This Is The Chocolate Cake Recipe You've Been Searching For

Delish

This easy chocolate cake recipe is our best ever: It features a rich chocolate flavor and creamy chocolate frosting.

Transcript

00:00 Hi, I'm McKenzie at the Delish Kitchen studios

00:02 and I'm so excited to be making my favorite chocolate cake.

00:05 I worked for weeks trying to perfect this cake recipe

00:09 because most chocolate cakes, if we're being honest,

00:12 they don't taste like chocolate, they're super dry,

00:14 and I wanted this one to be absolutely perfect

00:17 and I finally got it to where I want it to be.

00:19 This chocolate cake has tall, thick layers,

00:22 which I thought was really important in a chocolate cake.

00:24 I wanted it to be like fudgy and full of chocolate flavor

00:28 and brownies can do that.

00:29 So I knew this cake could do it too.

00:31 I have a couple of tips and tricks, so let's get into it.

00:33 What makes this chocolate cake the best chocolate cake,

00:36 I truly believe, is this very first step

00:38 that we're going to do, which is blooming your cocoa powder.

00:41 You've probably heard before that coffee

00:43 makes chocolate taste more like chocolate

00:45 and that is 100% true, but take that a step further.

00:48 If you let your hot coffee sit on top of your cocoa powder,

00:51 it activates it and makes it taste even more like chocolate.

00:55 First thing you're going to do is brew a hot cup of coffee

00:58 and pour that over your cocoa powder.

01:00 Let's talk about the cocoa powder in this chocolate cake

01:03 because the theme for this cake

01:04 is to make the chocolate stand out.

01:06 So I use a Dutch process cocoa powder for it,

01:09 which is a little bit darker, it's bolder,

01:12 it tastes more like chocolate.

01:14 It is also a little bit more expensive,

01:15 but I think completely worth it.

01:17 But if you want to use an unsweetened regular cocoa powder,

01:21 you definitely can.

01:22 Stir it until it's combined

01:23 and let that sit for about 10 minutes.

01:25 Your cocoa powder won't be completely smooth,

01:27 so just stir until everything is wet.

01:29 While our cocoa powder sits,

01:31 we're going to whisk together all of our wet ingredients.

01:34 So add your sugar, eggs, oil, butter, and vanilla.

01:39 Just whisk that until it's combined.

01:41 I use both oil and butter in this recipe

01:43 because butter is great for flavor,

01:45 but oil does a much better job at adding moisture in cakes.

01:49 Moisture is very important in chocolate cakes

01:51 because cocoa powder tends to dry cakes out,

01:54 so we want to add in as much moisture as we can.

01:57 And then add in that cocoa and coffee mixture

01:59 and whisk until smooth.

02:01 Next, we'll whisk together our dry ingredients.

02:03 So in your bowl, add flour, baking powder,

02:06 baking soda, and salt.

02:08 Now we can add in our dry ingredients

02:10 to our wet ingredients

02:11 and just fold that in until it is just combined.

02:15 Then add in your sour cream

02:17 and mix that until it's combined.

02:19 And sour cream is also going to add more moisture

02:22 into our cake and also gives it a little bit of a tang.

02:24 It's nice.

02:25 We need to line our cake pans with parchment paper.

02:28 You can do that however you prefer.

02:29 You can trace out your parchment paper,

02:31 or I like to fold it into my cake pan

02:33 and then spray it with some cooking spray

02:36 and then divide your batter evenly

02:37 between each of your cake pans.

02:39 These go into the oven at 350 degrees

02:42 for about 25 to 30 minutes,

02:44 just until a toothpick inserted into the middle

02:46 comes out clean.

02:47 The frosting for this cake is absolutely wonderful,

02:51 but I do admit it's a little bit temperamental,

02:53 but no need to be scared.

02:54 I'm going to walk you through it

02:55 and you're going to be able to get it every single time.

02:57 The important part for this frosting

02:59 is that it uses melted chocolate.

03:01 So it's very important that you let it cool back down

03:04 to room temperature

03:05 so that it's the same temperature as your butter.

03:07 If your chocolate's too hot,

03:09 it's going to melt your frosting.

03:10 If your butter is too cold,

03:11 it's going to seize the chocolate.

03:13 The first step for our frosting

03:14 is to melt the chocolate chips

03:15 and then let them cool back down

03:17 to room temperature completely.

03:18 You don't necessarily need a double boiler

03:21 to melt your chocolate.

03:22 Just use your microwave.

03:23 And I like to do it in just 30 second intervals

03:25 stirring after each one.

03:26 Once your chocolate is cool,

03:28 beat together the butter, powdered sugar,

03:31 cocoa powder, and just a small pinch of salt.

03:33 Beat that until it's smooth.

03:35 Then pour in your melted chocolate and beat again.

03:38 Our frosting looks perfect.

03:39 It's silky and it's smooth,

03:41 which is exactly what you're looking for.

03:42 Our cakes are completely cooled,

03:44 so we are going to flip them out.

03:46 I like to take an offset spatula

03:48 and just run it along the sides of my cake first.

03:52 (upbeat music)

03:54 We are ready to frost our cakes, the best part.

04:00 So we want to trim our cake layers first

04:02 because we have a nice little dome going on

04:04 and we want to make sure they're nice and flat.

04:07 And the best part about trimming your cakes

04:09 is that now you get to try it.

04:11 I like to put my cake layers on a spinning cake stand

04:14 to trim the tops off

04:15 'cause it will help keep my knife nice and stable

04:18 as I trim them.

04:19 To trim the tops of your cake off,

04:21 you place your knife right on the edge,

04:23 barely insert it in.

04:25 As you rotate,

04:25 your knife is just gonna go deeper and deeper

04:28 into your cake.

04:29 No sawing back and forth.

04:31 That's how you're gonna get uneven cake layers,

04:34 and we don't want that.

04:35 To make frosting our cake much easier,

04:38 I put the platter that I want to serve my cake on

04:40 on top of our rotating cake stand

04:43 so that I can frost it while rotating it,

04:45 which is really helpful.

04:47 And then to keep our platter clean,

04:49 we're just going to place down some parchment strips,

04:52 like so.

04:55 And our cake layer will go on top there.

04:59 And then when we're done frosting,

05:00 we can just take them out and our plate will be clean.

05:02 First, we're going to add frosting on top of our cake layer

05:06 and spread that out until it's smooth.

05:08 You wanna frost all the way to the edge of your cake.

05:11 It's okay if it falls over a little bit

05:13 because we're gonna frost the sides of our cakes anyways,

05:15 but we just wanna make sure the top is nice and smooth.

05:18 And then add on top the second cake layer.

05:21 Add more frosting to frost the sides and the top.

05:24 This is my ideal slice of cake.

05:30 It leans a little more dark.

05:32 It's rich, it's fudgy.

05:34 It's truly so brownie-like.

05:36 That frosting is silky and smooth.

05:39 I love this cake.

05:40 I love serving this cake just as is,

05:41 but you could add on chocolate shavings or sprinkles

05:44 or a drizzle of white chocolate.

05:45 You could really dress this cake up.

05:47 I love how tall and thick these cake layers are.

05:49 It's such a beautiful cake.

05:51 The frosting is so silky

05:53 and looks just so beautiful on top of it.

05:55 It turned out perfect.

05:56 It's rich, it's fudgy, it's a little bit dense,

06:00 so much like a brownie.

06:01 It's the perfect slice of cake.

06:02 I hope you bake this cake at home

06:04 and for others just like it,

06:05 stick around here at delish.com.

06:06 (upbeat music)

06:09 (upbeat music)

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