Olivia's Awesome Chocolate Cake

Posted 05/11/12 • Last updated 05/17/12 • 1363 views • 18 comments

I had been searching for the perfect chocolate cake recipe and found Hersheys Chocolate cake recipe but decided to make some changes to it and here's what I came up with. I hope you like it!

Ingredients

2 C	Granulated Sugar
2 C	AP Flour
2t	Baking Soda
1t	Salt
2	Eggs
1C	Buttermilk
3/4C	Vegetable Oil
2t	Vanilla
1C	Coffee

Directions

Mix all dry ingredients except cocoa powder. Add cocoa powder to hot coffee and mix until it becomes a thick paste. Add buttermilk, vegetable oil, and eggs to dry ingredients. Turn mixer on and add some of the cocoa/coffee paste until batter is smooth, it will be really liquidy. Don't worry because it will bake up perfectly. Bake at 300 degrees F for 30 minutes for cupcakes Makes ~32 cupcakes and 3 8" cakes

Comments (18)

slimkim 5/17/12 at 1:16pm

sounds great but you left out the cocoa. How much do you add to the coffee?

Bernie13 5/17/12 at 3:28pm

Sure would love to try it out this weekend - if you could post how much cocoa powder we need to use! That would be great. Does this cake stack well - like can this be used for a two tier cake. As I am looking for a nice moist chocolate cake that is dense too.

Chericakes 5/17/12 at 4:43pm

I use the Hersheys recipe often, It is my go to chocolate ( with the buttermilk and coffee), and use it to stack all the time. Hope that helps. It is yummy.

gina123AsM 5/17/12 at 9:23pm

According to the original recipe, it should be 3/4 cup cocoa. Hope this helps those of you who were still wondering about the amount of cocoa to add.

lorieleann 5/17/12 at 10:04pm

is the cocoa in this recipe dutched or natural? If it is dutched, does the buttermilk add enough acid to balance it? (i think i have that concept down right: if a recipe calls for natural and you use dutch acid must be added to make it perform the same?) thanks!

KLCCrafts 5/18/12 at 7:16am

Qs Favorite Chocolate Cake from this site is nearly identical to this recipe, and it calls for 1/2 c dutch processed cocoa. It uses 1 1/4 tsp baking soda instead of 2 tsp, and water instead of coffee. I'm going to make Olivia's version this afternoon, and probably use 1/2 to 3/4 c of dutch process cocoa -- I'll let you know how it turns out.

carmijok 5/18/12 at 11:35am

I too use the Hershey's Chocolate cake recipe with the coffee instead of just the boiling water...but I also add a pinch...and I mean pinch... of cinnamon. It takes it to another level without tasting cinnamon-y.

KLCCrafts 5/18/12 at 4:30pm

OK, I just made this recipe using 3/4 c of Hershey's Special Dark which is "A blend of natural and Dutched cocoas". Since coffee is also acidic (in addition to the buttermilk) I took a chance that the lack of acidity in the Dutched cocoa would not matter. But I'm new to this so what do I know? I actually made cupcakes and added a broken up Oreo to each cup. I filled them about 3/4 full and they rose about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch over the top of the pan. I was curious to try the "Q's Favorite Chocolate Cake" tip of letting the batter sit for one hour before baking, so I baked the first pan about 10 minutes after I was done mixing, the 2nd pan an hour after, and the third pan 90 minutes after (the recipe yielded 28 cupcakes with an Oreo in each one). It appears the longer the wait does help with the rising process. The first batch had some tops oozing onto the top of the pan, the second batch was a little taller and had less ooze and the third batch was slightly rounded on top with hardly any ooze. Although there were cookie bits in the batter so none of them were perfectly formed. If I try this with a cake I'd definitely do the waiting as it seems to make a difference. The cake is dark and yummy, and I'm hoping the additional oil (compared with the Hershey's recipe) will help keep them moist into tomorrow. The baking time of 30 minutes at 300 was spot on for cupcakes. Will try the cinnamon next time. Thanks carmijok!

eperales0411 5/18/12 at 7:08pm

Hi there, I use a recipe that I found here on CC, its "Devils Food" posted by JLHISEL, and it is DELICIOUS!!, I use it for cupcakes and stacking, but the only issue I have with it is that it bakes with a soft crumb, so I can't use it for carving. So I have been searching for a scratch recipe that has a good flavor and carves well, I have tried a couple of recipes but no luck yet, the recipes I've tried are either too soft for carving or good for carving but not tastie enough, so... can anyone tell me if this recipe is good for carving.

Lccupcakes 5/20/12 at 2:58am

is it plain or self raising flour you use?

Gerle 5/20/12 at 11:13am

It's all purpose flour, but not self rising.

KLCCrafts 5/20/12 at 2:36pm

After 48 hours my cupcakes are still moist and fabulous (even the bottoms!); much more so than when I use the regular Hershey's recipe. This will be my go to recipe for dark chocolate and I can't wait to try them with regular cocoa as well. Thanks gfbakergirl88 for a great recipe!

gfbakergirl88 5/24/12 at 1:20pm

Oh goodness, sorry for the late response! 3/4 C cocoa Thank you for your comments :)