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Everyone loves a good chocolate cake! This recipe for chocolate cake makes something just as fast and delicious as a boxed cake mix, but with loads more intensity of flavor thanks to the sour cream and the secret addition of some coffee.
For another great cake recipe, try this Chocolate Root Beer Soda Cake. If you are looking for the easiest chocolate cake ever, try my wacky cake!
Table of Contents
Chocolate Cake Recipe
Chocolate cake is not just a mainstay of birthday parties but is also a mandatory recipe for when you really need to cater to that sweet tooth. This is a no-fail, easy-to-make chocolate cake that is one of the oldest recipes here on my website – I have been making this for 10 years and it was time to update the photos!
While you could easily just buy a box cake and follow the instructions, this recipe is the perfect way to make a cake that feels like it was store-bought yet still has all of that intense homemade flavors.
Chocolate Cake Ingredients
Make sure to look at the recipe card down below to make sure you buy the right amounts you need.
Dry Ingredients
- Sugar
- Flour
- Cocoa
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
Wet Ingredients
- Eggs
- Oil
- Heavy cream
- Sour cream
- Vanilla
- Coffee
How To Make Chocolate Cake
- Whisk together all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl
- Using a stand mixer or hand whisk, beat the eggs with the oil until completely combined, and then add in all of the rest of the wet ingredients
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients for 2 minutes on low speed
- Pour the batter into a greased 9×9 square pan and tap lightly on the counter to release trapped air bubbles
- Bake for 40 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean
- Remove, cool for 5 minutes in the pan, and then invert onto a cooling rack
How To Invert The Cake Onto A Cooling Rack
The final big hurdle with making any kind of cake is somehow getting it out of the pan and onto a cooling rack.
If you happen to have one of those fancy cake pans with removable sides, then you shouldn’t have any trouble whatsoever. However, for most people, making cakes is synonymous with having to somehow peel out a stuck cake from a pan that just won’t budge.
The real trick is to make sure you allow the cake to cool for a while first before trying to remove it. Cooling not only allows the cake to set up and avoid breaking apart, but it also contracts as it comes into contact with cold air, which helps it to peel back away from the sides.
After a brief 10 minutes of cooling, the cake should fall right out. To invert it onto the cooling rack, just place the rack upside down on top of the cake pan, grip both the pan and the rack and invert them together.
The cake should slide right out, leaving you able to simply lift the cake pan away and let the cake cool down properly on the rack.
Looking for more delicious Cake recipes? Try these out:
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Chocolate Cake
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 35 minutes
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Course
- Dessert
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 16 pieces
- Calories
- 304
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup cocoa
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Wet Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup coffee
Frosting
- one batch buttercream frosting
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×9 square pan and set aside.
- Measure all your dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl. Using a whisk, combine them thoroughly.
- In a large bowl attached to a stand mixer, beat the eggs with the oil until combined, then add in the remaining wet ingredients.
- Combine all the ingredients for 2 minutes on low speed, scraping the sides as needed.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pan lightly on the counter to release any trapped air bubbles and then place into the oven.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes OR until a cake tester/toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Remove and cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then flip onto a cooling rack or plate.
- Once cooled completely, prepare and frost with my buttercream icing recipe.
Recipe Notes
- You can choose to just serve this plain, or serve warm with some vanilla ice cream.
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Made this recipe?
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Please rate this recipe in the comments below to help out your fellow cooks!
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Betty Korpisto says
Hi Karlynn – just a quick question…The Chocolate Cake recipe calls for a 9×9″ cake pan, but I’m wondering if that might be a typo and it should read 9×13″ pan. My cake pan is 8×8″, so figured I’d just end up with a thinner layer of cake in my 9×13 – but in fact it was totally full; and the Buttercream Icing recipe (which is MIGHTY tasty) made plenty for the 9×13 cake. I did wonder when I was mixing the cake ingredients and my mixing bowl was 2/3 to 3/4 full with just the dry ingredients; it was less than an inch from the top when all the ingredients were mixed in. The cake is DELICIOUS, moist and yummy – and I will simply continue to use my 9×13 pan for it. Just thought I’d ask. Thanks. I’m a real fan of your recipes.
Brittney says
I am looking for the old fashioned chocolate cake recipe that doesn’t seem to be here anymore. It’s my sons favorite and I failed to save a hard copy. Would you please share that with me?
Joanne Krysta says
Omg omg…chocolate cake my favorite!!
Very moist and great icing as kichenmagpie states….
Excellent, amazing, and overall great…
Thks Joanne 👍👌😊
gail mcnairnay says
A very easy way for a cake to come out of the pan clean is to line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Let the cake sit in the pan for 10 minutes after it comes out of the oven, turn the cake over on to the rack then peel the paper off the cake as soon as it is out of the pan .
Mary Ann Hyndman Smith says
I like your mixer, mine is a boring white one, but I cannot justify spending lots of money to buy a colour, when Madge works well. ( her name is Blanca Madge) see what I did ? Anyway , would cerise be a nice name for yours? Giggle!
candjmunoz says
This is my go-to chocolate cake. Before we found out that my daughter has celiac disease, we made this several times a year. I have made it twice now with a gluten free substitute (Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour), and it has turned out better than any gf cake mix, and possibly better than any gluten cake I ever made! I really think it’s the sour cream and boiling water that make it so good.
Do you have any suggestions for using the sour cream and boiling water in non-chocolate cake? I keep wondering if it’s the chocolate that makes this recipe work with those ingredients…
Thanks!
Janis
Carla says
Enjoyed your chocolate cake recipe! Omitted canola oil for coconut oil; kind of gave it a hint of coconut! Lol but moist, delicious and did rise well!
Your chocolate chip cookie is the best!! 10x better than nestle! I like how you only use 1/4 of butter instead of a whole stick! Thank you for the yummy sweets!
-carla
chi says
Hi there do you use self raising flour?:)
going to make my son’s birthday cake xx
superjohn12 says
This is what i really want
NurseLovesFarmer says
You don’t say how long to bake this for….
Karlynn Johnston says
This recipe https://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/old-fashioned-chocolate-cake is the BEST one, will make a lot of cupcakes and do the two layers. This one wouldn’t cut it. The old fashioned one I linked to is the best recipe I have found!
Brittney says
I love this recipe. It looks like it was taken down. Do you happen to have a copy you could share? I failed to print and save and now have lost my favorite chocolate cake recipe!!
candjmunoz says
I’m making a two-layer 9″ round cake plus some cupcakes (how many cupcakes is not overly important to me. I’m only making those because my son wants both a cake and cupcakes for his party.). Should I double this recipe for that purpose, or is a single recipe plenty for this? Thanks!