Easy Chocolate Cake

Soft, decadent, moist, tender and easy Chocolate Cake recipe made in one bowl using minimal ingredients and no fancy equipments! Oh and this cake is accidently dairy free. Always top it off with heaps of Chocolate Ganache, Always.

Try Chocolate Bundt Cake next! Find all Chocolate Desserts on the blog here.

Taste and Texture of this cake:

• Soft, tender yet fluffy crumb
• Decadent Chocolatey Flavor
• Covered in rich Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Recipe Ingredients:

This cake requires only a few simple ingredients and just a balloon whisk is sufficient to prepare the batter!

• Cocoa: We are using Natural unsweetened cocoa powder for this cake. Good quality cocoa really makes a difference. I like Hershey's brand best.  
• Flour: All purpose flour is the base of this cake. Make sure to sift flour and cocoa before adding to the liquids to get rid of lumps.
• Baking soda: It reacts with the acidity of vinegar and cocoa. This makes the cake to rise well. Make sure to use fresh baking soda here.
• Coffee: Now coffee is absolutely optional but I recommend adding it. Coffee will enhance the flavor of chocolate and you won't taste it at all.
• Vinegar: A table spoon of vinegar is required in this cake batter. Don't skip it.
• Sugar: Granulated sugar will impart perfect sweetness to this chocolate cake.

How to make Chocolate Cake:

This couldn't get any easier. It's so easy that you might feel you are doing something wrong.

1. Mix all wet ingredients (except coffee+water) together with a whisk or hand mixer.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients over wet and gently fold till the batter is well combined.
3. Pour hot coffee over the batter and mix again.
4. Pour batter in lined pans and bake at 350 deg F. 

Chocolate Ganache:

This is literally the easiest frosting ever! And tastes so decadent. To make it:

• Heat heavy cream in microwave or on gas top.
• Pour over good quality semi sweet chocolate.
• Allow to rest for 5 minutes and whisk it rigorously to form a glossy ganache.
• Allow to set for a few hours at room temperature or in the refrigerator till thickened and ready to be frosted.

What makes cake moist and soft?

Number one ingredient that makes chocolate cake moist is the use of oil as opposed to butter. Worry not. You wont miss out on the flavors of butter with all the chocolate flavor going on in the cake.

Secondly adding hot coffee to this batter makes it very liquidy. Again, panic not! This will produce the most moist Chocolate Cake that you will ever taste.

How do you make chocolate cake taste more chocolatey?

Adding coffee to intensify the chocolate flavor is something I do all the times and cannot recommend it enough. You will never taste coffee, only very intensified chocolate flavor.

If you are a chocoholic like me, frost your cake with chocolate ganache frosting as opposed to chocolate buttercream made with cocoa.

Which is better for chocolate cake butter or oil?

Short answer is OIL. Adding oil to chocolate cake batter makes a very moist cake that stays moist for days.

More Cake Recipes:

Soft Vanilla Cake

Chocolate Mug Cake

Lemon Chiffon Cake

Easy Chocolate Cake 

Easy Chocolate Recipe

Soft, decadent, moist, tender and easy Chocolate Cake recipe made in one bowl using minimal ingredients and no fancy equipments! Oh and this cake is accidently dairy free. Always top it off with heaps of Chocolate Ganache, Always.

5 from 5 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

US Customary - Metric

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Resting Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Servings 9 Slices

1x2x3x

Calories: 643kcal

Author: Neha

Equipment

• Two 6 inches Pans

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 ½ Cup All purpose flour
• ▢ ⅓ (35 gms) Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I used Hersheys)
• ▢ 1 tsp Baking Soda
• ▢ ¼ tsp Salt
• ▢ 1 Cup Granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 large Egg (at room temperature)
• ▢ 1 Tbsp White Distilled Vinegar
• ▢ ⅓ Cup Oil
• ▢ 2 tsp Pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 Cup Hot Coffee (or you may use 1 cup hot water)

Chocolate Ganache

• ▢ 1 (453) Pound semi sweet Chocolate (Good quality, chopped)
• ▢ 2 (16 oz) Cups Heavy cream
• ▢ 2 Tbsp Honey
• ▢ 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350˚F and line two 6 inches pans with parchment paper and set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl whisk together egg, vinegar, oil, sugar and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda) over wet ingredients and fold gently. Now add a cup of hot coffee over this mixture and form the batter. Batter will be runny, worry not. It is supposed to be runny. Do not over mix it.
• Pour batter in the prepared liners and bake for 25-35 minutes or until the cake passes tooth pick test. Take cakes out of oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes in the pans and then invert on wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache:

• Microwave or heat heavy cream on gas top till it just comes to a boil. Add it to chopped chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Add honey and vanilla to the ganache and give it a quick stir again.
• Cover and allow to set on room temp. for about 5-6 hours or in the refrigerator for about ½ an hour. Frost on cool cakes as desired.

Notes

Storage Information:

Frosted or unfrosted cakes can be stored in the freezer for about 2 months. Allow to thaw at room temp on counter top before enjoying.

Cakes and ganache can be prepared ahead and can be frosted the next day.

Store cake covered at all times to retain moisture. Chocolate cake will stay good at room temp for 2 days.

Recipe Tips:

• You can double this recipe to bake in two 8 inches pans. Also double the recipe for chocolate ganache. Oven temp would remain the same.
• To make cupcakes out of this batter, fill cupcake liners up to ⅔ full and bake at 350 deg F for about 20-22 minutes. This batter will yield 12 cupcakes.
• Adding coffee to the batter is optional but I recommend it highly. It will enhance the flavor of chocolate in the cake and you won't taste coffee in the baked cake at all.
• Hot water can be replaced with buttermilk in this cake. But I prefer the taste of former better.
• Always frost on completely cooled cakes. You may even bake these cakes a day ahead. Store them covered at room temp and frost the next day.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Slice | Calories: 643kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 37g | Sodium: 161mg | Sugar: 35g

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