This is my go Chocolate Cake recipe, it makes the softest, fudgiest and most decadent cake covered
with chocolate cream cheese frosting, you’ll definitely be wanting another slice of this one.
Welcome to recipes by carina where I share with you how to make classic
and simply delicious recipes, make sure to follow my page or subscribe for a new recipe each week.
To start making this chocolate cake in a large bowl measure out
the dry ingredients. We’re going to need 3 cups or 375g of all purpose
or standard flour. You’ll notice I give the measurements in cups and grams so no matter
where you live in the world you should find this recipe easy enough to follow.
This makes a pretty large chocolate cake, enough for 2 or 3 layers depending on your preferences.
If you would like to just make a single layer chocolate cake you can easily enough
halve the recipe. For the printable version follow the link to my website,
the full list of ingredients will also be listed in the description box below.
Since this is a chocolate cake we’re going to need 1 cup or 100g of a really
good quality unsweetened cocoa powder. This is where you’re going to get all of that
delicious chocolate flavour from so make sure you’re using a good one. Cocoa powder
can often be clumpy so if yours is make sure to use a sieve to remove any lumps.
Next up we’ll need our rising agents and this recipe uses both 2 teaspoons of baking powder
and baking soda. The baking soda is going to react with the acids in the cocoa powder
to give a really delicious airy texture to the cake and the baking powder is going to help with
just that little bit of extra lift. Make sure you are using both baking powder and baking soda
here as these are two different ingredients that give a similar result but work in different ways.
Let me know in the comments what your favourite flavour of cake is.
I have a feeling for most people that’s chocolate cake, it’s a delicious crowd
pleaser. If you do want to try something different though I have a delicious vanilla
cake recipe or one of my favourites is banana cake with brown sugar buttercream, incredible!
Lastly add a good pinch of salt to the dry ingredients,
this helps bring out that chocolate flavour, and use a whisk to combine the ingredients well.
Set the bowl to the side while we work on the wet ingredients.
In a medium sized mixing bowl measure out the sugar.
We’ll need 2 and half cups or 300g of granulated white sugar to sweeten things up.
You can use brown sugar here instead, it will give the cake a little more of a caramel like flavour
but I prefer using white. This may seem like quit a bit of sugar
and it is but remember this makes a pretty large cake and it’s not overly sweet at all.
One great thing about this chocolate cake is it’s kind of different to other cakes in the way that
it actually has a better flavour and texture the day or two after you bake it.
The flavours have time to just intensify and it gets a much better fudgeir texture.
If you are planning on making it for an occasion I would recommend to bake the cake one day, leave
it overnight and decorate it the next day. There’s no chance it’ll dry out, trust me on this one. Of
course it is still amazing the day you bake it but it’ll stay fresh for at least 3 to 4 days.
The next ingredient we’ll need is eggs. I’m using 3 large sized eggs here but if
you did want to halve the recipe you can get away with using 2 small sized eggs.
Make sure your eggs are at room temperature and if you do store
them in the fridge just get them out about an hour or so before you start baking.
Before I started baking I poured one and a half cups of whole milk and 1 tablespoon of vinegar in
this jug, gave it a quick mix and let it sit for about 5 minutes. This curdles the milk and kind
of turns it into a type of buttermilk. You can use buttermilk for this recipe if you have it on hand
but making this milk mixture actually works much better as it has a lot thinner of a consistency.
Pour it into the bowl with the other wet ingredients followed by the oil.
We’ll need 3/4 of a cup or 190ml of a flavourless oil like canola, sunflower or vegetable.
Stay away from stronger oil like olive as the flavour does tend to push through
the finished cake. There’s no creaming butter and sugar in this recipe which
means there’s no reason for a mixer and it makes it so fast and easy to make.
Follow up with a tablespoon of vanilla essence or extract
and use a whisk to combine the wet ingredients together.
The last ingredient we’ll need is one and a half cups of strong hot coffee. This cake
needs the coffee even if you’re not a fan of coffee, you won’t taste it in the fished cake.
You can use instant, espresso or whatever you have on hand. Make sure it’s really hot, and pour it
over the dry ingredients. The hot coffee will help to bloom the cocoa powder, giving it more flavour.
Pour the rest of the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and hot coffee
and start to mix it together with a whisk.
You should end up with a quite thin and liquidy batter, that’s exactly what you
want for chocolate cake. It doesn’t matter if there are small lumps,
just make sure you’ve got all of the dry flour incorporated from the bottom of the bowl.
Divide the chocolate cake batter between two or three 8” or 20cm lined
and greased cake pans depending if you want to make two or three layers to the finished cake.
Place the cake pans into a 180 or 350 preheated oven
for about 25-30 minutes. Makes sure the venter of the cake springs back when
pressed or a cake tester comes out clean before taking the cakes out of the oven.
There are a few different options when it comes to frosting or icing the cake. I’m sharing
with you how to make delicious chocolate cream cheese frosting which I think is the best combo
as it’s tangy and not too sweet which means it pairs perfectly with a chocolate cake but you
can also make a chocolate buttercream or even a whipped chocolate ganache would be decadent.
To make the chocolate cream cheese frosting in the bowl of your stand mixer or a large
bowl if you are using a hand mixer add in the room temperature butter. Beat on medium speed
for about 2-3 minutes or until the butter is light and fluffy and almost doubled in volume.
Follow with the cream cheese and mix again for a further minute until incorporated.
Add three cups or 375g of icing sugar or powdered sugar to the bowl,
these are both the same ingredient just different names in different parts of the world
and half a cup or 50g of cocoa powder. The full recipe will be on my website
as well as the full measurements listed in the description box below.
With the machine running slowly pour in 1- 2 tablespoons of milk.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is evenly combined
and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence or extract. Beat the chocolate cream
cheese frosting for another minute or two until it is light and fluffy.
To assemble your chocolate cake start with one of the cake layers.
You can use a serrated knife to level it but these do bake pretty evenly so it’s not a necessity.
Place about 3/4 of a cup of the chocolate cream cheese frosting on to the cake
and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly. Top with another cake layer and repeat the process.
When it comes to doing the final cake layer turn it upside down to the bottom is facing up,
this helps to get a more even looking cake. Spread the top and sides with the frosting, theres no
need to do a crumb coat here until you really want it to look perfect but that’s not really my style.
Place the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes just to let it set before serving. Cut
a slice and enjoy. This cake is fudgy, decadent and delicious, I really hope you give it a try.
Thank you so much for watching and I will see you in my next video.