This is a really easy yet exceptional Chocolate Cake that truly tastes of chocolate. The crumb is beautifully tender and moist, and it keeps for up to 5 days. It requires no beater, just a wooden spoon.
Frost generously with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting for a terrific birthday cake or chocolate ganache for a luxurious rich option. For a richer, fudgier chocolate cake, try this Chocolate Fudge Cake. The ultimate glaze to impress, however, is without a doubt Chocolate Mirror Glaze…..
This is the Chocolate Cake
If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that sometimes I get real stubborn about doing certain things the “right way”. And there’s also a time and a place for shortcut recipes and quick dinners.
Then there’s recipes like this Chocolate Cake which tick all the boxes – it’s easier than the way I’ve been making everyday cake for most of my life, and the results are better.
You’ll love how it really does taste of chocolate even though it’s only been made with cocoa powder (the secret is to add boiling water – it makes the chocolate flavour “bloom”).
You’ll love how tender the crumb is, and how it stays moist for 4 to 5 days.
You’ll love how the cake can stand on its own so you could just dust it with icing sugar then serve slices with dollops of cream on the side. Though of course, smothering it with frosting never hurts….
This is the famous Hershey’s Chocolate Cake recipe which I tried on the recommendation of Michelle from the Brown Eyed Baker (one of the first places I go in hunt for baked goods). I tried it without massively high expectations, because I thought “how much better can this be than the usual, being such a simple recipe?”
I love being proved wrong when it comes to food. So wrong in fact, that even though I tinkered with the recipe multiple times, I landed right back where I started using the recipe exactly as written.
I truly think this might be the only recipe on my entire website that I’m publishing from another source without changing the ingredients at all. It’s unheard of! But to me, it’s perfect as it is. I don’t see myself using any other recipe for an everyday Chocolate Cake, ever again.
Incredibly quick and easy
It’s astonishingly quick to make the batter, with all the ingredients mixed up in one bowl using a whisk.
There’s no need to cream butter like the usual recipes because this one is made with oil which is the reason why this cake is beautifully moist. No more dry chocolate cake! 🙌🏻 (Also means this is more forgiving than most, having once accidentally left it in the oven for 15 minutes longer than necessary and it still wasn’t dry).
I’m publishing this recipe as part of the Easter Recipes posted yesterday! So here it is, dolled up for Easter. The same cake in the photos above, the same frosting, topped with speckled Easter eggs, baby chicks (both from Woolworths in Australia), and a chocolate basket. I’ve provided directions in the notes of the recipe for how I made that chocolate basket (hint – it involves a balloon…).
My everyday Chocolate Cake
Easter aside, I call this my everyday Chocolate Cake because it’s just that – my new favourite to make for any occasion. There will be times that call for a mud-cake like Fudge Cake made with both cocoa powder and melted chocolate. There will be times that call for intensely dark chocolate cakes. There will be times that you need / want the nutty brownie-like Flourless Chocolate Cake. And there will be times you’re after one that’s light-as-air, a delicate chiffon cake.
This one is for all the other times when you just want a great, classic Chocolate Cake. Which in my world, is 80% of the time! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups plain / all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder , unsweetened (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda (bi-carb soda)
- 2 cups white sugar (Note 1)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs (~55-65g / 2 oz each)
- 1 cup milk (low or full fat)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or canola)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 1 1/2 batches Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (slide scaler on recipe)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C°/350°F (160°C fan). Read Note 4 regarding shelf positions.
- Grease 2 x 22cm/9" cake pans with butter, then line the base. (Note 3 re: springform pans and other pan sizes).
Batter:
- Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl. Add Sugar and salt. Whisk briefly to combine.
- Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Whisk well to combine until lump free – about 30 seconds.
- Add boiling water and whisk to incorporate. The batter is VERY thin (see video).
- Pour batter into cake pans.
Baking:
- Bake for 35 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. See Note 4 regarding cook time if pans are on different shelves.
- Cool for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks upside down (Note 5).
- Cool completely before frosting. I frosted the cake with my Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (scale recipe up by 50%).
Recipe Notes:
- bundt pan – 50 minutes
- single 22cm/9″ pan – 40 to 45 minutes
- 2 x 20cm / 8″ pans – 38 minutes
- 3 x 20cm / 8″ pans – 32 minutes
- 33 x 22 x 5 cm / 13 x 9 x 2″ rectangle pan – 35 – 40 minutes
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Dozer vs tiny toy chick.
Chick won.
The perfect chocolate cake! It’s so delicious, moist and flavourful. You don’t need to add anything to serve it, it’s great as it is! But I did experiment and add a bit of rum and cream to it, obviously it worked very well. I’m never using any other recipe again. I kept the leftovers in the fridge and it tasted even better the next day. Wonderful recipe 🙂
Delicious cake, perfect recipe. I used a bundt pan and 50 minutes was the perfect baking time. I oiled the tin & forgot to flour it so top of the cake got stuck & tore off. 😭 We’ll be eating it warm with custard so it won’t look too bad smothered in custard. lol
I used bundt tin too Sue I brushed it with melted butter and then sprinkled with flour . Came out no problems. Would have been nice with custard
A fabulous cake! So delicious, great icing and lovely and moist. So glad I found this recipe!
Best chokky cake recipe ever. Nagi can I use this recipe to make cup cakes. Easier than red velvets as I need to make 5 dozen.
This is simply the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted. Very easy to make, very moist and I have bookmarked the recipe. Huge thanks! An absolute triumph!
Absolutely delicious cake! I make it GLUTEN FREE using gluten free flour and still can’t fault it! No issues when adjusting- love it!
Totally agree with Nagi this has become my ‘everyday cake’, it’s always such a hit and I’ve never made one that hasn’t turned out great, can take a bit longer in my tins/oven but is easy to rectify, I love it!!
Hi Nagi, I made your Chocolate Cake with the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting with my 4 year old grand daughter today. We had such fun making it and boy oh boy it was delicious. Best cake we have made together ever. Thank you 🙂 Hugs to Dozer xx
Such a perfect recipe
Best cake ever
Both of mine had huge cracks on top, any ideas ?
i cooked this recipe in a cake pan ofc and it has spewed everywhere, overflowed and definitely not cooked at the 35 minute mark, its liquidy and pooling over
Loved this cake it’s my go to recipe for any occasion. Would have liked it more if there was a recipe for a single layer cake instead of a double layer cake but overall loved it and would definitely recommend it to all my friends and family.
Loved this cake it’s my go to recipe for any occasion. Would have liked it more if there was a recipe for a single layer cake instead of a double layer cake but overall loved it
Super moist, delicious cake! Everyone I served loved it! Would definitely make again!
This is a great cake, super easy, fast to put together and everyone loves it. 😋
Need to experiments with times a little if baking in just single pan.
Hi Nagi, regarding note 2: Using Dutch-processed cocoa here will make the cake rise less, since regular cocoa seems to be the only acidic element, right? I don’t think the baking soda will properly work without an acidic element, but I could be mistaken.
Just wondering how this recipes goes for cupcakes? Anyone tried it?
My go too chocolate cake recipe now. Made this a few times and always worked perfectly..
Made it yesterday and it was a hit with the coworkers. Love, love , love your recipes
Dear Nagi, I made this cake following your explanations- (recipe and the vidio) to the last detail. I baked in 9 inch single tin. 40 -45 minutes as indicated was not sufficient, it took about 60 minutes to get the skewer inserted coming out clean.
The cake was lumpy and dense in the middle and hard from outside. This was a real disappoitment to me (as a home baker with long years of experience)
I have made many of your recipes, and they all proved fantastic.
I will appreciate much if you can let me know what could have gone wrong this time. Thank you
Made today for the first time with a few small variations based on my dietary requirements. I used one cup of rice milk, organic raw cacao and i dramatically reduced the sugar down to 200 g in total. I chose to bake the mixture in two brownie tins. One was 20 cm x 20 cm and the second was 17 cm x 17 cm in my oven. It took precisely 30 minutes to bake both of them side-by-side. I did not make the buttercream frosting as I’m not a fan of frosting in general but what I absolutely loved was drizzling a little hazelnut butter and drizzling some smooth peanut butter onto each slice after I plated it up. I gave this a 10 out of 10 and will do precisely the same thing next time I make it. Fantastic recipe that is very forgiving when needing to take dietary requirements into account.😊