After testing so many chocolate cake recipes over the years, I’ve come really close to perfection only to miss the mark on the essentials of a good chocolate cake: moistness, fluffiness, and great chocolate flavor. You know, the kind with the slightly sticky crumb that just melts in your mouth and almost makes your eyes roll back in your head because it’s just that good. While my chocolate cakes of the past have been acceptable, this one I’m about to share is the absolute best I’ve ever had. No joke. It’s fudgy, moist, decadent, and makes me so giddy I want to shout it from the rooftops!
One reader, Edith, says: “This recipe is aptly named. It is perfect! It came together breathtakingly easily and tasted as though I’d spent all day on it. It was a positively dreamy cake, not too sweet, strong chocolate flavor, ideal texture.” ★★★★★
The best part of this chocolate cake recipe is that it’s about as easy as a cake mix. It’s a one-bowl cake, meaning you basically put all the ingredients into one bowl (in the right order, of course) and whip it up into the smoothest chocolate cake batter ever. There are absolutely no complicated steps to this cake, which makes it super failproof and the perfect go-to chocolate cake recipe for your repertoire.
This cake is ultra-moist due to the vegetable oil base and the addition of buttermilk. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can easily make it from scratch using whole milk. Just mix it with white vinegar (exact recipe is in the notes below), let it sit for about 15 minutes, and voila! Perfect buttermilk every time.
You can pair this chocolate cake with almost any buttercream, but I’ve chosen to pair it with my favorite chocolate buttercream recipe to really enhance the chocolate flavor. In the past I’ve paired it with cherry, raspberry, almond, salted caramel, and vanilla buttercreams and those pairings have been super tasty.
The rope border on top of this cake was created using Wilton Tip 1M to pipe rosettes on top of one another around the edge of the cake. Then I topped it all off with one of my favorite sprinkle mixes ever – Rainbow Road by SprinklePop. I think sprinkles are the perfect finishing touch, but you can decorate however you’d like.
Here’s a video I made to show you all the tips and tricks for making this chocolate cake recipe (below). For more recipe videos like this one + tons of cake decorating videos, head to my YouTube Channel and be sure to click the Subscribe button so you never miss a new one!
Update 2022 – Two things: 1) I realized that you can absolutely make this recipe by hand instead of using a mixer! That makes it an even easier one bowl cake. Exact instructions are in the notes of the recipe below. 2) I prefer using hot coffee in this recipe (enhances the chocolate flavor big time!), but you can absolutely use hot water as an alternative.
Perfect One-Bowl Chocolate Cake Recipe
Ingredients
One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
- 2 Cups (265g) all purpose flour
- 1 2/3 Cups (340g) granulated sugar
- 2/3 Cup (60g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 Cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 Cup (240ml) full-fat buttermilk*, room temperature DIY recipe in the notes
- 1 Cup (240ml) hot coffee or hot water
Chocolate Buttercream
- 2 batches of my favorite chocolate buttercream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare three 6-inch or two 8-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and fitting the bottoms with a wax paper or parchment cake circle.
- Place all of the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and stir on low for 30 seconds to fully combine them. Add the vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk and mix on low until just combined. With the mixer still on low, add the hot coffee (or hot water) in a slow stream, then turn the mixer to medium and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. The batter will be very thin.
- Pour into prepared cake pans no more than 2/3 full and bake for 32-36 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting with chocolate buttercream or frosting of your choice.
Notes
Did you make this recipe? Let me know what you think in the comments below, or by tagging me on Instagram! I love to see your creations and hear your feedback.
I really wanted this to work but I ended up creating 3 volcanoes. I’m guessing my oven was too hot. I had it in 160c fan forced. Also my baking pans may be 8 inches. It’s about 20cm. We are metric down under. So it rose in the middle and not much in the sides. How hot should the coffee be? Like just boiled? I tried to cool it a little. Going to give it another crack tomorrow night. Determined to get it right. My eggs are 600g. I might use 3 instead of 2.
Hi Sandi! Even with the centers risen, how did the cake taste? It sounds like your reduced temperature (to account for the fan forced oven) is correct. The coffee should be just boiled. Let me know how your second round goes! This cake does tend to rise slightly in the middle instead of baking flat and I always just level the tops before filling and stacking. You could also try baking strips like these to help the cake bake more evenly: https://amzn.to/3JswNcX
Thank you so much for the recipe. This is the Best chocolate cake. I was looking for a chocolate cake recipe without coffee in it because it tastes funky. I made your cake today and it was delicious, moist and had the best chocolate flavor. Definitely will be my new favorite recipe to go to.
Yay, Irina! I’m so happy to hear that this recipe was a hit!
I LOVE THIS RECIPE – well I love all of your recipes! Quick question, I bought your book because duh you’re the best but notice that it calls for salt instead of kosher salt like this version. Is there a reason for this? THANKS <3
Hi Char! I’m so glad you’ve been loving my recipes and my book! The book version calls for salt because truly any salt will work, I just use Kosher salt because that’s all I ever have and that’s why this blog version has it listed in the ingredients. I should probably update the blog version to generic salt 🙂
I’m officially hooked on your recipes. This was the BEST chocolate cake and my family couldn’t stop eating it. I’ve been trying out a few of your decorating techniques and you sure do make it easy for a beginner. I’m making your peanut butter cake next and I’ll be ordering your book ASAP! Thank you for sharing your creativity and talent with the world!
That makes me so happy, Holly!! Glad the chocolate cake was a hit and I’m so excited for you to get my book!!
Whitney, this recipe was fantastic. Oh my. It had a sort of loose crumb but I used a 1-to-1 gluten free flour blend and a baking powder substitution (baking soda + cream of tartar) because I forgot to check my pantry so maybe that’s why. Regardless, it tasted amazing with the cream cheese buttercream. Made it for my daughter’s unicorn birthday party and one of the three year old guests said it was the best cake ever. Even my very particular husband said it was good! Yay!
Yay, Kate! I’m so happy this recipe was a hit with gf flour! Also, I didn’t know you could substitute baking powder with baking soda + cream of tartar! I’m going to have to try that. Thanks so much for letting me know the cake was so loved!
Hi Whitney was just wondering about the egg’s, it say’s 2 egg’s to add to the recipe is it large or medium sized egg’s and would the vanilla buttercream icing work as well as the chocolate one or would I be better sticking to the chocolate one thank you for any input on this xx
Hi Michelle! It’s two large eggs. I’ll add that in to the recipe. And vanilla frosting tastes amazing with this cake! Enjoy!
thank you the cake turned out perfect x
Yay! That makes me so happy!
Hi Whitney, do I need to double the chocolate frosting for the 6 inch 3 layer cake? or is the 3 cups of frosting enough?
Hi Precious! Yes – I would double the frosting recipe for a 3 layer cake.
I have made this cake numerous times and it’s always so moist…my husband’s favorite…this time I want to make it today,Saturday, and crumb coat, fill, frost Friday and Saturday. Will it still be as wonderful if I freeze it today? I’m anxiously awaiting your book…
I’m so happy this recipe has become a family favorite, Kathy! This cake freezes wonderfully and stays moist when thawed, so I think your timeline will work great. Here’s some info on how to freeze and thaw the cake layers if you need it: https://sugarandsparrow.com/making-cakes-ahead/
Delicious!!
Hi Whitney!
I ran out of plain flour, can I use cake or all purpose instead? 🙂
Hi Ash! All purpose flour will work but cake flour won’t be strong enough to bind this cake together.
Hi Whitney! This recipe is so yum!
I always seem to do something wrong with chocolate cake recipes.. Everytime they come out so soft and crumbled (not dry very moist), the sides, top and bottom just crumble off in chunks and trying to buttercream just tears. (I have no issues with any other flavoured cake – vanilla. Etc it’s literally just chocolate cakes?!) any idea why this could be? It’s
Hi Ash! I’m not sure what might be happening there. My first thought is that the cake is either slightly undercooked or simply too hot to handle. Cakes tend to be more fragile when they’re not fully cooled. Did the cake crumble after you let it cool completely? Or at what point did that happen? If your buttercream is tearing the cake, that might be an issue with the consistency of your buttercream being too thick. Here’s a post on buttercream consistency just to make sure: https://sugarandsparrow.com/buttercream-consistency/
Thanks Whitney!
I made it again today and left it to cook a few extra minutes. The pick was coming out clean though.
And I let it cool completely to room temp.
Coming out of the pan, the edges and bottom just fall off.
The cake appears to be cooked well, it’s very fluffy and yum! But the edges and bottom are so fragile/soft and fall away. It happens on all my chocolate cakes 🙁 but I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong
That’s really interesting! So are the edges getting stuck to the pan when you remove the cake then? I usually let the cake cool for about 5 minutes before removing it from the pan and letting it cool completely to room temp on a wire rack from there. If the edges and bottom are getting stuck to the pan here are some tips for preparing your cake pan: https://sugarandsparrow.com/preparing-cake-pans/ unless you’re making ingredient substitutions that’s the only thing I can think of!
Made this and it came out perfect! Did not have kosher salt so I used a pinch of sea salt…did not have baking soda so i subsituted with baking powder(1:3 ratio)… I have saved the recipe for future use!
Yay, Maria! I’m so happy this recipe was a hit and that’s brilliant to know the baking powder substitution worked!
I have made this cake before quite a few times and it is the best cake ever!!!!
I was wondering can I substitute something else for the buttermilk? I was thinking coffee or water? Would this work?I
Thank you!!
Hi Aoife! I’m so happy you love this recipe as much as I do! The best thing to sub for the buttermilk is going to be something with more fat than coffee or water. I’d suggest whole milk or making the DIY version of buttermilk described in the recipe notes.
This recipe is aptly named. It is perfect.
It came together breathtakingly easily and tasted as though I’d spent all day on it.
Be diligent in greasing your pans! It is the moist crumb that’s promised, so if you don’t grease aggressively, it’ll cling to the pan.
It was a positively dreamy cake, not too sweet, strong chocolate flavor, ideal texture. And I was able to make it the day before without issue!
This will become a regular in your rotation, I guarantee it.
Yay, Edith! I’m so happy this cake is a go-to for you now! Thanks so much for letting me know how well it went 🙂
Hi Whitney, I‘m from Germany so I‘ll try my best that you understand my bad english 🙂
Thanks for your amazing recipes.
I‘ve tried this recipe today with a 6inch (15 cm) cake pan but the cake batter is only enough for two pans and even then, the finished cake layers are veryyy thin. Don‘t know what I did wrong? 🙁
Hi Lea! The only thing I can think of is somewhere along the way you decreased the measurements. I always have enough batter to split between three 6-inch round pans and end up with three layers that are 2 inches tall. Are you going by Cup measurements or metric?