Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

"Here it is -- the best chocolate cake ever! Perfect for birthdays."
 
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photo by ReeLani photo by ReeLani
photo by ReeLani
photo by Anonymous photo by Anonymous
photo by celine.centones photo by celine.centones
photo by Marianne5 photo by Marianne5
photo by Marianne5 photo by Marianne5
Ready In:
55mins
Ingredients:
11
Serves:
16
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ingredients

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directions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Grease and flour one 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
  • If you want a layer cake, use two 9-inch pans.
  • In large bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
  • Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee (if making with instant, use 2 tsp to make 1 cup), oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Batter will be thin.
  • Pour into prepared pan.
  • Bake until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean (30-35 minutes for round pans, 35-40 minutes for rectangular pans).
  • Cool 10 minutes; (if using 9-inch round cake pans, remove from pan) and cool on wire racks.
  • Cool completely, then frost with your favourite vanilla icing.

Questions & Replies

  1. Can I print the recipe? I don't see a printer icon on the page.
     
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Reviews

  1. DELICIOUS!!! This is the same recipe I had found awhile ago on another website, except it had a different name, (Black Magic Cake). Regardless of what the recipe is called, it is excellent! Very moist, deep chocolatey, and fluffy. I used brewed expresso instead of strong coffee, and I used nonfat plain yogurt in place of buttermilk. I also used Dutch Processed Cocoa instead of natural Cocoa in both the cake and the icing, then I lightly frosted the cake with my fatfree icing made with brewed expresso, cocoa powder, and confectioner's sugar.
     
  2. Fantastic taste, and an unbelievably soft and spongy texture! I made this for a friend's birthday, and the poor guy got only 1 tiny piece because all my other friends gobbled this up! The only problem I had with this cake was that it got stuck to the pan even after greasing and flouring it. Some Zaar folks suggested greasing and flouring the pan, then lining it with parchment paper, and greasing and flouring it again. Or, next time, I'll just serve this straight out of the pan! I don't have a hand blender, so I whisked the liquid ingredients separately using a wire whisk, and then added them to the flour mixture, whisking vigourously. I iced this with Sharlene's Silky Vanilla Butter Frosting (#23715).
     
  3. Wow.. what a cake! I took your advice Lennie and made this for a birthday. Everyone loved it. The only problem was that the cake stuck to the pans. I did grease and flour it, but I didn't think to put waxed paper on the bottom. For anyone who is going to make this cake as a layer cake, grease, flour, and line the bottom of your tins with wax paper. I frosted this moist and yummy cake with Classic Buttercream Frosting by ~Christine~ and it was FABULOUS! A perfect pair.
     
  4. Wow, Lennie! You have gone and DONE it!! This is incredible. I read Anu's review, so used the parchment paper. It came out of the pans perfect. This is so moist, rich, soft, delicious!! This cake is wonderful!!! I used my hot fudge sauce with this, only because that's what the family wanted. And some of them plopped a scoop of ice-cream alongside! What a treat. We all stuffed ourselves! This is going to get a lot of use! Thanks Lennie!
     
  5. This is "way yum" as the kids would say. Only problem- it stuck to the pan a little. Used a loaf tin so it took a little longer to cook, I think my oven has been over worked. Will definitely be making this again. Super moist, super chocolaty.
     
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Tweaks

  1. Great recipe! I, too, made this for a birthday. I did do a couple of things differently: first, I used cocoa powder dissolved in hot water instead of coffee, because another cake for the same party used coffee and I wanted this one to be all chocolate. Then, instead of the cocoa powder called for I used 3 oz. of melted baking chocolate, and cut the oil by 1.5 tablespoons. The layers turned out beatiful and moist. I decoreated with a buttercream icing, quartered chocolate easter eggs, and halved raspberries. Thanks for a great recipe!:-D
     
  2. I make this as a Bundt cake. Increase bake time to almost 60 minutes! Also this go round, I didn't have any milk so I used half and half soured with 3 Tbl lemon juice for the buttermilk. I decreased the sugar to 1-1/2 cups.
     
  3. Yay!! I now have a "go to" chocolate cake recipe! IT was just the right flavor for us and just the texture, not too light and not too dense. I used vanilla yogurt in place of buttermilk, oiled the pans, used parchment paper, that I oiled and dusted with cocoa powder, baked in light colored 8"pans and watched carefully and took them out just as soon as the toothpick came out clean. This cake held it's shape and slices like a dream. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
     
  4. This is a great recipe. It does not take much more time than a box cake. I used 1 tablespoon vinegar and non-fat soy milk to make the buttermilk. I also lined the pan with wax paper and sprayed oil on it. Next time I might replace half of the flour with whole wheat flour and perhaps up the buttermilk to 1 and 1/4 cup. Thanks for a great recipe. I told my 13 year old daughter I will make up the dry mix, label, and put in freezer for her if she wants to make a cake by herself and it would be like a box mix.
     
  5. This really is awesome dark chocolate cake. I substituted 1/2% milk for the buttermilk, and espresso for the black coffee. The result was a not-too-sweet cake with a hint of the coffee flavor. The finished cake was also very moist, and very yummy! I was worried when I saw how thin the batter actually was, but it rose nicely in two round pans.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I have been sharing recipes here at Recipezaar since October 2001. You won't see me around anymore, although if you're an old-school Zaarite you'll remember that in the past, you couldn't shut me up!
 
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