There’s something to be said for a cake you could whip up at 9 o’clock on a Friday evening, after having a serious doozy of a week, when you require some baking therapy that needs little to no brain-power. By the time this past weekend hit, I think something requiring poise or approach would have had induced some sort of cerebral short-circuiting – I imagine there would have been sparks, possibly likely drool and some twitching.
Okay good, so there may have been drool anyway.
When the cake emerged, there was possibly drooling and clapping. I inform you that because I trust you will not judge me.
This cocoa-based cake is deeply chocolaty and incredibly moist. It surprises me every single time with how good it is for something so simple. It is a great emergency cake to get in your repertoire for birthdays that are forgotten, last-minute guests, or urgent Friday – Night chocolate cravings. I love to smother it in gooey marshmallow frosting (the seven-moment type created with just whipped egg whites, sugar, and vanilla). Mmm… Drooling again. Note to self: attempt to control that. This time I smothered it as an alternative using a super-easy cocoa butter-cream frosting. Not the fancy-pants Italian butter cream, the short-cut American-style buttercream that’s basically butter, icing sugar, and cocoa powder. Again, mind brief-out aversion technique.
I’ve used this recipe to make sheet cakes, layer cakes, cupcakes, mini cupcakes… really, you-can’t go wrong. Everything gets tossed in the standing mixer (no creaming of butter and sugar, or alternating between dry and fluid as in typical cake recipes), poured into cake pans, and popped in the oven, easy as1-2%3thing gets tossed in the standing mixer (no creaming of butter and sugar, or alternating between dry and liquid as in typical cake recipes), poured into cake pans, and popped in the oven, easy as 1-2%32%3thing gets tossed in the standing mixer (no creaming of butter and sugar, or alternating between dry and liquid as in typical cake recipes), poured into cake pans, and popped in the oven, easy as 1-2-3.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated white sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk (or substitute by putting 1 tbsp. white vinegar in a cup then filling the rest up with milk; let stand 5 minutes until thickened)
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot coffee (or 2 tsp instant coffee in 1 cup boiling water)
How To Prepare Moist Chocolate Cake?
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch baking pans (or line with parchment paper circles) and set aside.
- In the large bowl of a standing mixer, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract and beat until smooth (about 3 minutes). Remove bowl from mixer and stir in hot coffee with a rubber spatula. Batter will be very runny.
- Pour batter evenly between the two pans and bake on middle rack of oven for about 35 minutes, until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean with just a few moist crumbs attached.
- Allow to cool 15 minutes in pans, then run a butter knife around the edges of each cake. Place a wire cooling rack over top of each pan. Wearing oven mitts, use both hands to hold the racks in place while flipping the cakes over onto the racks. Set the racks down and gently thump on the bottom of the pans until the cakes release. Cool completely before handling or frosting.
It Takes 35 Minutes to cook, 15 minutes to prepare and offers 12 servings.
Related Article: One Bowl Chocolate Cake Recipe
