The Best Chocolate Cake Ever is perfectly moist, perfectly delicious chocolate-y cake. Add a generous layer of chocolate pudding icing on top for the ultimate chocolate dessert.
Best Ever Chocolate Cake
The best moist chocolate cake recipe? Really?
I rarely claim that our recipes are the best. (That’s a matter of opinion, after all!) I may be biased on this one because as the title suggests, this recipe originally was my grandma’s so it’s been in the family a long time.
This is my family’s all time favorite, go-to recipe for chocolate cake; and hey, it just might be your new go-to chocolate cake recipe, as well!
Fun fact about my family, we love chocolate. Anything chocolate.
Delicious chocolate cake (without icing) served with home canned peaches or pears or applesauce was a very standard dessert on the dinner table when I was growing up.
Decadent Chocolate Cake Ingredients
Here’s the list of the simple ingredients you’ll be needing. For best results, we always like to use buttermilk, though if you don’t have any, you can sub with regular milk. Or even sour milk that outdated in the fridge before you got it used up! Or sometimes I’ve added about a tablespoon of lemon juice to the one cup of milk to make a mock buttermilk when I’m out of real buttermilk.
Flour – no need to buy a special cake flour, all-purpose flour works just fine
Sugar – granulated white sugar
Cocoa – we prefer the rich chocolate flavor we get with the Dutch cocoa powder (and it is our absolute favorite cocoa for most chocolate desserts like our Swiss Roll Bars, for instance). We get this at one of our local bulk food grocery stores but you can click here to see a similar option.
Baking soda
Baking powder
Salt – we used regular table salt
Buttermilk – a key ingredient, this helps to make the cake so soft and moist
Water – hot water; some folks add hot coffee instead to complement the chocolate flavor and maybe add a hint of coffee to the cake. Why hot water, you ask? Hot water improves the texture of the batter and alos helps lock in moisture, resulting in a more moist cake.
Oil – we used vegetable oil
Eggs
Vanilla extract
Find the full original recipe and instructions on a handy little printable recipe card below!⬇
Grab the Supplies
- Stand mixer – you really actually don’t need an electric mixer (you can totally mix it up by hand with a wooden spoon and a large bowl!) but it’s very nice to have a mixer
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Spatula – to scrape down the sides of the bowl while mixing
- Baking pan – we used a 9×13 pan
- Strainer – or something to sift the dry ingredients, because around here, the cocoa for sure can always use a sifting
- Non-stick spray – your choice of spray, or something to grease the pan with, so the cake doesn’t stick fast to the pan as much
How to make the Best Chocolate Cake Recipe
First of all, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Next, grab a strainer or sifter and sift the flour and cocoa into the bowl of the stand mixer, or your desired mixing bowl. (This is to get rid of any lumps!) Then add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. (We use the paddle attachment on our Kitchenaid.) The rest of the dry ingredients don’t usually need to be sifted, but you can if you want.
Add the wet ingredients, then stir slowly until fully combined. (Don’t forget to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula! The dry ingredients tend to stick fast.) Don’t over mix, just until it seems mixed together sufficiently.
Grease your baking pan with non-stick cooking spray or butter and pour the batter into the prepared pan. (You can also line your pan with wax or parchment paper, but we don’t bother with that when using a regular 9×13 cake pan.)
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick insterted in the center of the cake comes out clean!
Eat a chunk of warm cake right away (it’s amazing!) or allow the cake to cool completely before adding your favorite frosting.
Enjoy.🤎
Notes
• The cake batter will be pretty thin! Also, if the batter is still lumpy even after sifting the flour and cocoa, you can pour the entire batter through a strainer and into your prepared baking dish to strain out the lumps. (No one wants to bite into a lump of flour! Don’t ask me how I know.)
• Instead of baking this cake in a 9×13 pan, you can divide and bake it in two round 8 or 9-inch cake pans or make one large sheet cake in a jelly roll pan. Keep in mind, the baking times most likely will vary a little if you do this; keep the toothpicks handy and the oven light on so you can keep an eye on it and avoid overbaking it!
• So my husband likes to bite into little bits of actual chocolate when he’s eating chocolate cake. If that’s you too, fold some chocolate chips into the batter (after everything else is completely mixed) just before baking!
How to store Chocolate Cake
Just chocolate cake with no frosting or anything, can be covered in plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container at room temperature for several days, in the refrigerator for up to a week and in the freezer for three months or longer.
If you frost the cake, you’ll need to store it according to how the frosting needs to be stored.
If you’d like to work ahead, you can bake the cake ahead of time, freeze it, then frost it shortly before you’re ready to serve it!
Even More Recipes with Chocolate
Share this on Pinterest
The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe
Perfectly moist, perfectly delicious chocolate-y cake.
Add a generous layer of chocolate pudding icing on top for the ultimate chocolate dessert!
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 2 cups white granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Wet ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup hot water
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- First of all, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Next, grab a strainer or sifter and sift the flour and cocoa into the bowl of the stand mixer, or your desired mixing bowl. (This is to get rid of any lumps!) Then add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. (The rest of the dry ingredients don't usually need to be sifted, but you can if you want.)
- Add the wet ingredients, then stir until combined. (Don't forget th scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula! The dry ingredients tend to stick fast.) Don't over mix, just until it seems mixed together sufficiently.
- Grease your baking pan with non-stick cooking spray or butter and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick insterted in the center comes out clean!
- Eat a chunk of warm cake right away (it's amazing!) or allow the cake to cool completely before adding frosting.
- Enjoy.🤎
Notes
The batter will be pretty thin! Also, if the batter is still lumpy even after sifting the flour and cocoa, you can pour the entire finished batter through a strainer and into your prepared baking dish to strain out the lumps. (No one wants to bite into a lump of flour! Don't ask me how I know.)
Instead of baking this cake in a 9x13 pan, you can divide and bake it in two round 8 or 9-inch cake pans or make one large sheet cake in a jelly roll pan. Keep in mind, the baking times most likely will vary a little if you do this; keep the toothpicks handy and the oven light on so you can keep an eye on it and avoid overbaking it!
Did you give it a try?
Leave a comment and star rating if you made our favorite homemade chocolate cake recipe. We’d like to know how it turned out for you!
This post contains affiliate links. As Amazon Associates, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, when you make a purchase through one of our links. Thanks for suporting our little family!
Thank you, thank you!
For visiting our small town, where we share our favorite Mennonite recipes with a little bit of lifestyle and homestead content mixed in.
’til next time, we love you and we’ll be praying for you,
-Julie
Leave a Reply