Saturday, April 2, 2011

Chocolate Cake Recipe

You know how some people seem to have that one recipe which is magical? It's their go to recipe, the one they brag about at dinner parties (or is that just me?) the recipe they never need to replace. Well this is that recipe for me.

It is not just a basic chocolate cake recipe, it is a throw-in-one-bowl, easy peasy, tastes great every time recipe.

Petal Cake Tutorial

I would love to say that it was passed on from many generations and that there is a great story behind it but in reality my old work mate gave it to me.

In fact, she just rambled off the ingredients and quantities as I sat there writing it all down. She wasn't even sure if the quantities were right! They seem to have worked a charm for me and I've even adapted the recipe for several different shapes and sizes (cupcakes included).

Chocolate Cake Recipe 

1 C Buttermilk (I use homemade: milk mixed with 1 T white vinegar)
1 C Black Coffee (made with 1 t instant coffee, cooled)
2 C Flour
1/2 C Cocoa
1 t Baking Powder
2 t Baking Soda
1 3/4 C Sugar
1 t Salt
2 Eggs
1/2 C Oil (Canola)
1 t Vanilla Essence
  • Preheat oven to 180 Degree C. Grease and line two 8" cake tins.
  • Make up coffee and let it cool down while you make the rest of the mix up.
  • Make up home made buttermilk by combining milk and either lemon or white vinegar. Let this sit while you make the rest of the mix up, it will be lumpy when you go to use it.
  • Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
  • Add eggs. I always crack my eggs one at a time into a cup first to make sure there are no egg shells or the egg isn't rotten or anything. 
  • Add vanilla, oil, coffee and buttermilk and mix on a low speed until combined.
  • Mix on medium speed for about 1 minute. The mixture will be really really runny.
  • Pour into prepare cake tins and bake for approx. 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  • Leave to cool in tins for 5 minutes then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely before icing.

Chocolate CupcakesChocolate Cupcakes
Chocolate Cupcakes
Chocolate CupcakesChocolate Cake
Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Buttercream

220g Butter (softened)
3-4 C Icing Sugar
3/4 C Cocoa
1 t Vanilla Essence
2-3 T Milk approx
  • Beat butter for a few minutes until nice and fluffy.
  • While butter is mixing (if you have a stand alone mixer) sift icing sugar into a large bowl and set aside.
  • Add vanilla to the butter and beat for about 30 seconds.
  • Start adding the sifted icing sugar one cup at a time.
  • When icing starts to get lumpy add a Tablespoon of milk.
  • Sift cocoa into icing and mix until well incorporated, taste test to see if it is chocolatey enough, if not, add more cocoa one tablespoon at a time.
  • Continue adding icing sugar and milk until you reach the consistency and taste you like.

Hot Cross Bun CupcakesChocolate Rosette Cake


  1. Oh my, this looks delish! Going to have to make this xx

    1. Thanks Emma, it really is the easiest recipe in the world! Hope you enjoy!

  2. Hello! This is the recipe i need! Two things though.... how high does this rise? I want to make a reasonably tall cake ( 4 layers?) so will i need to make this 4 times or is it high enough to cut in the middle?
    Also, how important is the coffee? and what could you replace it with.
    Oh and do you have a white chocolate cake recipe thats equally as easy?!

    Thanks :)

    1. Hello Hayley,
      I usually bake it in two 8" cake tins, I'd say they rise to about 3-4cm high but they sometimes have a little bit of a peak so I always cut the tops off and use the bottom as the top instead.
      If you're wanting to make them really tall you could either do 1 1/2 times the recipe which rises to 5cm or maybe make it in a smaller cake tin size like 6"?
      The coffee isn't for taste at all, it is just to bring out the chocolate flavour, it is very common so see chocolate flavoured things with a little bit of coffee to bring out that flavour, if you're not going to use it I'd say replace it with water but it really doesn't taste like coffee at all!
      Sorry I don't have a white chocolate cake recipe, I've never had great luck with white chocolate cakes, they're never this easy! For some reason chocolate cakes seem to be the only ones you can throw all the ingredients together to make.
      Hope all this helps and I haven't confused you too much!

    2. me again! Thanks for that :) One last thing, have you ever tried this using a different type of oil or is Canola the only/best option? THANKS!

    3. You could use any oil, vegetable and canola are quite good in baking but I think any would do. You probably wouldn't want one with too much flavour like an olive oil. I like canola/vegetable because they're cheap too! Haha

  3. Hi,

    If i were to make this in one tin what size would you suggest? Would a 23cm be ok?

    Lastly I was just comparing this to your cupcake recipe which I assume is the same just halved. Im a bit confused as in the cupcake recipe for the buttermilk you say to do 1/2T vinegar for 1/2c milk & coffee is 1/2t instant coffee for the water so in this recipe I thought it would be 1T and 1t however you have used the 1/2's again but for 1c of each liquid.


    1. Hi Sophie,
      Thanks for pointing that out, I've just updated it.
      For 23cm (9") you could make one big one (using one recipe for the tin) or maybe do 1 1/2 times the recipe and make two 9" cakes. I actually use the recipe for all different sizes and just make it less or more (half it or double it) depending on the size of the cake tins.
      Hope this helps!