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The Best Chocolate Cake You’ll Ever Eat

This is the BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE you’ll ever eat.  Or at least the best chocolate cake I’ll ever eat!

The Best Chocolate Cake You'll Ever Eat  | The JavaCupcake Blog https://javacupcake.com

I crave my chocolate cake.  I mean, I think about it every day.   Dream about it.  Drool about it.  Everyone who ever needs a cake recipe, I tell them to use this one.  It’s by far the BEST chocolate cake I’ve ever made.  The best part of it… it’s so incredibly simple to make.  It takes just a few minutes to put together and you don’t even need a mixer.  Two bowls, sauce pan and a whisk.

I’ve made this recipe so many times that I have it memorized.  Which is saying a lot for me because I don’t have ANY other recipes of mine memorized.  I always have to bring the tablet to the kitchen and look up the recipe on my blog.

The Best Chocolate Cake You'll Ever Eat  | The JavaCupcake Blog https://javacupcake.com

Because this cake is just for me… I’m not decorating it fancy or doing anything special with it.  I am just baking it in a 9×13 pan and frosting it with my favorite chocolate fudge frosting (recipe from my Mamma) and garnishing with simple sprinkles.  I’m pretty sure my daughter and I will finish off a big slice tonight with a giant glass of milk and the rest will be gone by the weekend.  Hmmm, maybe I’ll even invite my neighbors over for a slice.  Maybe not.The Best Chocolate Cake You'll Ever Eat  | The JavaCupcake Blog https://javacupcake.com

This cake… this is the cake that you make when you want chocolate.  When you just need a fix of that rich decadence that is chocolate but you don’t want a candy bar or cookies and you definitely don’t want to spend 100 hours in the kitchen making something.  This is the chocolate cake you make when you know you want to eat it straight from the pan with a fork.

This is…

The Best Chocolate Cake You’ll Ever Eat!

The Best Chocolate Cake You’ll Ever Eat

Yield: 1 9x13 cake
Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

The moist delicious chocolate cake you'll ever eat!

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup strong brewed coffee
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 Tbsp espresso powder
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup sour cream

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 4 1oz squares baking chocolate
  • 1 lb sifted powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ cup whipping cream

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Grease and flour 9x13 pan. I also lined mine with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter. Add the coffee, espresso powder, cocoa powder, and vanilla and whisk until combined. Set aside to cool slightly.
  3. In a large bowl, sift together the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream and the eggs. SLOWLY add a few tablespoons of the chocolate mixture to the sour cream and eggs. Whisk to combine. In a slow stream, whisk in the remaining chocolate mixture until combined completely.
  5. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in wet. Using a whisk, stir until no more lumps remain.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
  7. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan completely before frosting.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

  1. Once the cake has cooled completely, prepare the frosting.
  2. Sift sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment.
  3. In a double boiler, melt the butter and chocolate together. Stir in the vanilla.
  4. With the mixer on low, slowly pour the chocolate into the powdered sugar. The frosting will be very thick and hard to mix.
  5. Add the whipping cream and beat until smooth. You may not need all the whipping cream, so add it slowly.
  6. As the frosting cools it will thicken so spread over cooled cake immediately.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

Kristin

Monday 31st of July 2017

For the frosting, is the baking chocolate semisweet or unsweetened?

Betsy Eves

Sunday 17th of September 2017

I believe I used unsweetened - but you can use whatever you prefer.

Jamie

Wednesday 19th of February 2014

I LOVE chocolate cake but am still on that quest for the perfect recipe (hoping this is it)I tried your salted caramel cake recipe last week and everyone raved about it...do you get the same reaction with this cake (as in, is it just as good)????? If I want to make two 9 inch rounds instead, should I double the cake recipe? And how about the frosting? I love love frosting and want to have a decadant amount! Thanks so much for your help!

Betsy Eves

Thursday 20th of February 2014

Hi Jamie! I'm so glad everyone raved about the salted caramel cake! It was a winner here too! Here are two different ways I've made this cake into a layer cake... Double Chocolate Layer Cake: https://javacupcake.com/2013/04/double-chocolate-layer-cake/ Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake: https://javacupcake.com/2014/02/chocolate-peanut-butter-cake/

I hope these two help you figure out how you want to make it!! Let me know if you have any other questions!

Sarah

Sunday 9th of February 2014

I made this chocolate cake today for a party of 17 people and we all loved it. Thank you so much!!!

Betsy Eves

Sunday 9th of February 2014

Wonderful!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!! I actually just made it yesterday for my birthday cake! I can't wait to ea it! Happy baking!

Amy Bouska

Tuesday 28th of January 2014

In the top of the recipe, it says BAKING POWDER, yet in the directions, it says to add BAKING SODA. Which should I use?? Thanks! Amy

Betsy Eves

Wednesday 29th of January 2014

Thanks for catching my error!! I'll update the recipe now!

Ally cat

Friday 6th of December 2013

R u sifting to make 1 cup flour or just scoop 1 cup flour the sift it? Including the ingredients?

Betsy Eves

Friday 6th of December 2013

Typically, I loosen up the flour before spooning it into the measuring cup. Flour tends to get compacted when it just sits in the container... so I fluff it up before measuring. Measure all your dry ingredients in the sifter, then sift it into the bowl. Lemme know if you have any other questions!

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