Ever since I was probably about 3 years old, my American godmother baked me a chocolate birthday cake every year. She would occasionally ask me what flavor I wanted and I ALWAYS requested chocolate. Maybe my memory of this cake is over inflated or maybe I just didn’t have anything to compare it to since my mom never baked sweets. Regardless, I excitedly looked forward to this cake every year and on cue, my godparents would swing by with a cake and a birthday gift.
It was really just a very simple chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I remember it being moist, decadent and perfect in every way. I’ve hardly had any slices of chocolate cake in adulthood that have rivaled the memory of that cake. That is, until now. I’ve found the recipe I’ve been searching for for decades in Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat.
For the best chocolate cake, the secret is using oil instead of butter.
Apparently, to get that moist texture, you want to use oil in your cake instead of butter. In Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, Samin Nosrat explains that this is what will give your cake the ideal texture everyone wants. I guess this is why boxed cake mixes are always usually moist. I always assumed boxed cake mixes used oil because oil is more convenient (and almost always more on hand) than butter. Those corporate food scientists do know a thing or two I suppose!
As I was reading the recipe, I liked that she used brewed coffee in the batter. I’ve had a vegan chocolate cake recipe that’s been in rotation for years that uses coffee as the wet ingredient. Coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate. So does a tiny bit of salt. Samin did not give a chocolate icing recipe for the cake. She had many suggestions for variations of whipped cream or sour cream icing. They all sounded delicious but I was after recreating The Birthday Cake, so I had to come up with a chocolate icing as well.
I knew it had to have butter in the icing to give it that classic, fluffy texture. I found a perfect old-fashioned one bowl chocolate icing recipe that I enhanced with some espresso powder and a little bit of salt. It easily whipped up to a chocolatey and rich icing, perfect for the cake. I’m not one for cloyingly, super sweet icing. This one hit all the right notes for me.
The perfect back pocket cake recipe.
After baking this cake, I had a very hard time not eating it for breakfast everyday. Great chocolate cake is like my kryptonite. So I enlisted some help of friends and family (one who is a cake fiend) to come and taste test. Everyone decreed that it was one of the moistest cakes they’d ever tasted and no one even guessed it had coffee in it. The cake lasted about 5 days and I was shocked that the last slice tasted as good as the first. I think the cake was even better the second day after it sat overnight.
This is a great recipe to have in your baking arsenal. Birthdays, Valentine’s, kid parties, anniversaries… I don’t think there are any occasions when a really great chocolate cake wouldn’t be appreciated. This recipe could definitely be made into a 9″ x 13″ sheet cake or 24 cupcakes. What’s your favorite flavor cake? Let me know in the comments below!
The video.
The Best Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
for the Cake
- 2 tbsp butter, softened (for the pans)
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder (for the pans)
- 1 3/4 cups (240 grams) all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups (330 grams) sugar
- 1/2 cup (22 grams) cocoa powder, good quality
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) vegetable oil, neutral tasting (such as canola)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (350 ml) freshly brewed, hot coffee (or boiling water)
- 2 large eggs ,room temperature
for the Icing
- 3 1/4 cups (365 grams) confectioner’s sugar
- 1 cup (44 grams) cocoa powder, good quality
- 3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) milk, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp salt,
- 1/2 tsp espresso powder
Method
for the Cake Layers
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease two 8″ round cake pans with softened butter. Line with parchment paper rounds, then butter the parchment paper. Add a tablespoon of cocoa powder to each pan and tap and shake pan to “flour” each pan evenly. Remove excess cocoa powder.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Sift everything together into a large bowl.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, vanilla and brewed coffee. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Beat the two eggs and add to the batter. Stir to combine.
- Divide batter between two pans. Drop and tap the pans onto a flat surface a few times to release any air bubbles. Bake in the upper third of the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.
for the Icing
- Sift together the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder in a medium bowl.
- Place softened butter in a large bowl. Beat with a spoon or hand mixer for 30 seconds. Add the sifted ingredients and the milk, vanilla, salt and espresso powder. Beat together until fully incorporated and fluffy. Refrigerate until needed. Cold frosting will need to come slightly up to room temperature and beaten again before use.
Notes
Pin it for later!
This looks amazing! I’m a HUGE chocolate and coffee lover but have never mixed the two. I’m definitely saving this one! May give it a try for my son’s next birthday.
That sounds great! You can’t really taste the coffee in it. At first, I did, very faintly but it disappeared after a bit. It’s really there to enhance the chocolate. If you want a more pronounced coffee/mocha flavor, I would add maybe a 1/2 tsp of espresso powder into the cake batter and maybe up the espresso powder to 1 tsp in the icing. Hope your son loves it! My 2 1/2 year old was sad the cake was eaten up. 🙂
I will definitely be trying this out. I love chocolatr cake, and ICING!
It was SO good. Definitely wanted to eat this cake all by myself after making it.
Yummy yum yum yum! My fave, too, with carrot and coconut cakes coming in close second and third. From the way you describe the recipe it sounds a lot like my go to recipe – Barefoot Contessa’s chocolate mocha cake. Uses oil and even some coffee and espresso powder as well! Oil in cakes is the best! I look forward to trying this cake. I can taste it already.
Your godmother sounds so seeet – what a nice memory.
Hi Honor! You can’t taste the coffee in it at all. It’s just a chocolate enhancer! I love coconut cake too! My godmother did the same for John and he got The Chocolate Cake as well. Lol.
This looks amazing!! I love chocolate cake!!
Hope you like it as much as I do. Let me know if you try it!
Greeting, did you use hot coffee in this recipe,
Thank you
Hi Renee! The original recipe states to use boiling hot water or hot, freshly brewed coffee. I’ve made it both ways. The last time with leftover coffee in my coffee maker which was cold and it didn’t really seem to make much of a difference to me. 🙂
Renee, I would like to alter my reply to your comment. I just recently learned from Rose Levy Beranbaum (a baking and cake legend) that the secret to making chocolate the most chocolatey is to hydrate cocoa with boiling water. This breaks the cells to release the most flavor inside them. This was a tip she learned from a food scientist at Proctor and Gamble many years ago. Who’s to argue with that? So the short answer is, yes, please use hot coffee.
I made this last night, it tastes great but is quite heavy and dense.. I this normal?
No, it should be very moist and not dense at all. Was your baking soda fresh? Let me know if I can help you trouble shoot.
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You’re welcome! Thanks for reading!