This Is The Chocolate Cake Recipe You've Been Searching For
This easy chocolate cake recipe is our best ever: It features a rich chocolate flavor and creamy chocolate frosting.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Hi, I'm McKenzie at the Delish Kitchen studios
00:02 and I'm so excited to be making my favorite chocolate cake.
00:05 I worked for weeks trying to perfect this cake recipe
00:09 because most chocolate cakes, if we're being honest,
00:12 they don't taste like chocolate, they're super dry,
00:14 and I wanted this one to be absolutely perfect
00:17 and I finally got it to where I want it to be.
00:19 This chocolate cake has tall, thick layers,
00:22 which I thought was really important in a chocolate cake.
00:24 I wanted it to be like fudgy and full of chocolate flavor
00:28 and brownies can do that.
00:29 So I knew this cake could do it too.
00:31 I have a couple of tips and tricks, so let's get into it.
00:33 What makes this chocolate cake the best chocolate cake,
00:36 I truly believe, is this very first step
00:38 that we're going to do, which is blooming your cocoa powder.
00:41 You've probably heard before that coffee
00:43 makes chocolate taste more like chocolate
00:45 and that is 100% true, but take that a step further.
00:48 If you let your hot coffee sit on top of your cocoa powder,
00:51 it activates it and makes it taste even more like chocolate.
00:55 First thing you're going to do is brew a hot cup of coffee
00:58 and pour that over your cocoa powder.
01:00 Let's talk about the cocoa powder in this chocolate cake
01:03 because the theme for this cake
01:04 is to make the chocolate stand out.
01:06 So I use a Dutch process cocoa powder for it,
01:09 which is a little bit darker, it's bolder,
01:12 it tastes more like chocolate.
01:14 It is also a little bit more expensive,
01:15 but I think completely worth it.
01:17 But if you want to use an unsweetened regular cocoa powder,
01:21 you definitely can.
01:22 Stir it until it's combined
01:23 and let that sit for about 10 minutes.
01:25 Your cocoa powder won't be completely smooth,
01:27 so just stir until everything is wet.
01:29 While our cocoa powder sits,
01:31 we're going to whisk together all of our wet ingredients.
01:34 So add your sugar, eggs, oil, butter, and vanilla.
01:39 Just whisk that until it's combined.
01:41 I use both oil and butter in this recipe
01:43 because butter is great for flavor,
01:45 but oil does a much better job at adding moisture in cakes.
01:49 Moisture is very important in chocolate cakes
01:51 because cocoa powder tends to dry cakes out,
01:54 so we want to add in as much moisture as we can.
01:57 And then add in that cocoa and coffee mixture
01:59 and whisk until smooth.
02:01 Next, we'll whisk together our dry ingredients.
02:03 So in your bowl, add flour, baking powder,
02:06 baking soda, and salt.
02:08 Now we can add in our dry ingredients
02:10 to our wet ingredients
02:11 and just fold that in until it is just combined.
02:15 Then add in your sour cream
02:17 and mix that until it's combined.
02:19 And sour cream is also going to add more moisture
02:22 into our cake and also gives it a little bit of a tang.
02:24 It's nice.
02:25 We need to line our cake pans with parchment paper.
02:28 You can do that however you prefer.
02:29 You can trace out your parchment paper,
02:31 or I like to fold it into my cake pan
02:33 and then spray it with some cooking spray
02:36 and then divide your batter evenly
02:37 between each of your cake pans.
02:39 These go into the oven at 350 degrees
02:42 for about 25 to 30 minutes,
02:44 just until a toothpick inserted into the middle
02:46 comes out clean.
02:47 The frosting for this cake is absolutely wonderful,
02:51 but I do admit it's a little bit temperamental,
02:53 but no need to be scared.
02:54 I'm going to walk you through it
02:55 and you're going to be able to get it every single time.
02:57 The important part for this frosting
02:59 is that it uses melted chocolate.
03:01 So it's very important that you let it cool back down
03:04 to room temperature
03:05 so that it's the same temperature as your butter.
03:07 If your chocolate's too hot,
03:09 it's going to melt your frosting.
03:10 If your butter is too cold,
03:11 it's going to seize the chocolate.
03:13 The first step for our frosting
03:14 is to melt the chocolate chips
03:15 and then let them cool back down
03:17 to room temperature completely.
03:18 You don't necessarily need a double boiler
03:21 to melt your chocolate.
03:22 Just use your microwave.
03:23 And I like to do it in just 30 second intervals
03:25 stirring after each one.
03:26 Once your chocolate is cool,
03:28 beat together the butter, powdered sugar,
03:31 cocoa powder, and just a small pinch of salt.
03:33 Beat that until it's smooth.
03:35 Then pour in your melted chocolate and beat again.
03:38 Our frosting looks perfect.
03:39 It's silky and it's smooth,
03:41 which is exactly what you're looking for.
03:42 Our cakes are completely cooled,
03:44 so we are going to flip them out.
03:46 I like to take an offset spatula
03:48 and just run it along the sides of my cake first.
03:52 (upbeat music)
03:54 We are ready to frost our cakes, the best part.
04:00 So we want to trim our cake layers first
04:02 because we have a nice little dome going on
04:04 and we want to make sure they're nice and flat.
04:07 And the best part about trimming your cakes
04:09 is that now you get to try it.
04:11 I like to put my cake layers on a spinning cake stand
04:14 to trim the tops off
04:15 'cause it will help keep my knife nice and stable
04:18 as I trim them.
04:19 To trim the tops of your cake off,
04:21 you place your knife right on the edge,
04:23 barely insert it in.
04:25 As you rotate,
04:25 your knife is just gonna go deeper and deeper
04:28 into your cake.
04:29 No sawing back and forth.
04:31 That's how you're gonna get uneven cake layers,
04:34 and we don't want that.
04:35 To make frosting our cake much easier,
04:38 I put the platter that I want to serve my cake on
04:40 on top of our rotating cake stand
04:43 so that I can frost it while rotating it,
04:45 which is really helpful.
04:47 And then to keep our platter clean,
04:49 we're just going to place down some parchment strips,
04:52 like so.
04:55 And our cake layer will go on top there.
04:59 And then when we're done frosting,
05:00 we can just take them out and our plate will be clean.
05:02 First, we're going to add frosting on top of our cake layer
05:06 and spread that out until it's smooth.
05:08 You wanna frost all the way to the edge of your cake.
05:11 It's okay if it falls over a little bit
05:13 because we're gonna frost the sides of our cakes anyways,
05:15 but we just wanna make sure the top is nice and smooth.
05:18 And then add on top the second cake layer.
05:21 Add more frosting to frost the sides and the top.
05:24 This is my ideal slice of cake.
05:30 It leans a little more dark.
05:32 It's rich, it's fudgy.
05:34 It's truly so brownie-like.
05:36 That frosting is silky and smooth.
05:39 I love this cake.
05:40 I love serving this cake just as is,
05:41 but you could add on chocolate shavings or sprinkles
05:44 or a drizzle of white chocolate.
05:45 You could really dress this cake up.
05:47 I love how tall and thick these cake layers are.
05:49 It's such a beautiful cake.
05:51 The frosting is so silky
05:53 and looks just so beautiful on top of it.
05:55 It turned out perfect.
05:56 It's rich, it's fudgy, it's a little bit dense,
06:00 so much like a brownie.
06:01 It's the perfect slice of cake.
06:02 I hope you bake this cake at home
06:04 and for others just like it,
06:05 stick around here at delish.com.
06:06 (upbeat music)
06:09 (upbeat music)