This from scratch chocolate butter cake is super moist and easy to make. Because it’s actually a chocolate cake with butter recipe, the cake has a really rich flavor to it that’s perfect for birthdays, or any time you feel like a homemade chocolate cake.
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Hey there! Before you scroll, there’s lot’s of important stuff in the post!…including the FAQ section, which may answer any questions you might have about this recipe. Enjoy!
Ok, you might know that vanilla cake is my favorite, especially this one. I feel like most people, except for me, pick chocolate cake as THEIR favorite, so I wanted to give myself a challenge.
The challenge was to create a chocolate cake that I felt was as tasty as my favorite vanilla one. Now, that’s a challenge coming from this vanilla cake enthusiast, but I think I have done it.
This Chocolate Butter Cake is super moist, but it’s not a complete chocolate overload.
I LOVE this chocolate cake. Yep, you heard me right. I actually said I love a chocolate cake. Mark that one down on your calendar.
This cake has a dense crumb, but still light (does that even make sense?). It’s made with real butter with just a bit of oil. I love it because it’s not so overloaded with a super chocolaty flavor and I can still taste the butter flavor coming through. It also doesn’t feel as spongy as some of the oil chocolate cakes do.
LET’S TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE INGREDIENTS IN THE CHOCOLATE BUTTER CAKE:
Butter: Most recipes for chocolate cake that I’ve made, call for all oil and no butter. The oil really makes the cake moist, but I just prefer the denseness and the taste of a butter cake. So, I went about creating a chocolate butter cake that would actually stay moist.
You will be using a bit of oil in this cake to add a bit more moistness to it, but the butter is the shining star.
Brown Sugar: This isn’t normally in a chocolate cake, but I find that brown sugar really gives this cake a deeper flavor and provides extra moisture.
Coffee: For the liquid, I went with coffee. As my mom would always say, “Don’t knock it ’til you try it.” I promise you this cake won’t taste like coffee. In fact, you won’t even taste the coffee at all. It just helps to bring out the other flavors.
Cocoa powder: You’ll want to use unsweetened cocoa powder NOT dutch processed. Why? Because dutch processed cocoa isn’t acidic like regular unsweetened natural cocoa powder is and since you’ll be adding in baking soda, if you use dutch processed, that could mess up the rise and texture of the cake.
MIXING METHOD FOR THE CHOCOLATE BUTTER CAKE:
The mixing method for this cake is just the classic creaming method, but even easier.
With the creaming method, you basically whip up the butter and sugar until fluffy, then you alternately add in your dry and liquid ingredients.
When I originally wrote this recipe, the instructions went through creaming the butter and sugar for a couple minutes and later adding in the hot water. While I really think it’s important to mix the butter and sugar well, I’ve determined that it’s not necessary to mix it quite as long with this one.
Basically, it’s really not necessary to whip the butter and sugar for several minutes for this cake, because you’ll later add in the hot coffee (or hot water) and that will essentially melt the butter and the sugar.
Tips & FAQs for Making the Chocolate Butter Cake:
If you really can’t stand the idea of adding in coffee (remember, it won’t taste like coffee, it just enhances the flavor of the chocolate), you can actually just use really hot water instead. The cake will still taste great.
Should I use dutch cocoa or regular cocoa powder?
Use regular unsweetened natural cocoa powder. Dutch cocoa powder is made differently and you would need to make adjustments to the baking soda and baking powder if you use dutch processed.
When you say brown sugar, does it matter if it’s dark or light brown sugar?
It doesn’t really matter. Just use what you have. I used light brown, but dark brown is fine too. Also make sure you pack the brown sugar into your measuring cup.
Well this recipe is now my best ‘go to’ chocolate cake. It’s simple to make (no complicated steps) and it’s great for birthdays, or practically any other time you feel like chocolate cake.
I filled and frosted this cake with my double chocolate buttercream.
Video:
Now onto the cake recipe!
Note About Recipe Measurements: I write recipes using volume (cups) measurements because here in the U.S., this is what people are more familiar with and I don’t want anyone to feel intimidated when baking. For metric/weight measurements, click the ‘metric’ button under the ingredients in the recipe card below. The weights are converted by a program, not me, and it’s just a best guess. I can’t guarantee that weighing the ingredients will produce the exact same results, since I test recipes using volume measurements.
Recipe:
Chocolate Butter Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup cocoa (I used Hershey’s cocoa – not dutch processed)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup butter (1 stick)
- ¼ cup oil
- 2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup hot coffee
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 inch round pans.
- In a mixing bowl, add the room temp butter and the brown and granulated sugar. Beat on medium until well mixed.
- In another bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the oil, vanilla, milk and eggs. (You’ll add the coffee later.) Set aside.
- Now you'll add in your dry and liquid ingredients alternately. Take a third of the flour mixture and add into the butter and sugar mixture. Beat on low/medium just until combined.
- Add in half the liquid ingredients (not the coffee yet) and beat on medium just until combined.
- Add in the next third of the flour mixture, mix, then the second half of the liquid mixture and mix just until combined. Now add in the last third of the flour mixture and beat just until combined.
- Add in the hot coffee and mix until well combined. Don’t over mix. Once it’s combined, stop mixing. You don’t want to mix for several minutes, that’s too long.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 35 to 40 minutes.
- Set on wire racks to cool for about ten minutes, then turn out the cake layers onto the racks and remove the pans to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
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Tools Used to Make This Recipe:
I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I do!
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Find the webstory at this link: Scratch Chocolate Cake with Butter
Veronica
Hey so I’m from across the pond and I have two questions
1. What alternative can you use instead of a cup of coffee.
2. What is shortening? (from a previous post) shops in England dont sell a product like shortening.
P.s Your blog is great, stumbled on it through pintrest. Love the top 25 baking a cake tips!
Kara Jane
Hi Veronica, Thanks for the compliment about the blog! Glad you found me 😉
For the chocolate butter cake, you can just sub really hot water for the coffee. That should work just fine.
For the question about shortening. It’s so interesting how different countries are used to using different ingredients. Last week I learned that Canada doesn’t have what we call whole milk. It’s interesting. Anyway, I looked up your shortening question and found this on a website: “Vegetable shortening is a white, solid fat made from vegetable oils. In the UK it is sold under the brand names Trex, Flora White or Cookeen.”
Hope that helps a bit!
Frances
Just a note or comment from the post referring to whole milk in Canada. Canada does have whole milk in addition to 2%, 1% and Skim milk. Our whole milk is often referred to as Homo milk. It has a milk fat of 3.25% which I assume is similar to US whole milk. Just different terminology. And without being an expert cake maker, you can probably use the 2% milk. You will just have a little less fat in the cake
Kara Jane
Frances, thanks so much for that information! That’s very helpful. And yes that’s true that the 2% milk will work as well…just won’t be as much fat. Thanks!
Kim Kerr
Ok let me just say ” TOO DIE FOR!!!! I made this recipe this weekend and i have tried many recipes with zero sucess and having to resort to box mixes. Now I am not sure what to do with the 20 cakes mixes I just bought…lol… This recipe is AMAZING!! it worked out perfectly and I am not a chocolate cake lover but “I am now”. I was so moist and melt in your mouth goodness. Ok maybe this is just to good to be true so I put it through test#2 ” my fussy eater kids, and daughter who doesn’t like cake or icing”, well guess what? She LOVED it!!
So needless to say “out with old, in with the new”- this is my go to recipe now.
I made cake and cupcakes and both were awesome.
Thank-you so much for you post about trying ” a from scratch recipe” glad I did!!
Kim Kerr
Let me say this is the best cake recipe I have “EVER”!! I have tried many with not much success. This is in my recipe box and will be my go to recipe. Thank-you for sharing. 🙂
Kara Jane
Wonderful! So glad you liked it! I’m not even a huge chocolate fan, but this is actually one of my favorites 😉 Thanks for leaving the comment!
Sabeeha
Hey there!
I loved the recipe and wanna give it a try.
My question is, I can use white sugar instead of brown?
Thank you:)
Kara Jane
I think it should be okay to substitute. The brown sugar gives it more of a richer flavor, but I think it’ll be fine subbing out regular sugar if you don’t have the brown sugar handy.
Zuki
Hi Kara, the recipe looks great, but i can i just use butter not oil? if yes how do i substitute the 1/4 cup oil for butter? Many thanks
Kara Jane
Hi Zuki, Yes, I think it would work to sub out the oil for butter. I would take out the 1/4 cup oil and sub with 1/2 cup of butter. (That would be one stick of butter.) I haven’t tried it this way, so I can’t make any promises. The oil just adds in a little extra moisture, but in theory it should work to replace it with more butter. Let me know how it goes!
Zuki
Thank you Kara, for your response.
Gideon
Aloha! Would this cake be stable for multiple layers like a wedding cake?
Kara Jane
Hi there! This cake is dense enough and should be just fine stacked…Just make sure to use the proper doweling with it. 🙂
Diane Farrar
Hi Kara, can you tell me what is the weight of the butter it says sticks but I’m in uk so need to know equivalent weights.
Thank you
Diane
Kara Jane
Hi Diane, a stick of butter is a half a cup in the US, which breaks down to 4 oz. or 113 grams. Hope this helps!
Linda
Do you use salted or unsalted butter? Also I noticed you used baking soda, but there is no acidic ingredient such as buttermilk or lemon juice, so I am wondering if baking powder alone would be okay?
TIA,
Linda
Kara Jane
Hi Linda, Use unsalted butter. It’s best for baking. Also natural cocoa powder is acidic so the baking soda combines with that to help with the rise.
Nisrin Bhaimia
Hi Kara i want to know can we make the cake eggless n what is the substitue for it
Kara Jane
Hi there,
There are several options for replacing eggs in baked goods. I’m not an expert at it, but I found a link that lists several options. I have not personally tried these options for this cake though, so I’m not sure how they would work out, but I hope this helps a little.
https://plenteousveg.com/vegan-egg-substitutes-baking/
Charles St-Pierre
I’m a little late to the party, but if you are looking for eggless, it screams egg allergy, like I have.
Duck eggs replace perfectly chicken eggs, and can be non allergic. I eat duck eggs all the time, and there’s no difference with cake.
Kara Jane
Oh interesting! Thanks for posting this tip Charles!
Lane
Hi! This cake sounds yummy. Would this recipe be good for cupcakes, as well? If so, Any changes needed to do so?
Kara Jane
Hi there, I usually bake this as a whole cake, but it should be completely fine to bake as cupcakes. Leave the temp the same, but start checking for doneness around 25-30 minutes. Let me know how you like it! 🙂
Elke
Hi Kara
I’m from Australia and found your recipe the other day when looking for a moist chocolate cake for my grand daughter’s 12th birthday. I made your cake and it turned out beautifully except that both layers peaked which meant I had to cut the tops off and ended up with a slightly lower cake than I’d hoped for. In saying that though the cake was delicious and I’ll certainly be baking it again. Do you have any tips to stop them peaking? Thanks.
Kara Jane
Hi there…so glad you liked the cake. To lesson the peaks a bit, next time try baking at 325 instead of 350. You’ll have to bake it longer, so I’d start checking it at around 50 minutes or so, but you may have to bake it a little longer than that. Baking it at a lower temp, might help it rise a little slower. Let me know how it goes!
Cara
Is this in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit? I’m assuming Fahrenheit otherwise seems really hot!
Kara Jane
Hi Cara, I like your name 😉 Yes it’s in Fahrenheit.
Saira
Instead of the cocoa can I use the Hershey syrup
Kara Jane
Hi there, I wouldn’t substitute syrup for cocoa. You most likely won’t get the same results. The flour amount, sugar and liquid in the recipe would all have to be recalculated to accommodate that change…I’m just not sure it would work properly. Sorry!
Ally
I am going to try this recipe for easter! Do you recommend using light or dark brown sugar?
Thanks!
Kara Jane
Hi! You could use either one, but I use light brown sugar.
Denise
This recipe sounds great! I am wondering how thin the batter is when you are finished mixing. I am looking for a thicker batter to make a checkerboard cake.
Kara Jane
Hi Denise, Honestly this cake batter isn’t very thick. It’s got a lot of liquid in it, so not sure that it would work like you need it to for the checkerboard cake. 🙁
Nadia
Hey Kara,
Looking forward to making your cake. Was after a butter cake for a kids bday cake to decorate on top but a chocolate one so this is perfect ??.
Just wondering, I have a square (with rounded corners) 10″ cake tin and intended on baking two to layer on top of eachother for height… would you recommend doubling the recipe to make the two cake layers or leaving the current quantity and dividing by two for this size tin? Also, wondering if should bake for a little less time given is a wider tin? Thanks so much for your assistance!
Kara Jane
Hi Nadia, Good questions. I would probably double the recipe to make 2, 10″ square cakes. You might have a tad bit extra batter, but I think just doing a recipe and a half wouldn’t be enough. If you do it that way, I wouldn’t bake it less time though. It’s a bigger pan, so it might take a little longer to bake actually (unless you’re wanting thinner cake layers and are not putting as much batter into the pans.) Hope this helps! Let me know how you like it!