This recipe for chocolate cake is tender, fluffy, and intensely chocolaty. This is now our go-to chocolate cake, and everyone who tries it loves it.
Ingredients:
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup canola or extra light olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, *measured correctly
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 Tbsp baking soda
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup very warm/hot water
1 Recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting
Semi-sweet or milk chocolate bar to grate for decor
Instructions:
Preheat Oven to 350˚F. Grease two (9″ round) cake pans. Grease sides with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper.
How to Make Chocolate Cake Recipe:
In a large mixing bowl, combine: 2 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup oil and 2 tsp vanilla and beat with an electric mixeruntil smooth.
In a second mixing bowl, sift in 1 1/2 cups flour and 1 cup cocoa powder. Add 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 Tbsp baking soda, 1/2 Tbsp baking powdered and 1 tsp salt. Whisk to combine. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk until smooth without lumps, then gradually add 3/4 cup hot water while beating until well combined and smooth.
Divide batter between 2 prepared cake pans and bake at 350˚F for 20-25 min (mine was perfect at 23 min) or until tops are set and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into center. Cool cakes in pan for 15-20 min** then run a thin spatula or knife around the edges to loosen from the pan and gently invert onto cooling rack and let cool completely to room temperature before frosting.
While cakes cool, make your frosting. We used Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting. Reserve about 1 cup frosting to decorate the top.
How to Assemble Chocolate Cake:
Carefully place first cake layer onto platter and cover the top with a generous layer of frosting. Gently transfer the next cake layer over the top and frost top and sides.
Finely grate a bar of chocolate and pat the crumbs halfway up side of cake and sprinkle around the top rim of the cake. Use reserved frosting to pipe roses or puffs around top rim of cake.
Recipe Notes
*To measure flour correctly, spoon it into a dry ingredients measuring cup and scrape off the top for an exact measure.
**Giving the layers time to rest will make cake layers most stable for transfering.
