Homemade Chocolate Cake is the recipe that Lucia makes every birthday and every most special celebration when she wants to create the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely perfect two-layer chocolate cake that delivers the most deeply fudgy and the most beautifully moist individual crumb through the most brilliantly designed and the most simple no-mixer batter made entirely by hand with only a whisk and a bowl.
Because the single most transformative and the most completely counterintuitive technique secret of this recipe is adding one cup of boiling water to what is already the most beautifully combined batter at the very end, which blooms the cocoa powder the most completely and creates the most dramatically thin individual batter that bakes into the most extraordinarily moist and the most deeply fudgy individual chocolate cake layer that no conventional creamed-butter chocolate cake can match. She whisks the dry ingredients, adds the milk and oil and eggs and vanilla, stirs in the boiling water most carefully for the most thin and the most perfectly bloomed chocolate batter, and wraps each warm layer in plastic for the most genius steam-trapping moisture technique.
Homemade Chocolate Cake is the most easy and deeply extraordinary 2-hour two-layer celebration cake made by whisking 2 cups flour 2 cups sugar 3/4 cup cocoa baking powder baking soda and salt adding milk oil eggs and vanilla then stirring in 1 cup boiling water baking at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes wrapping warm layers in plastic freezing and frosting with cocoa buttercream. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful cake recipes and easy celebration favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Homemade Chocolate Cake Recipe
This Homemade Chocolate Cake recipe is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely brilliant from-scratch chocolate celebration cake that uses only the most basic pantry ingredients — all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, unsweetened cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla — that every most well-stocked home kitchen already has on hand, requiring no mixer and no specialty equipment beyond a large whisk and bowl.
The plastic-wrap freezing technique for the most warm baked individual cake layers is the single most genius and the most completely transformative step that distinguishes this recipe from every other homemade chocolate cake. Wrapping the most warm individual layer in plastic and placing directly in the freezer traps all the most essential steam inside the individual crumb, producing the most extraordinarily moist and the most deeply tender finished cake that freezer-setting also firms for the most easily stackable and the most beautifully assembled individual celebration layer. Our Red Velvet Oreo Cheesecake makes a beautifully equally chocolate and equally celebration-worthy companion for a complete and wonderful chocolate celebration collection.
Ingredients Needed for This Homemade Chocolate Cake Recipe
For the Chocolate Cake:
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 cups Granulated Sugar
- ¾ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1½ tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Whole Milk
- ½ cup Vegetable Oil
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Boiling Water
For the Homemade Chocolate Frosting:
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter, softened
- ½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- Pinch of Salt
- 6 to 8 tbsp Whole Milk
How to Make This Homemade Chocolate Cake Recipe
Line two 9-inch round pans with parchment paper and spray with non-stick spray. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until the most evenly combined. Whisk in the milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla until the most smooth combination forms. Stir in the boiling water, mixing until the most completely smooth. The batter will be the most beautifully thin — this is the most correct and the most expected consistency, cara mia.
Divide the batter most evenly between the two prepared pans. Bake at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then invert onto cooling racks.
For the most extraordinary moisture secret: while still warm, wrap each cake layer tightly in plastic wrap. Place in the freezer for several hours or overnight. This traps all the steam inside the crumb for the most impossibly moist finished result.
For the chocolate frosting, beat all frosting ingredients together in a bowl starting with 6 tablespoons of milk, beating until the most smooth and the most spreadable consistency, adding more milk as needed.
To assemble, place the first frozen or fully cooled layer on a cake stand. Spread approximately one cup of frosting over the top. Place the second layer on top. Frost the sides and top of the cake.
How to Serve This Homemade Chocolate Cake Recipe
Serve at room temperature for the most beautifully softened and the most properly creamy chocolate frosting texture. A scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside each individual slice creates the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely indulgent chocolate celebration cake experience.
For the most beautifully finished individual presentation, decorate with mini chocolate chips over the top of the frosted cake or add chocolate curls for the most elegantly garnished celebration centerpiece. Our Black Forest Cake makes a beautifully equally chocolate and equally celebration-layered companion for a complete and wonderful chocolate layer cake collection.
How to Store This Homemade Chocolate Cake Recipe
Cover the frosted cake and store at room temperature for up to 3 to 4 days, or refrigerate for up to 4 to 5 days. Allow refrigerated cake to come to room temperature before serving for the most properly soft frosting. Freeze the unfrosted individual layers wrapped tightly in plastic for up to 3 to 4 months. Freeze the assembled frosted cake by hardening on a cookie sheet in the freezer for 3 to 4 hours before wrapping tightly in plastic for up to 2 to 3 months.
Tips to Make This Homemade Chocolate Cake Recipe
Do not be alarmed by the most thin and the most seemingly liquid finished batter after adding the boiling water. The most thin individual batter is the most specifically intended and the most essential consistency for the most extraordinarily moist and the most deeply fudgy finished cake layer. A thicker batter from less liquid produces a drier result.
The plastic-wrap freezer technique is the most strongly recommended step for the most extraordinary and the most genuinely superior moisture. Wrap each individual warm layer immediately upon removal from the cooling rack, while the most steam is still present inside, and freeze for the most complete steam-trapping and moisture-maximizing result.
Helpful Notes for This Homemade Chocolate Cake Recipe
Use Hershey’s or any brand of natural unsweetened cocoa powder for the most classic and the most properly flavored individual chocolate cake. For an even more deeply concentrated chocolate flavor, substitute one cup of hot strong brewed coffee for the boiling water — the coffee deepens the most essential chocolate flavor without contributing any detectable individual coffee taste.
Sour cream or cream cheese frosting substitutes most beautifully for the chocolate buttercream for an equally extraordinary and the most richly different individual frosting experience.
Variation of This Homemade Chocolate Cake Recipe
Maria made a version stirring two teaspoons of instant espresso powder into the batter alongside the dry ingredients for the most completely extraordinary and the most deeply intensified chocolate espresso cake. Teresa tried adding half a teaspoon of peppermint extract to the chocolate frosting for the most completely extraordinary and the most refreshing chocolate mint frosted celebration cake.
For a peanut butter frosting version, substitute the cocoa powder in the frosting with the same quantity of smooth peanut butter for the most completely extraordinary and the most deeply beloved chocolate peanut butter individual layer cake. Our Black Forest Cake makes a beautifully equally layered and equally deeply chocolatey companion for a complete and wonderful chocolate celebration cake collection.
FAQs About This Homemade Chocolate Cake Recipe
Why does this chocolate cake batter use boiling water?
The boiling water serves two most essential functions in this recipe. It blooms the cocoa powder most completely by releasing the most concentrated flavor compounds through heat, producing the most deeply rich and the most properly dark individual chocolate color and flavor. It also creates the most specifically thin batter that bakes into the most extraordinarily moist and the most fudgily dense individual cake layer that conventional thicker chocolate cake batters never produce.
Why wrap the warm cake in plastic and freeze?
Wrapping the most warm individual cake layers in plastic immediately after removing from the cooling rack traps all the most essential steam that remains inside the crumb inside the wrapped plastic — as the cake cools, that steam re-absorbs into every individual crumb cell producing the most impossibly moist and the most deeply tender finished cake layer. The most additionally firm frozen texture makes the individual layers the most easily stacked and the most beautifully assembled.
Can I make this cake into cupcakes?
Yes. Fill 24 paper-lined muffin cups and divide the batter most evenly between them. Bake at 350°F for 18 to 22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting with the same most extraordinary homemade chocolate buttercream.
Conclusion
This Homemade Chocolate Cake is the most completely extraordinary and the most genuinely perfect from-scratch chocolate celebration cake that makes every birthday and every gathering feel genuinely and completely magnificent through the most deeply fudgy boiling-water moist crumb and the most beautifully smooth homemade cocoa buttercream in every single gloriously layered and completely irresistible homemade chocolate cake slice.
We hope it brings the same deeply joyful chocolate celebration magic and the same completely satisfied dessert table to your kitchen that it has always brought to ours. Make it, share it, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa.
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Homemade Chocolate Cake The Most Easy Moist Fudgy Two Layer Cocoa Buttermilk Boiling Water Chocolate Frosting You Will Bake
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes including cooling
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most extraordinary moist fudgy Homemade Chocolate Cake made by lining two 9-inch pans with parchment spraying with non-stick preheating oven to 350°F whisking 2 cups flour 2 cups sugar 3/4 cup cocoa 2 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt in large bowl whisking in 1 cup milk 1/2 cup oil 2 eggs and 2 tsp vanilla until smooth stirring in 1 cup boiling water mixing until smooth batter will be very thin dividing evenly between pans baking 30 to 35 minutes until toothpick clean cooling 10 minutes then inverting wrapping each warm layer tightly in plastic placing in freezer overnight for most extraordinary moisture then making frosting by beating 1/2 cup softened butter 1/2 cup cocoa 4 cups sifted powdered sugar 1 tsp vanilla pinch salt and 6 to 8 tbsp milk until smooth and spreadable assembling by spreading 1 cup frosting between layers and frosting top and sides. A completely perfect moist fudgy homemade chocolate cake recipe.
Ingredients
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 cups Granulated Sugar
3/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Whole Milk
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
2 large Eggs
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 cup Boiling Water
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter softened for frosting
1/2 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder for frosting
4 cups Powdered Sugar sifted
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract for frosting
Pinch of Salt for frosting
6 to 8 tbsp Whole Milk for frosting
Instructions
1. Line two 9-inch pans with parchment. Spray with non-stick. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl.
3. Whisk in milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
4. Stir in boiling water mixing until smooth. Batter will be very thin. This is correct.
5. Divide evenly between prepared pans.
6. Bake 30 to 35 minutes until toothpick clean.
7. Cool 10 minutes in pans. Invert onto cooling racks.
8. Wrap each warm layer tightly in plastic. Place in freezer several hours or overnight. This traps steam for maximum moisture.
9. For frosting beat all frosting ingredients starting with 6 tbsp milk until smooth and spreadable. Add more milk as needed.
10. Assemble: place first layer on stand. Spread 1 cup frosting over top. Place second layer. Frost sides and top.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cake, Celebration
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 421
- Sugar: 56g
- Sodium: 368mg
- Fat: 15g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 9g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 72g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 4g
- Cholesterol: 38mg
Keywords: homemade chocolate cake, easy moist fudgy homemade chocolate cake recipe boiling water two layer cocoa buttercream, best from scratch chocolate celebration cake, moist two layer homemade chocolate cake chocolate frosting
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