Chocolate Butter Cake
(A tutorial for how to make the hedgehogs in the picture above can be found here)
This is a very moist and buttery chocolate cake which is great as a celebration cake. The crumb structure of the cake is quite lose which makes it soft and delicate. It is a cake I make a lot whenever I need to make a chocolate cake as it is loved by both kids and adults. This recipe is an adaptation of recipes by Bonnie Stern and Yockelson Lisa.
Abstract Cake with Chocolate Butter Cake and Red Velvet Cake Layers
This cake is best frosted with chocolate buttercream frosting. There is a recipe for chocolate buttercream frosting here.
INGREDIENTS:
(1) 226 Grams Unsalted Butter (1 Cup)
(2) 400 Grams Granulated White Sugar (2 Cups)
(3) 3 Large Eggs
(4) 2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
(5) 1 Cup Hot Water (for a deeper flavor, replace with Hot Coffee. This will also turn the cake to a mocha cake)
(6) 120 Grams Semi-Sweet Chocolate (4 Ounces)
(7) 30 Grams Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (1/3 Cup)
(8) 295 Grams All Purpose Flour (2-1/4 Cups)
(9) 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
(10) 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
(11) 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
(12) 1 Cup Milk (For a more delicate crumb structure, use Buttermilk)
PROCEDURE:
(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
(2) Boil water (or brew coffee) and pour over semi-sweet chocolate. Stir to melt chocolate and set mixture aside to cool. To make melting faster, cut chocolate into smaller pieces before melting.
(3) Grease two 8 or 9 inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. It is also advisable to coat the sides of the cake pans with flour after greasing them for extra security.
(4) In a large bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
(5) In the bowl of your stand mixer attached with the paddle attachment, beat butter until soft and creamy. Next, with the mixer running on low speed, add sugar. Increase speed of mixer to medium and beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. About 3 minutes.
(6) Next, add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape sides of bowl at intervals to ensure the batter is properly mixed. Do not all eggs all at once or the batter will separate.
(7) Next, add the vanilla extract and melted chocolate mixture. Mix to combine.
(8) Finally add the flour mixture and milk (or buttermilk) in 5 additions (flour, milk, flour, milk, flour). Mix just until combined. Do not over mix batter. Incorporate unmixed flour with a spatula by hand.
(9) Pour batter into prepared cake pans and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
(10) Important: Allow cakes to cool completely in baking pans before removing from pans. This cake is very soft and will easily tear if not handled gently. I usually leave them in the baking pans for about an hour before taking them out of the pans.
(11) Cakes can now be frosted with chocolate buttercream frosting. I would advice that you refrigerate cakes overnight before leveling and frosting so they are firm and easier to work with.
Note: In picture below, an extra layer was made to give the cake more height. This was simply done by dividing the recipe into half and baking in a cake pan.
This cake can be used to make my Naked Cake. See how here.
Terry Adido is passionate about showing people how easy it is to recreate restaurant quality meals in the comfort of their kitchens. With a style of cooking he refers to as Afro-European Fusion, his meals are influenced greatly by French and Italian Cuisine with a West African twist. If you love good food, you are in for the ride of your life.
wow.nice.different bt similar recipes of chocate cake all over d place.i think I wl try ds out.aww tomorro is my wedding anniversary, wl try out ds ur recipe for my hubby doh he s not d cake type
I’m sure he will appreciate it.
Hola T
Do you have this receipe without chocolate?
If I remove the chocolate from this 1 is it fine?
Also looking a great cupcake receipe? Is joyofbaking ok or?
Merci,
Aziz, try this recipe instead.
9ice 1
Thanks
I saw this on FB and I just had to bake it today. It was very easy to follow the recipe. The only problem I have is that the center sunk a little (Do you have a suggestion for preventing this). I will try your buttercream frosting.
Thanks again for the recipe as I am a chocolate lover.
Glad you liked it. Did you use 8 inch pans? Smaller pans might lead to sinking. Also, this might happen if you opened the oven door or tested to see if it was ready too soon.
Pls I want to make a 14inches teddy chocolate cake, kindly help me with d recipe and d butter icing measurement DAT will cover it! Thanks need a reply as soon as possible.
Hi. I am sorry I do not have a recipe for what you want. Try multiplying recipes. That’s what I do whenever I have large cakes to make.
Thanks av done DAT already but I think it is just too soft!
Hi Terry, please can I use chocolate chips same quantity in place of the chocolate called for in this recipe.I can’t find the chocolate. Thanks
You can use it as a last resort.
Thanks for the recipes, please which brand of preservatives is the best for chocolate cake,? (Pls quantity to use)
Thanks. I do not use any preservatives for my cakes and know nothing about them.
Hi Terry, I love your chocolate cake recipe. What is the role of browning and black treacle in chocolate cakes?
Thanks. They are used majorly for color. If you use real chocolate or cocoa powder in your chocolate cakes, you do not need them.
Hi Terry,
Please can I use 3 teaspoons of baking powder, instead of 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of baking soda? Thanks
By the way, have a very happy birthday
Hi Ebun. No you cannot. You need the baking soda for the chocolate. Thanks for the birthday wishes.
Hi Terry,
Would you recommend this chocolate butter cake recipe to be used for a black forest cake?
I wont recommend that. The cake for BFC needs to be a dry chocolate genoise which is spongy so it absorbs all the syrup.
hello Terry can you just use only cocoa for this cake rather than adding the semi sweet chocolate. like can you substitute the semi sweet choc with cocoa powder
Hi Lara, I would not do that. You can make this cake instead.
I just got the ingredients, baking for the first time. though I didn’t get baking powder|soda. Am new in France,i search and all I got was Levure chimique, which is yeast in English, i hope it comes out well, thanks again
Hi. I doubt yeast would work here as yeast is used for breads and not cakes. You should be able to find baking powder or soda in most grocery stores in France/Paris.
Tnx for getting back to me, i googled it and is actually baking powder not yeast, d yeast is levure boulanger,tnx again
Hi, thank you very much for the great job. God will continually bless you. Please can I replace the butter with margarine?
Thanks. Technically you can. I have however never done so before.
Thanks for the chocolate butter cake recipe,will try it today,can I cover with fondant too or it has to be butter frosting. Thanks. Waiting for your reply.
Hi. You can do both. I recently made a wedding cake in which I frosted with chocolate buttercream and covered with fondant.
i tried it so yummyly
Awesome!
Hi terry am in love with your blog..however i have a quick question can i use dark chocolate in place of semi sweet chocolate?
Thanks. Yes if you want a deeper chocolate taste.
This has to be the best chocolate cake recipe ever!!!its so amazingly moist although it sunk a bit in the middle i used a 6″pan and i noticed my baking soda was out of date but it still came out nice…now am fully confident to try out your vanilla cake recipe
Thumbs up Terry
Awesome. The size of the pan could sometimes lead to that. Glad you enjoyed it.
Hi terry,u are really doing a grt job.pls,what is the shelf life of this cake?,and if the recipe is multiplied,hope it won’t affect the cake in any way?
Shelf life, I would say up to 3 days at room temp. Longer in the fridge. Multiplying recipes only affect baking duration.
Fankz 4 d reply…God Bless u
Hi Terry, thanks for this recipe,though I have tried it and it’s awesome ,I added a bit soaked fruits with alcohol in it because it was for a wedding cake and it came out perfect.didn’t add coffee though. Did you add coffee to this and what quantity did you add.thanks
Thanks for the tip on fruits and alcohol. Sounds delicious. The quantity of coffee will depend on taste.
I love this recipe. Can I use this exact recipe for an 8″ Soccer pan??
Thanks. I am not sure. I have never tried it.
Hi Terry I just tried this recipe and it came out great, although I didn’t add d semi-sweet chocolate. Thanks and God bless you for this site.
Awesome. So what did you use in place of the chocolate?
Hey terry I want to make 14inch square cake. should I double the ingredients
Yes Idah.
Hi Terry.love your tips.I would love to try your recipes but i have some questions to ask, how do I substitute all purpose flour for whole wheat soft flour cos that is what I can get and can I use the whole wheat flour for the French vanilla sponge cake too.if no how do I do the conversion of cake flour to whole wheat flour,can I use any other extract apart from vanilla.lastly please can’t I use whole milk with lemon mixture to achieve butter milk. Thanks so much.
Hi Nadia. (1) You should not be using whole wheat flour to bake cake. Cakes are delicate and it’s going to taste like and have the texture of a muffin. (2) Adding corn starch or anything to the flour will not make it any better (3) Yes you can use whatever flavor you like. (4) Yes, that will be a good substitute for buttermilk.
Wow thanks Terry u saved me from disaster was going to try them out using whole wheat cos that’s what I could find in the market.will have to look elsewhere for all purpose or cake flour.am so so eager to try out the cakes cos i love cakes so much .I just bake for fun.will keep you posted when I do try them out.thanks so so much.
Thanks. Do keep me posted when you try them out.
Hi Terry,I must say am Impressed with the chocolate butter cream cake.I just tried it this afternoon and it was superb.I used margarine though cos I was out of butter and I also used dark chocolate .it was so soft I was scared it will all crumble when removing from the pan.the only problem I had was didn’t know how to measure the coffee cos I am not a coffee fan.i used two table spoons for one cup of hot water.I actually used Nescafe classic.it was a bit strong but honestly it was tasting good the cake melts in the mouth and the outer part had a light crunch it was just fantastic. You are awesome. Kudos to you.u made my baking fun. Thanks a million.some questions though with the coffee in cake is it safe for kids birthday cake or would I have to omit the coffee and also use semi sweet chocolate.and how strong is the cake when frosting and putting fondant on considering the light texture even after placing in the fridge to harden..God bless.
Hi. Thanks for your message. I will omit the coffee if i am making the cake for kids. If you want to frost or cover with fondant, I will suggest that you keep the cake in the fridge for about a day to harden up before frosting and covering with fondant. This way, it would keep shape and not tear.
Hi Terry,I must admit I couldn’t get the French vanilla cake.meaning I messed it up cos firstly I used margarine cos I was out of butter.secondly the separation of yolk from egg whites was a bit of challenge cos I didn’t have an egg separator which I would have to get and thirdly when mixing in the flour to egg yolks,I had to leave it while I whisk up the egg whites noticed the flour had soaked up the yolk and was quite thick like a paste and lumpy is this normal?after adding egg whites it was light though but the turn out of the cake was a bit spongy I could almost taste the eggs in my mouth.it was also soft but not as fluffy and moist as i wanted.I would like to try this again with butter this time hoping to get a better results but need to be sure I won’t have same issues.I ended up making a football chocolate butter cake for my son’s first birthday party and he loved it .thanks to your recipes..thanks.awaiting your response.
Hi. Thanks for sharing your experience. (1) You do not need an egg separator. You can use the half shells to separate the yolk from the whites. (2) If you added the melted butter/oil/water mixture (in the right measurement) before the flour, there should be no paste/lump. (3) The cake is supposed to be spongy. (4) Some pple claim the cake tastes a bit eggy. I have not experienced same. You are welcome.
Hi Terry,thanks for the response.yeah eggy I guess.usually use the shells but at times the yolk gets in the whites while separating. will sure try it again.am sure I did something wrong.for now am a chocolate butter cake lover.God bless.keep it up.
Awesome. Its easiest to separate eggs when they are cold.
Pls what is a mocha cake
Click here. Chocolate + Coffee.
Can I use vanilla buttercream to frost this type of cake?
Yes.
Thank you so much Terry.
Good day chef Terry ..is it necessary to add the semi sweet chocolate to the batter …or the coaco powder and coffee would jux be fine
Can margarine be used in place of d butter and also can d semi-sweet chocolate be skipped …??