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
How to Share
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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
Jill
How could I convert this to cupcakes? Thanks!
Kara Jane
Jill, I usually make cake layers with this recipe, but they should be just fine as cupcakes as I’ve heard others have used them as such. Just mix the batter as instructed and then fill the cupcake liners about half to maybe a bit more than half full. Bake at the same temp (350 F), but you won’t need to bake it as long. I’d start checking them at about 20 minutes or so. I don’t know if that will be the exact amount of time, but you may need them to bake a slight bit longer, just starting checking them then.
Eleena Shahruddin Leong
I made this, it was so good! Got a little worried when pouring in the cup of hot coffee at the end but I persevered and trusted the recipe! The cake turned out moist, not over chocolatey and just delicious.
Kara Jane
Oh I know…adding all that liquid makes you feel like you just totally screwed it up, right? 😉 So, glad you kept going and really glad you loved it! 🙂
Victoria Karavan
A friend recommended this recipe and I want to bake it for Mother’s Day. I have cocoa but it is expired. Is there some way to substitute it?
Kara Jane
Hi there, I don’t have a substitute for cocoa powder. It’s really best to use cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate, since it seems to be stronger and gives better flavor in a cake.
Inoka
Dear kara,
1. If I put hot water instead of hot coffee at what temperature should the water be boild?
2. And also what is the oil that we should use?(canola oil , olive oil , palm oil)
3. How many minutes should we preheat the oven?
4.how do we prepare the icing chocolate cream? If possible can u please send me the recipe of it.
***Im waiting to make the cake until u reply. Ill send u the comments after baking.***
Kara Jane
Hi there…you don’t need the hot water at any certain temp. Just make sure its super hot. I use vegetable oil, but you can use canola as well. You want to preheat the oven until it reaches the proper temperature. There is a link in the blog post for the chocolate buttercream recipe in the notes section of this recipe card. I hope this helps!
Sequoia
This was THE BEST chocolate cake I have made in 30 years of baking and that’s with the substitutions I had to make because of lockdown shortages (00 flour instead of AP, medium eggs, Dutch processed cocoa and I was out of vanilla so I added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon instead – and we’re tea drinkers so I just used the hot water). It still came out absolutely perfect, just what I wanted. Delicate and airy and yet also somehow fudgey. Just the right sweetness and a chocolately-ness that is missing from so many other recipes I’ve tried.
I froze one layer and used your buttercream recipe as a guide to make a little for what we were eating that weekend – I only had milk chocolate so I upped the cocoa and just added confectioners sugar and a bit of milk until it was right. All unsalted butter + a pinch of sea salt. It was fantastic.
Thank you so much for the recipe! I know it will be the only chocolate cake I make from now on.
Kara Jane
Hi there! This makes me so happy! I’m so glad you loved the cake and that the subs worked. I LOVE cinnamon and chocolate together. ?
Basira Ahmed
Please can I reduce the sugar because my dad doesn’t love much sugar if yes please comment I want to bake today because I found your recipe amazing.
Kara Jane
You don’t want to reduce the sugar very much. Sugar doesn’t just give the cake a sweet taste, it also provides moisture. If you reduce it too much, the cake could be dry and could have problems with the texture. You can try reducing the amount of sugar by a half a cup or 2/3 of a cup, but I would not reduce it by anymore than that, or your cake could have texture problems and not turn out well.
Basira Ahmed
Thank you very much I baked yesterday and we enjoyed it it was soo moist.i reduced the sugar as you said thank thank.I will forever use your recipe.it was sooooo chocolatey my family had a good time thank you
Kara Jane
Oh good! I’m so glad it worked out and everyone liked it!
Pallavi
Hi, I am in India. I made this cake yesterday for my kids birthday. I was a little skeptical when I saw the way it was rising in the oven. I dont have a big oven like in US. But the way it turned out and tasted is amazing. My kids are super happy. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe.
Kara Jane
That’s wonderful! Thanks for the great review and I’m so glad you liked it!
Dee Weera
My cake cracked, what went wrong? I bake cake all the time so I know my oven was not too hot. Only opened the oven in 35 minutes & the cake was cooked completely.
Kara Jane
Hmmm, I’m not sure why it would have cracked. I haven’t had it do that to me. The only thing I can think of if it wasn’t that the oven was too hot is maybe too much leavening was added by mistake? Or maybe it was just an anomaly? I’m sorry it cracked though!
CAMILLA
I want to try this recipe as soon as possible. But i only have dutch processed cocoa powder. How to measure the baking powder and baking soda ?
Im really waiting your answer. Thanks.
Kara Jane
So Dutch cocoa powder is not acidic like natural cocoa powder, so you’re right in that you’ll have to adjust the baking powder and soda. I have not tried this recipe with Dutch cocoa powder, so please know this is just my best guess here. Try omitting the baking soda and add in another 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder. So for this recipe, if using Dutch processed, don’t add any baking soda and use a total of 2 1/2 tsp baking powder. Just know I haven’t tested this as I don’t use Dutch processed cocoa. I hope it turns out and that you like it. 🙂
Matingi
Chocolate cake came out moist straight out of the oven after 40 mins did not use hot coffee but instead used hot water and still worked perfectly. Thanks for the recipe.
Kara Jane
Awesome! So glad you liked it! Thanks for the comment! 🙂
Rebecca
Really, really good chocolate cake. Moist and e eryone loved it. This one is a keeper. Also enjoyed the double chocolate frosting.
Kara Jane
So glad you liked it and thanks for the wonderful review!
Arlette
This is one of my favourite chocolate cake recipes! I use it a lot with chocolate Italian meringue buttercream. I also used it for cake pops…people loved it! Thank you Kara Jane!
Kara Jane
Awe thanks for that wonderful review! I’m so glad you love it!
Augury Future
This cake is awesome! I bake it whenever I have an excuse and it works all the time. I think the coffee really completes it and gives it that extra richness. I’m so glad I found this recipe!
Kara Jane
Love this! Thanks so much for the great review! I’m so glad you like it. 🙂
Brandi
My go-to is always boxed cake with a few hacks (adding pudding mix, milk instead of water, etc.) because I really enjoy the resulting texture. I am so glad I have found your chocolate butter cake recipe – it is so much better than hacking the box mix!! And it’s an added bonus to be able to say it was baked from scratch. Thank you for sharing!!
Kara Jane
Oh yay! I’m so glad you love it and thanks for the wonderful review! ?
Esther
Hi Thank you for your recipe , I just looking for a chocolate cake recipe with oil and butter in and it’s happened to see your recipe because so far I bake chocolate cake either butter or oil in and the cake either too dry or too oily I’m quite sad .when I saw your recipe it’s make me happy because I wanted to bake for my niece birthday. Thank you so much for your recipe ?♥️
Kara Jane
Esther, I hope you love it! Let me know how it goes!