Would you say this cake is dense enough to stand up under fondant

Definitely!!!!I have this recipe and its the best chocolate recipe I have and use!!!I usually layer it with a white cake and it tastes heavenly.

I use this recipe in my bakery. It is one of the most requested cakes I get. It gets better with age so I always know it will taste great. And it holds together well with the weight of fondant sculpturing.

Can sub whole milk for the buttermilk? Thanks :)

Buttermilk is too different to whole milk to substitute it as buttermilk has acid in it, which reacts with other ingredients when baking. To make Buttermilk add a tablespoon of cream of tartar or lemon juice for every cup of whole milk.

What size cake pan does this recipe fill?

i tried this yesterday...and the cake was so yummy

If this recipe is used for a 2 or 3 layer cake, does anyone know what temperature and length of time should be used?

Could you make cupcakes with this recipe?

Hello! Just would like to know, is this 300 degrees fahrenheit? You said it's a slow bake cake and that would be very hot in centigrade. It's just because in the UK we use centigrade so would just like to clarify. I too would like to know if this can be used for cupcakes - baking times etc. Sounds YUMMY I am going to try this! =) Thanks in advance!

I doubled the recipe and got a 2" tall 10" square out of it. So I guess it would make an 8" round.

Harriet, yes that is 300 F, 150 C, Gas Mark 2-3. For cupcakes I would stick to the temperature, put them in for 20 minutes then test them using a skewer or press your finger on top.

Perfect thanks so much for your advice! :) Look forward to trying these :)

Hello everyone I will love to try this recipe today, I have to start making my birthday cake for next week. Is this cake good for carving? I am planning to make a topsy turby. Thanks for you help

Sorry, another question, is that 3 to 4 cups of cocoa or 3 quarters of a cup? I know it sounds silly but just wanted to check!

TIA :)

did you use all purpose flour or cake flour?

I just made this cake today with cake flour, and I liked the consistency and texture. I always add a few tsp of instant coffee to chocolate cakes, it makes the chocolate flavor pop. But for some reason, it was a bit too strong in this cake, maybe because of the buttermilk. Anyway, great cake, I'll make it again w/o the coffee.

Funny, I'm actually baking this cake now! My recipe is exactly the same, except mine uses regular milk instead of buttermilk. Deliciously moist cake!!

I made cupcakes with this recipe today, and it was awesome...I'm new at baking and I wondered if the cocoa was suppose to be sweetened or unsweetened? again nice recipe....

I made my mom's birthday cake with this recipe and everyone at the party told me it was the best chocolate cake they had ever tasted. One lady even said she doesn't like cake in general but this one she LOVED!!!

I had a little trouble with this recipe. The cakes fell a bit in the center and seemed to fall apart a bit when I took them out of the pan. It seemed to work better when I put the cocoa in with the dry ingredients and added the boiling water to all ingredients after mixing them for two minutes.I am thinking that adding the cocoa to the hot water then adding this to the mixture seemed to have presented a problem. Did anyone else have trouble? I am trying it again. Let me know if anyone else had trouble with this recipe.

Wow! is all I can say! Thanks for the recipe this will be passed on for generation to come!

this is the best chocolate cake i have ever sunk my teeth into! thanks ooohhhh so much!

Could anyone say if it is sweetened or unsweetened cocoa powder?

the best chocolate cake I've taste!!! thank you for the recipe, I only change the vegetable oil for olive oil and it was great.

Yummy. I made this today. Came out good except when I turned it out some of it stuck to the pan. Sprayed it with bakers spray so I don't know why it did that. I baked exactly an hour. It seems moist so maybe that's why. Anyone else have this problem, I let it cool 10 minutes before turning out. Tastes wonderful though.

I will ask the same question as Miss Super, sweetened or unsweetened cocoa?

Made this cake today. I wanted a chocolate cake that would work with Wilton decorator buttercream frosting. Great flavor! I will definitely make it again!

I used unsweetened cocoa. Not sure if yu could use sweetened, but you could try it I guess

Kind of nervous, the batter looks really thin and runny but I've followed the directions so keeping my fingers crossed!

Ok, so this is super yummy! Made this with a ganache filling...yum! My only thing was the cake did crumble pretty bad on the edges. I think if I fully froze it before carving it would have been fine but this is going in the keep box!

hi everyone - just wondered when you double the recipe how much longer does it need (eg in 8" round tin)

Did you use cake flour or all purpose?? Does this recipe work for stacking and carving?? Thank you

how many cupcakes have you made out of this recipe?

This recipe is great and the cake was Yummy!!! I did use cake flour and I made the cake in a 8x3 and 6x3 round cake pans and it came out great!!! Thank you MommyJones!!!

Hi everyone. You are all SO RIGHT!! I found this recipe thread, baked the cake straight away and there is no looking back. This is THE chocolate cake recipe from now on! Another thank you MommyJones.

(Tiqua - how long did you bake the 8" for?)

I baked them both for the hour still... I checked them at 45mins and they weren't ready.

So thanks to all the great comments I chose THIS chocolate cake recipe to make my FIRST cake (a 2 tier, fondant covered cake to boot). I have to say that this is the moistest and yummiest chocolate cake I have ever had. I filled 2, 9 inch rounds with this recipe and it rose to be about 2 inches high. For the second tier, I cut the recipe in half and it filled 2, 6 inch rounds and it was a tad bit taller. I baked both the 9 inch and 6 inch cakes for the same amount of time (1 hour exactly) and it was perfect.

The cake is very sticky. A little bit was left on the sides of the pan. Since it was so moist, I had a hard time frosting. It kept pulling away even when I used a lot of frosting. Since I am new to this, I'm not sure if this problem is me, the frosting, or the cake...BUT I assume from the moistness of the cake that it is because of the cake. Any input from those of you who use this recipe in your bakeries? How can I keep this delicious recipe but make it easier to frost? I did freeze the cakes to make them easier to cut and frost but it was still very crumbly.

Used this recipe to make cupcakes (ended up needing to be baked for 35 mins) and they were DELISH! I didn't have enough vege oil so substituted half the oil for butter but this still worked well. My only problem was that that cake was SO moist I struggled to ice the cupcakes as the cake lifted off into the frosting! Oh well- just told people it was a cookie crumble frosting ha ha! (just my own friends and colleagues)

I just tried this recipe and LOVE it !! In Australia i haven't found cake flour , however i read somewhere a substitue is to use 2 tbls of custard powder in a one cup measure and fill the rest with plain flour to make up your cup of flour ( hope that makes sense) So this is what I did and it turned out YUM !!!! Thanks for sharing your recipe : )

I am going to make this cake over the weekend. I did not get butter milk and vegetable oil at my grocery. Can I substitute the buttermilk for homemade buttermilk instead (fullcream milk mixed with either lime juice, cream of tartar or vinegar). Also, soyabean oil instead?

hi i was just wondering, there are a lot of flour types available, am i right to assume that you use "all purpose flour"?

I am making this for the bottom tier of a baby shower cake and am doing the top tier pound cake with pineapple filling and coconut frosting. Since it is a little different, I want to make sure people that don't like coconut or pineapple that can eat this one. Any suggestions for a filling? I was thinking either chocolate, peanut butter or caramel. Anyone tried something that was amazing? Thanks :)

I didn't really like this cake. I made it into cupcakes and they were very flat. Also, this is a similar recipe to Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake...except this one has twice as much oil!!! I like Hershey's better even with less fat. Will not be making again

this recipe is the best of the best! i love it....mater of fact my whole family loves it!!!!!!!!

MishiC... I used a custard filling for this cake, and it was heavenly. Everyone loved it and I have had severeal poeple ordering it WITH the custard filling or Vanilla mousse filling as it really is.. if you would like to try it, I can send u the recipe.

This by the way is the BEST tasting chocolate cake ever, HOWEVER, I wish it wasnt so soft..it is really hard to handle...

Freshly minted, amateur cake baker and decorator here!

This may be a stupid question, but on step 4 of the recipe it says to add eggs, buttermilk, and vegetable oil to the dry ingredients. Are you supposed to combine these wet ingredients in a separate bowl *before* adding them to the dry ingredients? Or can you just add all the wet ingredients one at a time directly to the dry ingredients?

Also, has anyone substituted canola oil for vegetable oil? Will that make a difference with the cake?

I skimmed the comments and saw some people said they had difficulty frosting the cake because it's so moist. Does freezing or refrigerating the cake first help with that problem?

Thanks so much, everyone!

Coka 04

I ALWAYS substitute the canola oil for veg.oil and it works fine. I just put everything on top of each other and mix ;) I JUST made it, and forgot the eggs, added them right after I mixed everything else. no problems.

it IS hard to frost, so I always freeze it over night or longer..take it out, layer it, frost it, cover with MMF , works great.

good luck.

Well I guess it was wrong to use all purpose flour for this recipe, because it didn't rise well. I did everything the same in the recipe. Did you use all purpose flour or cake flour? And can you please give me the exact round pan size you used?

I made 2 9x13 sheet cakes with this recipe, using 2 batches of batter. The first cake I made with half cake flour/half all-purpose (as I had only a little bit of cake flour left). It turned out wonderfully! I just made the 2nd cake using only all-purpose flour and it appeared to be rising up nicely but as soon as I took it out of the oven and it started to cool, it sank.....ALOT!! I'm not really a fan of chocolate cake so it's hard for me to find a recipe for one that I think is really tasty. This cake was okay but not as good as I'd expected based on all of the comments. My search for the ultimate chocolate cake continues.......

I just made this tonight. I made enough for four 9" rounds. I made it exactly as the directions say, but the first 2 cakes came out and were sunk in the middle. The last 2 are still in the oven, and so far so good. Hopefully they will rise well! The cake tastes yummy though!!!!

I either bake it in a long pan, oe 2 round 8" pans..NEVER sinks... do bake it on the lowest rack in ur oven...dont open oven before it is done (time is up) and I DO use all purpose flour..always turns out great..I just made it with lactos free milk, and it turned great... dont give up on it,, it IS the BEST ;)

@Mims

Thank you for the tips, Mims! I really appreciate it!

@mimscakery, I am making it again tonight, and using your tips! Thanks!

I am sorry to be stupid, but how many ounces or grams are in a cup?

Many thanks

1 cup equals 8 oz and 1 cup of butter weighs 227 grams. Googled it :) I made this chocolate cake for a staff birthday celebration and a week later I'm still getting complements. Haven't used the cake for carving designs and wonder if anyone has suggestions before I take on the task?

U R welcome Coka and Mandy.

@lconroy24... It wouldnt work so well for carving..it is very moist and crumbs alot...Itried it... I am not trying it again ;)

I must add that I made this cake 2 days ago for a baptism cake..needed it to be in a bigger pan, so I took this recipe times 0.5 (1 ½ batch)..and it turned out great... if u r ever thinking of making a bigger batch ;)

Delicious! I did cut the oil down to 3/4 cup since buttermilk and oil provide the moisture. The cocoa I added to the dry ingredients and the vanilla with the eggs, oil and buttermilk. I poured in the hot water last.

Cooked to perfection - moist, fluffy and delicious. Cooked in 1hr exact at 300deg. Also, very easy and fast to put together!!

Will definitely be my go to cake - THANK YOU!!

So if I am to understand this correctly b4 I have a baking disaster... if 1 cup = 8oz then I need 16oz flour and only 2 eggs? I have only ever made plain sponges and am knew to this whole chocolate cake thing!

PS. Same issue when trying to frost cake - crumby. Frosting took off the sides of the cake - looked like a crumb cake after I was finished with it...think next time I'll make a ganache and pour it over the whole cake while its still in a liquid consistency.

Alison - you might've solved the crumb problem. I'm guessing if we add another egg it might bind better - just a thought. 2 eggs doesn't seem like enough..

I wish I had seen ur comments an hour ago ;) I just made it again, and while mixing the cocoa and water I wondered if I could just add it to the dry ingredients... thx for ur input..glad u tried it and it worked. that is what I'll do next time. and I will also try it with 3 eggs ;) I have been cutting down the oil by a third of a cup... it is great. even coating it is working great. no crumbs.

just tried this recipe again with 3 eggs and it worked great - no crumb issues YEY!

Has anyone tried this recipe without the cocoa?? I wonder how it would turn out as a vanilla cake??? any ideas?? The reason I am thinking of trying it, is because Icant find a good vanilla cake recipe that is moist and yummy...

Was wondering if anyone has tried this with a hot chocolate mix? I have a White Mocha Hot Chocolate mix that is to die for and thought it would ne neat to have a hot chocolate cake. I could probably sub the cocoa for the hot choc mix, butwasnt sure about the sugar amount because there's some already in the mix

Thanks for sharing this recipe!!! I just tried baking it today and I'm so happy with the outcome. The cake is so moist and yummy! I did add a little coffee to give the chocolate flavor some kick.. This recipe is GREAT!!!

at mimscakery - I think with amount of wet ingredients, you'd have to have enough dry ingredients to make it stick. If you omitt the cocoa you'd probably have to add another dry ingredient. Try vanilla pudding mix maybe? Just an idea..

Baked this cake for the 2nd time today. 1st time back in Sept, I followed the directions exactly. Tasted yummy but sticky & hard to frost. So today I did 1 batch & 1/2 in the Fat Daddios 10 x 13 cut corner pan & so far so good. I cut down slightly on the oil, instead of 1 1/2 cups I used 1 1/4 & lined the bottom of the pan. Still cooling so I'll have to let you know how it frosted later but w/ that 3rd egg in the 1 1/2 batch it's not sticky. Looks great so far.

i need help!!! Ive been doing this recipe and it was great..i wanted to try this to make my first purse cake..would tht be possible? Will it stand?

Kylecakes... NO IT WONT !!! But if you take 4 eggs insted, and cut the oil to like ½ cup or so..maybe. I tried it with 3 eggs and a bit less oil, and it didnt crum as mcuh and it wasnt as moist and "soft"...so I would try with 4 eggs ;) good luck.

I made cupcakes today ! They were great !! and so easy!! one batch made 24 regular size cupcakes ( 300 degrees for 35 mins) and 33 mini size cupcakes( 300 degrees for 22 mins)!

This is the ONLY chocolate cake recipe I use now. I've used it for cupcakes, sheet cakes, and stacked cakes and have had no problems. I use all-purpose flour and canola oil, and I add the cocoa to the dry ingredients rather than to the boiling water. It is SO yummy! With my other cakes I save my trimmings for my husband. Not with this one. They're eaten up before he even knows they were there. :)

I see a few comments here where people didn't have luck with their cake rising. I've made this twice now, the first time it was flat, the second time was fine. My problem was my buttermilk. The second time around I started with a new carton of buttermilk, poured some into a clear glass, added baking soda, and watched to see if there was a reaction, and sure enough, there was. The first time, there wasn't a reaction. Just something to think about if it goes flat, you may have a dud carton of buttermilk.

The first time I made this cake is used whole milk instead of buttermilk.. TURNED OUT GREAT!!! and then the second time I used buttermilk... it tasted different.. the whole milk recipe was a lot better.. The best chocolate cake by far!!!

I think I am going to make this for my sister's birthday next week. I like to bake, even though I don't do much of it, but I am definitely new at decorating so I think I am going to take some of the suggestions and cut the oil and add an egg so it isn't as hard to frost. I'm going to cover in fondant anyway so hopefully some small crumbly issues won't cause to much of a problem. I was wondering from those who have tried it and knows how it tastes what you would think of it with maybe a raspberry fillng?? I think chocolate and raspberry would make a great combination. Does anyone know of a good recipe for a raspberry filling?? Thanks!

Made this today and it turned out marvelous! One batch fit into a 6"x3" square pan with enough left over for a dozen mini cupcakes. Both the cake and the cupcakes turned out fantastic. This will be my chocolate recipe from now on:) I also baked it at 325 degress and it took 1hour and 30 min to bake. A little on the long side but well worth the wait!

I have done this cake too many times, and the best thing about this cake, you can eat as is or you can fill it with caramel and have frost it with chocolate ganache or white buttercream frosting. I also use this for my cupcakes and boy i always have alot of orders for this :)

Hi

I am still looking for cooking time??

Has anyone subbed the oil with butter? How’d it turn out? Also am I correct in thinking it’s all purpose flour instead of cake flour?