chocolate cake
You can get super creative and decorate this cake however you like, but this is how I did mine 🙂
Begin by placing your first cake layer onto your cake stand, and spread out a generous amount of the chocolate frosting.
Next place your next cake layer on top, and then cover the tops and sides with more frosting. I like to use my cake scraper to smooth out the sides.
I then finished off by doing some piping with a 1A piping tip on top. I absolutely love the little rain drop pattern look (not sure what they’re called!).
And that is it! Enjoy 🙂
Easy Rich Chocolate Cake Recipe
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 1¾ cups (210 g) flour - regular all purpose (see note 1 if you want to use cake flour)
- ¼ cup (25 g) cornflour - also known as cornstarch
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt - omit if using salted butter
- 2 tsp instant coffee powder
- 1 cup (100 g) cocoa powder - unsweetened, Dutch processed preferred
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- ¾ cup (158 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola
- 1⅔ cups (332 g) white granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla essence/extract
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1½ cups (337 g) buttermilk - room temperature, see note 6 if using a homemade buttermilk substitute
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- 4½ cups (570 g) icing sugar - also known as confectioners/powdered sugar
- 1½ cups (335 g) cream cheese - cold, firm type
- 1½ tsps vanilla
- ¾ cup (75 g) cocoa powder - unsweetened
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 5 if you don't have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
- In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornflour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, instant coffee powder and cocoa powder. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
- In another bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine - see note 2), cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between eggs).
- Add in your vanilla, vinegar and half a cup of the buttermilk, and mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Finish off by adding in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining 1 cup of buttermilk, and fold it in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold it into the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 3).
- Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins, and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting with the chocolate cream cheese buttercream recipe below, or another frosting of your choice.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream your butter for a few minutes until it's light and fluffy. Either use a hand mixer or stand mixer on a medium high speed. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
- Add in the icing sugar in 3 batches while mixing on low. Ensure that each batch of icing sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
- Next add in your cold cream cheese and vanilla. Mix just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing (see note 4).
- Lastly add in your cocoa powder and mix until well combined and smooth. Avoid over-mixing.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
61 Comments
Hi!
I live in Luxembourg (tiny country in the middle of Europe) and just wanted to mention that here, “corn flour” and “corn starch” are actually two different things. The former, “corn flour,” is yellow and is finely ground corn that looks and [sort of] acts like wheat flour — sort of, as it can’t be used as a 1-to-1 substitute for wheat flour and is naturally gluten free, so it does not a good substitute in breads or other baked goods that rely on gluten for texture. The latter, “corn starch,” is white, feels somewhat like icing sugar (as it is an ingredient in icing sugar) and is used as a thickening agent. I was looking for a “corn flour” cake recipe when I came across your recipe. While is sounds delicious, it was not what I was looking for.
All the best in 2025 from Luxembourg!
Hi Idra! 🙂
Yes this is interestingly something I came across last year! Here in NZ the word cornflour and cornstarch are used interchangeably. Once I realised cornstarch was the more commonly used term around the world for the ingredient I was referring too, I now tend to only use the word cornstarch in my recipes. So interesting!
Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge 🙂
I need to make cupcakes for an event. Will this be a good recipe for that, and if so, do you have a sense of how long to bake them? Much thanks!
Hi Linda 🙂
Yes this recipe should work great as cupcakes! You’ll just need to reduce the cook time to about the 18 min mark and then bake more if needed.
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe 😀
Hello! Thank you for this recipe, it’s delicious and recipe is easy to follow. I’m wondering what quantities I’d use if I wanted to make a 2 layer sheet cake? What size cake pan would you recommend?
Heya! So glad you enjoyed the recipe and found it easy to follow 😀
So 1x this recipe would make one 9×13 inch sheet cake, so if you wanted a two layer sheet cake, you would want to double the recipe and distribute the batter between two 9x13inch trays 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!
What would the recipe be to make this into a 12 inch cake please. So thats a 12 inch cake using 2 cake tins.
Hi! I from KS! I have recently fallen in LOVE with your recipes, I’m a sourdough baker and have ventured into cakes and cupcakes and am always looking to improve. I do have one question though, whenever I’m folding in the dry ingredients, my batter is lumpy, I’m scared to overmix, and it hasn’t seemed to affect the finished product, but I could be wrong and getting the lumps out could make all the difference in the world. What could I be doing wrong? Thanks for these fantastic recipes!
Hi Charity! So happy to hear you’ve been loving the recipes 😀 I’ve always wanted to try sourdough but for some reason the sourdough starter makes me nervous 😅
When it comes to the lumps in the batter, as long as there aren’t any big clumps of unmixed flour it’s totally fine – in my opinion it’s still better than using an electric mixer to mix the batter and then accidentally overmix it – so you’re doing just fine with the mixing 😀
Hope that helps 🙂
I made this using homemade buttermilk , it turned out great !! ☺️ Thanks for the recipes! For anyone reading this PLEASE TRY ALL HER RECIPES! She hasn’t let me down and does not disappoint!
I absolutely love your receipes the red velvet cake has been a game changer! Quick question if I want to do 2 x 6inch cakes for this chocolate receipe what would be the measurements plz? Would I need to click your “1/2” option? Thank you 😊
Thank you so much Lou Lou! So happy to hear you’re loving the recipes :D. Yes that’s correct – for two 6 inch cake tins use the ‘1/2’ option :). Enjoy!
Hi, made this as a birthday cake and it was perfect. Thank you for a great recipe. Just wanted to know the recipe ratio if i was to make this as a bento cake plus some cupcakes please?