Community Pick
Dark Chocolate Cake
"While it takes slightly longer to prepare this recipe than a box mix, the resulting moist, delicious cake makes it VERY worth the little extra time. I consider this 'perfect' chocolate cake. This cake is excellent with both with Recipe #261024 and Recipe #208959 (the dark flavor version). (I use Recipe #95416 when I'm decorating the cake.) I love how the leftovers are still moist even a day or two later. (I store my loosely covered with plastic wrap.)
My father adores this cake with Recipe #261024 on it. For his birthday, Father's Day etc. I make him cupcakes with the icing on them and individually wrap them. He keeps them in his freezer for when he wants "a piece of cake". He claims they are as good as when they are fresh.
(Even though it isn't where I got the recipe from so I can't vouch for it, reviewers have said it is the recipe on the Hershey's cocoa can. I would recommend using their Special Dark Cocoa if possible.)"
photo by Izy Hossack
- Ready In:
- 1hr
- Ingredients:
- 11
- Serves:
-
20-24
ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 3⁄4 cups flour
- 3⁄4 cup baking cocoa (dutch process or dark cocoa preferably)
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1⁄2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3⁄4 - 1 cup boiling water (see note below)
directions
- Heat oven to 350°F.
- Grease and flour two 9 inch round baking pans or one 13x9 inch pan.
- In large mixer bowl, stir together dry ingredients.
- Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Stir in boiling water by hand (batter will be thin). NOTE: I have tried it with 1/2 cup, 2/3 cup and 3/4 cup boiling water and we prefer it with less than 1 cup water. I usually use between 2/3 & 3/4 cups. The cake is still very moist but it doesn't seem to "fall" as much as it cools. This might have to do with our high humidity or brand of flour or other factors so I don't know if it will work for everyone.
- Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round 9-inch pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (Do not use 8-inch pans or the batter will overflow.).
- Because they have a tendency to overflow if you fill them more than 2/3 full, I usually get about 27-28 cupcakes per batch. Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes.
- Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire racks.
- Please note: baking cocoa isn't hot chocolate drink mix! Baking cocoa contains no sugar and it is found on the baking aisle. Chocolate drink mixes that you add to milk or water to drink WILL NOT work in this recipe.
Questions & Replies
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Hi! may I know why is there both baking powder and baking soda in this recipe? and what happens if I just use either of them? sorry in advance, as I'm a newbie in baking! Thank you <3
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What flour are you using? Self Raising? -
Can I substitute the milk with buttermilk?
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Is there a frosting recipe recommendation to go along with this cake? -
I've made this several times, and I agree, it is great! I have one question though. Do I add the boiling water to the eggs, etc (the liquids), or do i add it after I've mixed with liquid with the dry ingredients? I think I've done both, and they both seem to work. But, I want to know!
see 3 more questions
Reviews
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I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to make a friend's wedding cake. We tried several chocolate cake recipes, including this one. We had two finalists: this recipe and another, more complex cake. We actually took the cakes to a restaurant and had others help with the decision. Hands down, this cake was the winner!! Guests at the wedding also loved it and kept complimenting me. I made this cake again for a friend's baby's first birthday and several people said it was the best cake I had made to date! It's so moist and chocolatey.<br/>The one change i did make was to use 3/4 cup strong coffee (espresso works great) instead of just the hot water. It adds another dimension of deliciousness! -
This is an excellent chocolate cake! I halved this recipe and it made 16 regular sized cupcakes. Baked at 350* for around 14 minutes and they came out prefect and moist! I just tasted one fresh out of the oven and it is awesome even without frosting! I can't imagine how delicious they'll be with some homemade vanilla mint frosting! Thank you for this keeper recipe! -
Absolutely fantastic - moist and very chocolatey. Tops my my grandmother's famous buttermilk chocolate cake, which my mom & I have never quite been able to master, and is extremely simple & fool-proof. Don't believe the disclaimer about the time it may take to make this, in my book, no recipe you can prep in the time it takes the oven to preheat is too long :) -
It was a hit! I took another rater's suggestion and used only 1 and a half cups of sugar because I layered the cake with chocolate mousse and covered it with chocolate ganache so I knew that the cake didn't need to be sweet with all the other components. It came out great! My guests were impressed and actually complimented the cake part itself. I forgot to take a picture and I really regret it because it came out beautiful for my first cake not out of a box.
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This cake is dense, moist, and decadent! I used a dark chocolate icing recipe for the topping and mounds of strawberries;)) My daughter LOVED her birthday cake!!
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see 516 more reviews
Tweaks
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Use hot coffee in place of hot water for a deeper flavor.
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My go to recipe for chocolate cake or cupcakes. I substitute almond milk for the milk. Have enjoyed this with Hershey dark cocoa or Dutch process (but getting harder to find so the Hershey's is a winner). 3/4C boiling water has been a good amount each time I used this recipe. It's just so good to have dark chocolate cake that is moist every time. Oh and mini cupcakes come out great at 14 minutes! -
I used Coconut Oil instead of Vegetable Oil and just under 1 Cup of boiling water.
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Totally yummy and moist. Used coffee in place of water for that richness. I am very fussy about cakes. Once I actually made three cakes in one day for a birthday. This recipe is a definite winner. Thank you for sharing. -
This sounds really tasty
see 27 more tweaks
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Marg (CaymanDesigns)
United States
With the changes to the email notifications and removal of private messaging, I am no longer able to respond to questions about my recipes. Yet another feature change that has made the website less user friendly. It's sad to watch a fantastic site deteriorate over the years. Some of my recipes are on my blog.
