The Best Chocolate Cake
This is the best, easiest, chocolate cake ever! Hundreds of people have made it and declared it the best-ever for a reason…because it is!
Smothered Pork Chops.
Yellow Cake.
Frosting.
Spare Ribs.
Chocolate Cake.
Cream Cheese Coffee Cake.
Any idea what all of the above items have in common?

Well, just between you and me, they are currently on my list (among several others) of recipes I’m searching to find the PERFECT version of. The Best Of, if you will.
(Update: I’ve actually found best-ever versions of some of those! Smothered Pork Chops and Yellow Cake are off the list!)
There are many things (like Indian food and pasta dishes to name a few) that I’ll probably always try different versions of just for the fun of it, but my “search” list includes recipes I want to know are the best so I can turn to them when the time arises and know they will not fail me.
And wouldn’t you know that this week, I’m able to cross off TWO of them! The magical frosting that still visits my dreams was detailed yesterday and now today I’m letting you in on the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made.
I first made this cake nearly eight months ago for my son’s birthday but wanted to make it several more times to ensure it really is the best. And it is!
Hands down, it beats any other homemade chocolate cake I have ever made. Moist (unbelievably so!), dense with chocolate flavor but with a perfectly light and tender cake crumb, and with the perfect balance of sweet and rich chocolate, this cake was taken to new heights slathered in my new favorite frosting.
So perfect and so decadent and delicious, this is the only chocolate cake I need to worry about from here on out.
Actually, I probably should be worrying more about the effect of this chocolate cake on my thighs. Ignorance is bliss, I say.
One Year Ago: Oatmeal Pancake Mix
Two Years Ago: Chicken Tikka Masala
Unbelievable Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (106 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 ½ cups (355 g) all purpose flour
- 2 ½ cups (530 g) sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
- 1 ¼ cups warm water
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, making sure the baking rack is in the middle of the oven. Prepare two round 9-inch cake pans by cutting out a piece of parchment or wax paper to line the bottom of the pan. Grease the pans, place the parchment or wax paper in the bottom of the pan and lightly grease again. Dust the pans with flour (or cocoa powder if you don’t want the white dusting on the finished cakes). Set the pans aside.
- Using a fine mesh strainer, sift together the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add the eggs, yolk, warm water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Mix on low speed (with a handheld mixer or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer) until smooth, about 3 minutes.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake the cakes for about 32-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Do not overbake! Remove the pans from the oven and set the pans on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Gently run a thin knife around the edges of the pans and unmold the cakes, removing the parchment paper liners from the bottom of the cakes. Let them cool completely, top sides ups, on a wire rack.
- Trim the tops of the cake layers with a long serrated knife to make them level. Frost as desired (I highly recommend this life-changing frosting).
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Martha Stewart Living The New Classics
Can I use 2 8” pans? If so, how long should I bake them?
I think it’s too much batter for 8-inch pans so make sure the batter doesn’t overflow. The baking time would be about the same.
I have made this cake a few times over the past 2 years – it is delicious – BUT I have always had to bake it way longer (close to 50 minutes) and the middles sink A LOT… thoughts???
I have no complaints about the taste, just the look – I have to fill the middle with a ton of frosting to support the top (also, not complaining about extra frosting) 🙂
Hey Jessica – do you live at high elevation?
I live in high elevation and my cakes always sink! Any suggestions how I can fix this?
Hi Staci – try adding a few more tablespoons flour and also decreasing the leavening (baking soda/powder) just a little bit.
I love how easy this is!! The perfect flavor for me. I’m curious what I need to fix if the middle droops before I even open the door? I thought that only happens when you take it out before it’s done? ♀️
Hey Amanda – sometimes a cake can fall if the batter sits too long before baking, so keep that in mind. Have you noticed at what point the cake is falling? If it is happening consistently, you may need to use a bit less leavening, so maybe consider cutting the baking soda back by 1/4 teaspoon? And maybe the baking powder, too.
This cake truly was amazing.
Making it for years , this cake has mad me a rock star. Love your recipes!!!
My husband is picky about cakes, and he said this is his favorite cake recipe! He said, I can make this cake, anytime. I gave you the credit. I am so happy to have found a recipe that he loves! The cake is chocolately, but not to sweet. It’s light and fluffy. I was worried about the amount of sugar in it and the thinnest of the batter, but the previous comments posted on here helped a lot. Thanks Mel!!
Making this tomorrow for my best friend. (Her G’ma used to make a chocolate layer cake w/ white icing for her every year on her birthday). This frosting is life-changing. I discovered it 3 years ago but apparently it’s been around for awhile. “Ermine” buttercream. I have NO idea where it got its name. All I know is….it’s delicious and easy.
Thanks, Mel. I couldn’t cook or bake without you!
Made cupcakes and they are fabulous!
How long did you bake them? I want to try making cupcakes with this recipe too 🙂
After reading the issue of overflow, I’m reminded that it’s pretty important to know what size cake pans you’re using, and include that in the recipe, both diameter and height since some people have different-sized pans. Then people can either use the same size as you or adjust based on the size you use and what they have. Could you please include that info in your recipe? Thanks!
I use 9-inch pans (listed in the yield of the recipe); mine are about 2 1/2 to 3-inches high.
I came here for the same reason – the size of the pans is A) in an extremely hard to read font b) noted in a weird place. You should add the size of the pans to the instructions/steps of the recipe, especially if multiple people are having issues with the cake spilling over. Luckily, I read through a bunch of comments first to find out what size pans, because that was immediately my first question when reading through the recipe 3 times.
I made this in a 9 x 13 light metal pan and I am so very sad to report that mine fell in the middle too. It was not due to under-baking because it fell before it was done and was already sunken in the middle when I took it out. Toothpick came out clean. My guess is that the batter is too thin. I’m tempted to try again another time and reduce or omit water.
I don’t think the batter being thin is the issue. Definitely don’t omit or tweak the water in the recipe. It’ll surely effect the texture. You have to make sure the house is quiet and there’s no heavy walking (or running) while the cake is rising.
In a 9 x 13 pan light metal pan, in our oven, it takes 37 minutes to bake.
Made the cake and loved it! I’d like to use the same recipe for my daughters birthday cupcakes. Do you know how many cupcakes this recipe makes?
It makes a lot, if I remember right – I don’t have an exact count because it’s been a while since I made them that way, but I’d say probably 24 or more.
Hi Mel! I just made this recipe this afternoon, for my daughter’s school birthday treats tomorrow. She asked for mini cupcakes; I got 48 mini cupcakess, plus 15 regular sized cupcakes out of the recipe. For the minis, I baked them for 16 minutes (my pan is one huge one, with 48 spots), and they were perfect. The regular sized cupcakes took approximately 20-21 minutes. I have made the recipe before as rounds, and love the flavor and texture! In fact, an inordinate amount of my recipe book is made up of YOUR recipes – thank you!
Thank you so much, Amy! The notes on the yield you got out of the recipe is helpful!
I know this is years later but thank you for sharing the amount of cupcakes and baking time. This is very helpful and much appreciated to me.
Any tips on how long to bake the cupcakes?
For cupcakes I baked 16 minutes and the recipe yielded 36 cupcakes 🙂
As always, your recipe was amazing! Everyone loved it, it’s better than any boxed mix I’ve used. I actually used the “best vanilla buttercream frosting” and used almond milk instead of the cream, as well as instead of the buttermilk (It’s all I have) and frosted it while still slightly warm. It was amazing, because the frosting in the middle melted and soaked into the cake, making it extra moist, and giving a tint of buttercream flavor as well. 10/10
Oh yum!
Thanks, Megan!
I usually have great success with your recipes. Like many have commented, this cake sunk in the middle pretty bad. I saw in your yellow cake recipe that yours had been falling with too much leavening agents. Do you think that is what is happening with this recipe?
What elevation do you live at, Jamie? It’s possible you might need a couple tablespoons more flour – that might help with sinking in the middle. But as you mentioned, leavening can play into that also.
Hi again! I mentioned before that I was having trouble with falling cakes. Well, a few weeks ago when my daughter was looking for a science fair project, I suggested she try to figure out if she could bake a cake without a crater in the center. Never suggest cake as a science fair project unless you’re prepared to do a lot of baking! We followed the suggestions on the king arthur website that you mentioned, and tried separately changing the amount of flour, the amount of leavening, and the liquid (by adding an extra egg). I thought you might be interested in the results. The original cake was 5 cm at the edge and 3 cm in the center. Extra flour produced a cake that was 5.5 cm at the edge and 3 cm in the center. Extra egg produced a cake that was 5 cm at the edge and 2.5 cm in the center. And less leavening (1 tsp baking soda and 3/8 tsp baking powder) produced a cake that was 4.5 cm at the edge and 3 cm in the center. So for looks, the less leavening looked the least fallen, but if you cut the edges off the original, it would be the same height. 🙂 Further investigation could involve combining all the recommendations. Also, we didn’t change the oven temperature, but since the site recommends cooking at 25 degrees higher and you had so much success with your cookies on convection, we cooked them all using convection (still at 350). Finally, we did not compare the taste on all of them because I’m sending them in for her class to see and taste, but the ones we did taste were delicious! I have new admiration for you baking 14 yellow cakes – I’m calling the recipe good as is. Thanks for all you do for us!
Oh my goodness, Laura – I loved this! What a lot of testing…and what a fun science fair project. I have a feeling I might be recommending this to my boys when they hit science fair phase at school next year. Thank you of reporting on the results! That is so interesting that it was the least amount of leavening that produced the least fallen cake. Hmmm…
I do think cooking experiments make great science fair projects – I love the experiments you do on softened butter, chilled dough, etc! I also found it interesting that some of the other suggestions actually made the difference worse. I think it would be worth trying all the suggestions together, but 4 cakes was enough for my 2nd grader. We only did 1/2 the recipe for each one. I think her class will love trying the results!
I made this recipe to celebrate a birthday this weekend. It was amazing! The cake was moist and delicious. I wanted a smaller cake, so I cut the recipe in half (just used one whole egg and skipped the egg yolk), and split the batter into two 9″ round pans to make thinner layers, and baked for 25 minutes. It turned out perfectly, and we iced it using the “Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting” recipe from this website. What a delicious combination!
Mel, do you think I could make this gluten free with success?
I’m not sure, Suzette – but I have a gluten-free chocolate cake on my site that you might want to try. http://www.melskitchencafe.com/decadent-chocolate-cake/
Amazing! But at 7200 feet, I am still having high altitude problems – my cakes all have huge craters in them. I used some of the top edge that I cut off to fill in the middles so I wouldn’t have to cut off so much. So I’m reaching out to your readers for help. I have read several websites on high altitude which suggest several variables to change (one at a time) to see what helps. Unfortunately, none of my changes so far have helped. 🙁 Has anyone tried reducing baking powder to 3/8 tsp and soda to 1 tsp? Or adding in the extra egg white? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Also, the frosting is delicious! It did take over 15 min to thicken (another high altitude problem; I have the same issue with pudding). I thought I’d mention it for other high altitude bakers. This Wyoming girl is missing Virginia right now. It’s so sad to work so hard on a cake and have it fall. But one of these days I’m hoping to report success!
Hi Laura, I’m not a high altitude expert, but have you tried adding a few extra tablespoons flour to the batter? I remember doing that when I lived at 6,500 feet. You’ve probably already tried it, but thought I’d suggest…
Yes, and that works for most recipes, like bread, cookies, brownies, etc, but I haven’t been successful with cakes. I added an extra 1/4 cup flour to this recipe, but it still caved (I could see it happening while it baked – the outside puffed up right away, but the inside didn’t). Did you have any problem with cakes when you were at 6500 ft? Really, everything else hasn’t been much problem, and I suspect I could make this into cupcakes without much difficulty. I’ve mostly tried adding flour since it seems to help with everything else, but I think I need to vary something else. The suggestion for cutting the leavening just seems to leave so little that I’m worried the cake will be flat! Thanks for your help!
Have you seen this guide from King Arthur Flour?
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Yes, that’s what I’ve been using! They say to start by varying one thing, and I’ve only tried flour (which hasn’t worked for cakes, so I don’t know why I keep trying it). One suggestion is to change the buttermilk to sweet milk and only use baking powder, but with some of the changes, I worry that I’ll end up with a completely different cake that won’t taste as good. I’ll keep trying and let you know if I find something that works. Thanks for your help!
Oh gosh, it’s quite the trial and error! Sorry I’m not more help.
Hello,
I wanted to give this cake a go as a tiered cake 8 and 6 inch. Will this batter be enough for an 8 inch cake 3 layer or 2 layers( split into 4)? Also if you wanted to half the recipe, how do you do so with the 1 egg yolk?
Yes, it should be enough batter for a 3-layer 8-inch cake. If you wanted to halve it, whisk the egg yolk in a bowl and use half of it.
Hi Mel,
Do you know if your cream cheese frosting from your red velvet cheesecake or sheet cake would taste good with this cake ?
Thanks for letting me know
If you like the cream cheese + chocolate combo, I think it would be great!
Sadly it sank in the middle, though it may be because I did it all by hand, no mixer for me. However, it looks to have turned out great, and with cream cheese frosting nobody will likely notice/care. Thanks a ton for the great recipe!
Sorry if this has already been asked but its a lot of comments to get through: How long does it take to bake the cake in a 13×9 pan? Thanks!
It’s a pretty thick cake in a 9X13-inch pan – I usually start checking it at around 28 minutes.
Hey Mel,
I’m getting ready to make this cake next week & wanted to make a second batch for cupcakes. Have you ever tried making this into cupcakes? If so how long should I bake them for?
Yes, this recipe makes great cupcakes. I usually bake them for about 16-17 minutes.
Aloha. Would love to make this cake but am not able to connect to the actual recipe?
Hi Christina – I’m not sure what you mean. The recipe is printed at the bottom of the post (above the comments). Are you viewing on a phone or desktop (or other)?
Will be trying this one soon . Thanks for sharing .
Hi Mel! This cake is the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten. My girls and I made it in celebration of my husband’s graduation from Airborne School (jumping out of airplane army stuff). He loved it, we loved it, my neighbor loved it (I snuck her a piece), everyone loved it! This is so rich and moist. I honestly didn’t think I could ever make a cake like this. Thanks so much!!! Amazing recipe and simple to follow. I have another one in the oven right now that I decided to make for no reason at all, just my chocolate craving! I can hardly wait for it to be done!
Do you think you could have a way to save our favorite recipes? You have so many and I sometimes have a hard time finding the ones I am planning on making. I say that because I had a different icing picked out but now I can’t remember the name. Thanks!!!
Hey Amanda – the best way is probably Pinterest. I don’t have a built in functionality on my site. Sorry about that!
Hi Mel,
Made this cake Thursday night, and this cake is to die for!!! So good,moist, and easy to make. The Magical Frosting OMG!!! It was like eating a cloud so good, fluffy, and not too sweet. Thank you for this recipe, looking forward to making more of your recipes.
I tried this recipe last weekend with an amazing coconut pecan frosting for my daughter’s birthday. Everyone thought they had died and gone to heaven! So moist and flavorful, it was a real home run! Thank you so much for sharing the results from your research. I know I can count on your website for the best , no-fail recipes every time.
Thanks, Katie – that combo sounds amazing!
I baked the cake today for a Father’s Day dessert. Having heard about the possible overflow of batter during baking, I used ten inch cake pans with two inch sides. The cake came out beautifully. I followed your directions and mixed the ingredients for just 3 minutes. i can’t wait to put the chocolate ganache frosting. In between layers, I will be spreading a cannoli filling (white pudding). Can’t wait to taste it!
Hello Ines – Mel doesn’t have access to internet right now so I’m helping her out with comments for the next few days. That sounds amazingly delicious. Thank you for sharing your suggestion with us. Mel will be excited to hear it worked well for you.
It did turn out beautifully! ! I receive compliments every time I prepare this cake! Looking forward to preparing cupcakes using this recipe!
Hi Mel,
I made this cake and frosting today. Can I just say that this was, hands down, the most awesome chocolate cake. Ever. Even the frosting was perfect! And I am not a fan of frosting. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you for the recipe and the frosting too. Ah-mazing, it is now my sons favorite. My son does not like cake so this is the first cake he approves. Yay, thank you
How many servings does this recipe yield? I am going to try it for my daughter’s birthday party and I have to feed 35 guests! Should I double the recipe? Thanks Mel!
I would love the white frosting recipe as well, how did you make it?
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/the-best-frosting-ever/
I have a question. I only have short 9 inch rounds, but I have three of them. Could I do it in 3 short 9″ rounds? Also, is this cake sturdy? I’m making a mother’s day cake and I am not very experienced with the putting together and decorating part. But I find it so much easier when the cake isn’t so crubly and unstable.
This cake is definitely sturdy enough for icing and yes, I think it should be ok in the three 9-inch rounds with shorter sides. Just make sure not to overfill the pans so it doesn’t overflow in the oven.
Mel,
Thanks for the time and energy on your recipes. This blog is awesome and so much thought and detail go into it! I have to say I have made this chocolate cake a few times. I messed it up Friday night. Not sure how I did, but I re-made the cake and let the one I messed up on, sit on the counter for a couple of days uncovered. When I messed up the cake its because I pulled it out of the pan too soon and it was misshapen. I wanted to throw it out but my friend kept eating it saying it was so good. Now I’m sitting on the couch eating this chocolate cake and it’s still amazing! Thank you for the recipes. This chocolate cake rocks!
Hi is it possible to achieve the frost’s texture just by using a whisk?
I don’t think so but you could try.
When I made this cake the first time it was way too cocoa-y for me and my family ( I just used Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa). I also live in China where cocoa is expensive, so I decreased the cocoa to 3/4 cup and it was the perfect milk chocolate cake. So moist and delicious. Everyone said it was the best chocolate cake they had ever had! This is my go-to chocolate cake from now on. Thanks Mel!
This cake taste amazing! For some reason the center of my cake didn’t rise. What did I do wrong?
It might have needed more baking time, Kathryn, if it sunk in the middle.
Have you found a best Devil’s a Food Cake that you can share; the Chocolate cake is quite dark and I’ve never been a fan of very dark chocolate cake?
I don’t have a tried-and-true Devil’s Food cake, Angela – sorry about that!
Hi Mel, I only have cake flour available on hand, can I use that instead of the all-purpose flour?
I’ve actually never used cake flour for this cake but I believe others have with good results (you might read through the comment thread to see for sure). The cake crumb will be a bit finer using cake flour.
Hi I have to say I absolutely love this recipe. It’s delicious and easy and always moist. I’ve made it at least 5 times now and I always get this HUGE dome on top which sadly leads to waste sometimes. Is there a way to prevent such exaggerated dining? I even put it in cupcake tins. And while some bakers like rounded tips, this set pretty low in the cup and rose pretty high in the middle. So there was a lot of space in the cup.. =/
Am I off somehow? I do weigh my ingredients and I find that I have to lower my temperature halfway through baking to make sure it doesn’t burn.. any tips please?
Hi Ashley – I’m not exactly sure what might be happening but you might try decreasing the leavening in the recipe just a little so it doesn’t rise too high (either that or try baking it 25 degrees lower).
Loved this recipe. It was awesome. I used it with a strawberry buttercream frosting and marshmallow fondant. It was uber moist!
Do you know the approx baking time for this when done in a 9×13 pan?
I’d start checking after about 30 minutes.
Is there a gluten free version?
Thanks!
The only gluten free chocolate cake recipe that I have is this http://www.melskitchencafe.com/decadent-chocolate-cake/ and it is fabulous.
This recipe looks great! Do you think it would hold up to buttercream and fondant?
I think others in the comment thread have used both buttercream and fondant with good results. Good luck if you try it!
You already know this…and now I do too: This cake absolutely rocked! I have made a chocolate cake every year (a new recipe every year) for my daughter’s birthday in search of finding the perfect chocolate cake. Now I’ve found it! Search over. Everyone raved about it and the aptly named magical frosting! Even my highly skeptical, notorious-for-hating-cake Mother loved it. Thank you!
Hi Mel,
Do you think it is a bad idea for me to make this recipe using Dutch processed cocoa? I have some really nice cacao rouge, but never get to use it because all recipes seem to need natural cocoa powder. Since this recipe has an acid (buttermilk) to compensate for the acid that is missing in the cacao rouge, I thought it might still turn out okay. Any thoughts? Thanks!
I haven’t tried it with Dutch-process but because Dutch-process has a lower acidity, it’s usually used in recipes with baking powder. This recipe has both (baking powder and baking soda) but because it’s higher in baking soda, you might need to play around with those amounts if using Dutch-process. I believe some in the comments have used Dutch-process so if you read through the comment thread you may find some help. Good luck!
I usually just buy box cake mix because I find it more convenient and I have not encountered a recipe that I really like but after trying this I will definitely stop buying those box mix. Thank you so much
This is an AMAZING cake-so moist and sinfully delicious without being too sweet and with a really deep and rich chocolatey-ness (I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder with unbelievable results). I frosted it with a vanilla whipped cream (nobody in my family really likes traditional icing) and it was scrumptious, just SCRUMPTIOUS! <333
Please help Mel! So i need to make a cake in advance as was wondering whether it was possible to refrigerate/freeze this cake for one and a half day, would that be okay? Also, do i use the fridge or freezer to do this (i know i sound a bit slow but please humour me).
Thanks,
Eve
I absolutely LOVE this cake straight from the fridge! Go for it!
Thank you so much for your reply, yeah i decided to refrigerate it in the end and it was still good. Best cake ever (thanks Mel)
Hi Eve – for a day and a half, I’d probably refrigerate the cake well covered and if possible, already iced. That will help it stay moist.
Thank you! I’ll bear this in mind when i next decide to make it a day or so in advance. Best cake ever and this is from someone who isn’t really fond of chocolate anything!
Hi Mel,
I had been using recipes from your blog for a long time before I learned last year that you are Rob’s cousin!! I’m Amy’s little sister, Heidi. Anyway, I just wanted to say that my husband and I made this cake with the frosting you recommended (chocolate version) for my birthday yesterday and it was AMAZING!!! We both kept saying after every bite that it was the best chocolate cake we had ever had. It really was unbelievable! 🙂 Thanks for being awesome! I love your blog!
Heidi
Hi Heidi! I love Amy! I’ve told her and Rob several times I wish we were next door neighbors (they had the nerve to move out of state the minute we moved to Idaho!). I’m so happy you loved this recipe…that version you put together for your birthday is my absolute fave. Happy birthday!