In case you are searching for a mouth-watering chocolate cake recipe that is rich, moist, light, and deliciously chocolate-filled, this yummy chocolate cake will be a great fit. Prepared using simple ingredients such as cocoa powder, whole milk, vegetable oil, and a smooth chocolate buttercream frosting, this chocolate cake offers moist layers with a highly chocolaty taste. This amazing recipe makes use of boiling water to get moist layers and uses chocolate frosting to give it a delicious bakery-style taste. Be it birthdays, special occasions, holidays, or just any day, try out this delectable homemade chocolate cake recipe!

Decadent Chocolate Cake Recipe

Prepare the Cake Pans and Oven

First off, set your oven to 350°F so it’s nice and hot. Grab two 9-inch baking pans and spray them with baking spray or butter. The parchment paper is your guarantee that the cakes will come out neatly with no cracks and no tears.

Mix the Dry Ingredients

Into a large bowl, add two cups or 240 grams of all-purpose flour. It’s very important that you don’t add too much flour, so either use a scale or fluff the flour up and sprinkle it into your measuring cup, then level it off. If you just scoop the flour up with a measuring cup and level it off, you’re going to add way too much flour, and your cake won’t be nice and soft and moist. It’ll be dry and bready.

Add two cups of granulated sugar, that’s 400 grams. The sugar is going to make everything sweet, but it also makes your cake soft. If you reduce the sugar in a cake, yes, it’ll be less sweet, but it’s going to get harder and breadier. It’ll lose that wonderful soft consistency we love.

For the chocolate flavor, add half a cup or 50 grams of cocoa powder. Natural cocoa powder works perfectly, but Dutch-processed cocoa powder works too.

To help the cake rise, add one and a half teaspoons of baking powder and one and a half teaspoons of baking soda. Baking soda needs an acid to react to, otherwise it doesn’t work as well. The cocoa powder helps with that because natural cocoa powder is slightly acidic, which gives us a puffier cake.

Add half a teaspoon of kosher salt for balance. Desserts always need a little salt because it helps all the flavors stand out instead of tasting flat and overly sweet.

Sift everything together. Cocoa powder tends to clump up, and nobody wants little bites of dry cocoa powder inside the cake. Once sifted, whisk everything really well so the baking powder and baking soda are evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Prepare the Wet Ingredients

Now move on to the wet ingredients. In another bowl, add half a cup of vegetable oil. Vegetable oil keeps the cake pillowy soft, even straight out of the fridge. Butter can make cakes firm once chilled, and in a chocolate cake, the butter flavor usually gets lost anyway.

Add one cup or 240 ml of whole milk and one tablespoon of vanilla extract. Then add two large room-temperature eggs and whisk everything together until smooth.

Make the Chocolate Cake Batter

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until almost combined. It’s okay if there are still a couple streaks of flour left.

Next, add one cup of boiling water. The boiling water adds moisture and also activates the cocoa powder, making the chocolate flavor more intense. The batter will look very runny, but that’s completely normal.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. If you’re using a scale, it should be about 700 grams per pan.

Bake the Cake

Bake at 350°F for about 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Make the Chocolate Buttercream

While the cake layers cool, make the chocolate buttercream.

Start with three sticks or 338 grams of unsalted butter at room temperature. The butter should be soft enough that your finger presses into it easily. Beat the butter until it’s smooth and creamy.

Add six cups or 680 grams of sifted powdered sugar and a quarter cup or 25 grams of cocoa powder. Dutch-processed cocoa powder gives the frosting a darker, richer color, but natural cocoa powder also tastes great.

Sift the cocoa powder so there are no lumps, then mix it into the butter carefully.

Add a generous quarter teaspoon of salt. Salt makes the chocolate flavor pop. You can also add a little espresso powder if you want an even deeper chocolate flavor.

Gradually add the powdered sugar, one or two cups at a time, mixing on low speed. Alternate with a tablespoon or so of milk or cream to keep the frosting smooth and creamy. Scrape the bowl down often so everything mixes evenly.

Once all the powdered sugar is incorporated, add one teaspoon of vanilla extract and enough milk or cream to loosen the frosting slightly. Chocolate buttercream sets up quickly because cocoa powder absorbs moisture, so it’s better to keep it a little softer than you think it should be.

Mix the frosting until light and fluffy.

Assemble the Chocolate Cake

Once the cake layers have cooled completely, place one layer onto a cake stand or plate and remove the parchment paper. Add about one cup of frosting on top and spread it evenly all the way to the edges.

Place the second cake layer on top and cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting.

You can smooth the frosting out or create swoops for texture. Top the cake with sprinkles, chocolate chips, chopped chocolate, or cocoa nibs if you’d like.

Serve and Enjoy

The frosting is silky and fudgy while the cake itself is fluffy and incredibly moist. Every bite is rich, soft, and deeply chocolatey.