I'm looking for a good chocolate cake recipe. The one that I am using right now has coffee in it, and it's not bad but... I need a recipe that is moist and not as dense. Does anyone have a good recipe that everyone just raves about when they try it?

I am trying the wasc chocolate tomorrow. its been raved.. it ask for 2teas spoons of coffeee but i am not going to add it..

http://www.hersheys.com/pure-recipes/184/HERSHEY'S

This is VERY popular and delicious!

The darn good chocolate cake recipe on here is to die for! I use milk chocolate cake mix and milk chocolate chips instead of the fudge just b/c I like milk chocolate, but it's amazing either way!

thats the one i am going to try to make tomorrow.. do u add the coffee>? i am trying to avoid that.. also i am going to make it with the DH

I just made the chocolate WASC this morning. I halved the recipe -- except screwed up and added the full amount of instant coffee. Still can't taste it in the finished product. (*I* can't, but I like coffee so it wouldn't bother me and I might not really notice.) The batter was thinner than I expected, took longer to cook, but doesn't seem particularly dense* and is very yummy.

*I don't have a lot of points of comparison on this. Plus the comments all say it's too moist to work with out of the oven and it needs to be frozen. Mine is in the freezer now and I was just about to torte it, so my opinion of its density could change...

Humm... I might try the wasc. But I stay away from cake mixes, I've made so many that I get sick just from the smell. If anyone else has a good recipe let me know!

I made the Hershey's with the Extra Dark cocoa and did as another CC'er suggested and used 1 c sour cream instead of 1 c milk and I loved it! Texture and flavors were all amazing!

I just made the choc WASC for the first time today. I used DH Dark Choc, subbed out 1/2 cup flour for 1/2 cup cocoa, made instant coffee for the water and used 6 whole eggs. DELICIOUS!!! Rose beautifully, very moist, very chocolate-y, nice tight crumb, but not heavy.

Highly recommend it, if you don't mind the cake mix in it.

Here is a recipe I've tried twice. First with cream cheese icing and the 2nd time with chocolate ganache. Both cakes were very good and moist and everyone loved them.

3 oz of unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 stick unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract
2 tsps baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups sifted Swans Down Cake flour
1 cup sour cream
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and lighly flour 2 9inch layer pans. Sift swans down cake flour, then lightly spoon 2 1/4 cups cake flour intou measuring cup. Cream butter until smooth in large bowl. Add brown sugar and eggs. Beat until ight and fluffy. Beat in vanila extract and chocolate, then baking soda and salt. Add flour alternately with sour cream, beating until smooth. Pour in boiling water, stiring with sppon until blended. (Batter will be very thin.) Pur into prepared pans.
Bake approximately 30 minutes or until tester inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool in pans approximately 10 minutes.
Alternate method: one 13x9x2 inch sheet cake or cupcake pans

I made this one last night and really liked it. It's from Georgetown Cupcakes.

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2008/11/05/chocolate-squared-cupcakes/

You asked about a cake, but this is a cupcake recipe.

Angfastic - oh my goodness, I just made recipe you shared last night. I made it into cupcakes (make 3 dozen baked for 20min if any one wanted to know.) and then topped them with a chocolate basic buttercream. WOW It was amazing. I will definitely be using this recipe in the future!

Creativethoughts, do you mind sharing your recipe for chocolate buttercream? I've tried several and can't seem to find a nice basic one I like.

och thats a hard one but i'll try. I made it on the fly so you might need to mess with it a bit. but it should be close.

1/2 C butter
1/4 - 1/2 C unsweetened coco powder (i used Ghirardelli)
5 C powdered sugar
1/8 - 1/4 C milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Cream butter then add Cocoa powder. scrape bowl add Vanilla Extract, also start adding Powdered Sugar 1 Cup at a time and add Milk in stages. If you are going to pipe it then you should keep it more stiff, if you decide to spread it then you should add enough milk to make it smooth and workable.

I piped this on maybe 2 dozen cupcakes.

Hope that this will work out for you, I had a lot of people say that it tasted great and I think that it was a winning combination! (*idea of how it tastes one person said it tasted like a light fudge)

From I am baker: she says it is the best chocolate cake ever!

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare you cake pans. I used 8in rounds, you can use rectangle pans or cupcakes or whatever floats your boat!

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl and mix until combined.

In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

@CreativeThoughts, I'm glad you liked it. It is now my go to chocolate recipe. I've used it for both cake and cupcakes.

TejasRebel - How about a recipe for the salted caramel buttercream?? Smile

Are you looking for a basic buttercream recipe or a buttercream with eggs? I have to admit that I have been going crazy over chocolate and salted caramel cupcakes recently. I usually end up going and getting them from New Seasons (mini slated caramel cupcakes for $0.79 makes me so happy! also discovered last night that Cold Stone has a salted caramel ice cream, I think it tastes like heaven!). I had asked a lady in the bakery at new seasons what kind of buttercream they used for the cupcakes and she gave me an out line of what they did to make it. She didn't share the measurements but It seemed easy enough that I could make it with little trial and error. I'll try it out and see if I can get some measurements for you if that's what your looking for!

Creative Thoughts: Just regular buttercream would be great, but I'm not opposed to using eggs.

Salted caramel: Central Market, on of the local "foodie" grocery stores is carrying cookies made by wackymskitchen.com. His salted caramel cookies are positively addicting. I like to do cheesecakes and plan on using his cookies for a crust.