If you’re looking for a rich, moist chocolate cake recipe that’s going to satisfy your sweet cravings, then this cake IS IT! The velvety soft chocolate cake layers are packed with chocolate flavor, and paired with an indulgent chocolate fudge frosting. I would go so far as to say that this is the best chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever had!
Why You’ll Love This Chocolate Cake
There is SO MUCH to love about this chocolate cake, but here are a few notable mentions:
Rich in flavor: When it comes to chocolate cake, it should taste like chocolate, but in cake form! When developing this recipe, I really wanted to pack in as much rich chocolate flavor as possible. To do this, I decided to use a ‘mud cake’ style chocolate cake recipe that uses actual chocolate in the cake batter (not just cocoa powder). I find that using good quality semi-sweet chocolate in the cake batter really takes the flavor to another level.
Moist: Not only is this cake packed with chocolate flavor, it’s also soft and has a wonderfully moist crumb. This recipe uses both butter and oil to provide wonderful moisture to the cake. Oil in particularly is a fat that is liquid at room temperature, so it provides unmatched moisture when it comes to cakes. This is the main reason I use it in most of my cake recipes 🙂
Easy: This recipe doesn’t require any hand or stand mixer to make, and comes together really easily! If you have a few bowls and a whisk, you’re good to go!
The best frosting ever: The base chocolate cake layers are paired with an incredibly delicious chocolate fudge frosting, that takes this chocolate cake recipe as a whole to another level! The chocolate frosting is so decadent and has the most wonderful velvety texture. Just be careful though, you may end up eating too much of it with a spoon before you even get to frosting the cake! This frosting is a softer frosting and not ideal if you’re doing a lot of piping, in which case you may want to try my chocolate buttercream frosting with a twist (it’s a cream cheese frosting and tastes incredible!) or a firm chocolate ganache.
Loved by my ‘chocolate cake hating’ husband: Now here is how I REALLY knew this cake was good. My husband is not a huge cake person, and in particular despises chocolate cakes 😂. So when I gave him this cake to try, to my surprise he asked for seconds, and the next day he basically finished most of the cake! My husband is also super honest (sometimes a bit too honest – ha ha!), so when he said this cake was good, I knew it was next level good!
Updated Recipe
I’ve recently updated this recipe (April 2024), as some readers were having issues with the cake layers sinking in. I experimented with different ways to add a little more structure to the cake layers to help prevent this issue, and finally settled on an updated recipe that had additional structure, but still had the same great flavor and texture to the original.
The main changes to the original recipe include an additional egg and additional flour – both of which add more structure to the cake layers.
I know there are many of you who LOVE the original version, so I have kept the original quantities in the notes section of the recipe card (towards the bottom of the blog post). I want to assure you though, that the updated version (in my opinion) is even better than the original, so don’t be afraid to give it a go 😀
How to make chocolate cake
This cake comes together really easily, which is another reason why I love it so much!
Begin by preheating your oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional (lower the temperature to 160C/320F if using a convection oven with a fan) and grease two 8-inch round cake pans. You also want to line the bottoms with parchment paper. This chocolate cake is fudgy and delicate, so you need to line the bottom of the cake tins with parchment paper just to make sure they come out in one piece!
In a bowl, sift together all purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder (use dutch process cocoa if you can), baking soda, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk, mix together until well combined. Set aside.
In a large bowl (make sure it’s microwave safe), add in butter and dark chocolate. I use 50% dark chocolate, but a good quality semi-sweet chocolate will work well. Melt in the microwave for 30 second bursts at a time, mixing in between each burst until fully melted.
Pour in cold milk and using a whisk, mix until well combined. This will help cool down your mixture.
Next add in sugar, coffee powder, vegetable oil, vanilla extract/essence and eggs. Using a whisk, mix until well combined.
Add in your pre-sifted dry ingredients to your wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Lastly, add in your hot water and mix until just combined. Do not overmix the batter.
Evenly distribute the batter into your prepared pans and bake for 38-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
Allow the cakes to cool in the cake tins for 30 minutes, before turning them out onto a wire rack to completely cool.
How to make chocolate fudge frosting
This chocolate fudge frosting is so easy to put together! It’s basically a double batch of my original fudge frosting recipe.
Place a saucepan or pot over a medium heat and add in whipping/heavy cream. Heat until you start to see little bubbles forming around the edges of the pan. The cream shouldn’t be boiling.
Turn the heat down to low and add in the remaining ingredients and continue to gently stir until all the solid ingredients are melted and you have a very smooth mixture.
Strain the mixture into a heat proof bowl to get rid of any lumps, and then cover the top with plastic wrap so that the cling wrap is directly touching the top of the frosting. This will prevent a skin from forming as it cools down.
Place the frosting into the refrigerator for 2 hours to allow it to set.
Decorating Chocolate Cake
Once your cake layers are cool and your frosting is at a spreadable consistency, you can decorate your cake however you like! I placed layers of frosting in between my cake layers, and then covered the outside in a thick layer of frosting too.
I then finished off by piping some frosting on the top of the cake using a 1M star piping tip.
Commonly Asked Questions:
How to store chocolate cake?
This chocolate cake can be left at room temperature in an airtight container for 2-3 days, after which it should be placed into the fridge.
Can I use this recipe to make chocolate cupcakes?
You can totally use this recipe to make chocolate cupcakes, though I do have another chocolate cupcake recipe that is equally as delicious!
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
- ½ cup (50 g) cocoa powder - unsweetened, dutch process preferred
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter
- 1¼ cups (200 g) dark chocolate - I use 50% dark but any good quality semi-sweet chocolate will work
- ⅓ cup (80 g) milk - cold
- 1½ cups (300 g) white granulated sugar
- 1½ tbsp instant coffee powder
- ⅓ cup (70 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola oil
- 2 tsp vanilla essence/extract
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- ½ cup (110 g) hot water
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
- 1 cup (226 g) whipping/heavy cream
- 4 tsp cocoa powder - unsweetened, dutch process preferred
- 2½ cups (400 g) dark chocolate - I use 50% dark but any good quality semi-sweet chocolate will work
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter
- 1⅓ cups (170 g) powdered sugar - also known as icing/confectioners sugar
- ½ tsp instant coffee powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla essence/extract
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F conventional (see note 1 if using a convection oven with a fan) and grease the bottom and sides of two 8 inch cake tins (mine are 3 inch deep), and also line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper (see note 2).
- In a bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk, mix together until well combined. Set aside.
- In a large microwave safe bowl, add in butter and dark chocolate. Melt in the microwave for 30 second bursts at a time, mixing in between each burst until fully melted.
- Add in cold milk and using a whisk, mix until well combined. This will help cool down your mixture.
- Next add in sugar, instant coffee powder, vegetable oil, vanilla and eggs. Using a whisk, mix until well combined.
- Add in your pre-sifted dry ingredients and mix with a whisk until combined. Avoid over-mixing.
- Lastly, add in your hot water and mix until well combined. Avoid overmixing the batter.
- Evenly distribute the batter into the prepared cake tins and bake for 38-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. IMPORTANT: Do not open the oven door too early to check the cakes otherwise this can cause the cakes to sink in the middle.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the cake tins for 20 minutes, before turning them out onto a wire rack to completely cool (see note 3).
Chocolate fudge frosting
- Place a saucepan or pot over a medium heat and add in heavy cream. Heat until you start to see little bubbles forming around the edges of the pan. The cream shouldn't be boiling.
- Turn the heat down to low and add in the remaining ingredients and continue to gently stir until all the solid ingredients are melted and you have a very smooth mixture.
- Strain the mixture into a heat proof bowl to get rid of any lumps, and then cover the top with cling wrap so that the cling wrap is directly touching the top of the frosting. This will prevent a skin from forming as it cools down.
- Place the frosting into the fridge for 2 hours to allow it to set (see note 4).
- Once your cake layers are cool and your frosting is at a spreadable consistency, frost your cake (you can see how I did mine in the recipe video or blog post pictures above). Enjoy!
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.
318 Comments
Have you done a 9-inch cake pan? Thank you. Shelley
Hi Shelley! 🙂 I haven’t tried this recipe in two 9 inch cake pans myself, but if you wanted to give it a go I would reduce the cooking time as the cake layers will be thinner :). Or you could make 1.5x the recipe for thicker 9 inch cake layers.
Enjoy!
This recipe is a definitr keeper. Baked 2 batches of this for my son’s birthday and the cake was so incredibly moist! The fudge icing was good but I had to reduce the icing sugar to 120g but it was still bordering on the sweeter end. So glad I tried the recipe out!
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback Ann! 😀 So so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
For a less sweet frosting, you may also want to try using a darker chocolate which will counteract some of the sweetness (and you will also have a more stable frosting) 🙂
Hi MK, can I use chocolate ganache for frosting instead of chocolate fudge frosting. Thanks.
Hi Melanie! 🙂 Yes totally! Chocolate ganache would work wonderfully with this cake 🙂 enjoy!
Perfect crumb! I used the chocolate frosting in the middle and made a butterscotch – buttercream frosting for the outside. The cake turned out excellent, thank you for the recipe.
Awesome!! So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Isabel 🙂 the addition of the butterscotch frosting sounds so good 😀
such a fabulous recipe as always!!
Thanks so much Victoria! So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe 😀
Thank you so much for the recipe, it looks amazing and I’m definitely going to try it, I’m a big fan of your recipes!! 🥰💜 I wanted to ask you, if I need to use a different size tin, a bigger or smaller one, what would you recommend in order to adjust the recipe, the oven temperature and baking time? I would like it to have the same hight but different size
Hi Andrea! 🙂 You’re so welcome! So happy to hear you’ve been loving the recipes 😀
You can totally divvy the batter up into different sized cake tins (just make sure there isn’t too much batter in one tin), and the only thing I would adjust would be the cooking time. If the layers are about the same thickness as the ones in the original recipe then cooking time should roughly be the same, but if they’re thinner then cook for less, of if they’re slightly thicker then cook longer. Just try not to check the cakes too early otherwise this can cause them to sink 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe 😀
Also share the baking time for half the quantity in two 6 inch pans.
Hi Kumar! 🙂 I havent tried making a 6 inch version myself so I can’t give an accurate time sorry – but I would check it at around the 22-25 minute mark and then bake more if needed 🙂
Enjoy!
It came out perfect. Everyone loved it and want more! I’d like to try out a smaller version of this cake. Will I get the same results with half the quantity in two 6 inch pans?
So so happy to hear everyone loved it Kumar :D. Yes you should still get the same results when making a smaller version – simply make half the recipe for two 6 inch cake pans and you will likely need to reduce the cooking time 🙂
Enjoy!
Hi Mk!
Love your site You are such a delight Would like to know if this delicate cake recipe would hold up to a crusting cream cheese frosting with lots of piping?
Hi Emily! So so happy to hear you’re loving the website :D. Yes it should hold up well, just be careful when handling them, particularly while they’re still warm 🙂
Enjoy!
Love Love Love this recipe. Has anyone ever made this recipe without coffee? If you have do you do anything different? My husband does not like coffee flavor at all. Thank you – Shelley
Shelley, I haven’t made this exact cake recipe, but I’ve made a lot of chocolate cakes. I’m not a fan of coffee at all. I always use Espresso Powder which alot of chocolate recipes call for or to use coffee. Cakes never taste like coffee. Both are used in cake recipes to enhance chocolate flavor. You can leave it out if you wish. Emily
Thank you!
So so happy to hear you loved the recipe Shelley :D. You could simply leave the coffee out, though the coffee does help to amp up the chocolate flavor. Perhaps you could reduce the amount of coffee so it’s not as noticeable? Or replace it with some extra vanilla too 🙂
Thank you!
This looks delicious. What would you suggest to make it into an orange chocolate cake?
Thanks Selina! 🙂 I haven’t tried turning this recipe into an orange chocolate cake myself so I’m not too sure sorry! I do hope to experiment with a recipe like that soon 🙂