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This chocolate cake recipe is soft, moist, fluffy and richly chocolatey. This has become our go-to chocolate cake. It is always a big hit with everyone who tries it – grown ups and children.
The Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting is lighter in sweetness compared to traditional American buttercream which makes the cake really shine with intense chocolate flavor.
Wait until you see the next picture. CRAVINGS BIG TIME!!
If you have never tried Swiss Meringue Buttercream, learn how to make it here. It pipes beautifully and it sure tastes amazing! I call it wedding cake frosting – it’s just THAT good!
Ingredients for Chocolate Cake Recipe:
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup canola or extra light olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour, *measured correctly
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 Tbsp baking soda
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup very warm/hot water
1 Recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting
Semi-sweet or milk chocolate bar to grate for decor
How to Make Chocolate Cake Recipe:
Prep: Preheat Oven to 350˚F. Grease 2 (9″ round) cake pans. Grease the sides with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper.
1. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together 2 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup oil and 2 tsp vanilla until smooth.
2. In a second mixing bowl, sift in 1 1/2 cups flour and 1 cup cocoa powder. Add 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 Tbsp baking soda, 1/2 Tbsp baking powdered and 1 tsp salt and whisk to combine. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk until smooth without any lumps, then gradually add 3/4 cup hot water while beating and stir until well combined and smooth.
3. Divide batter evenly between 2 prepared cake pans and bake at 350˚F for 20-25 minutes (mine was perfect at 23 minutes) or until tops are set and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into center. Cool cakes in pan for 15-20 minutes then run a thin spatula or knife around the edges to loosen from the pan and gently invert onto cooling rack and let cool completely to room temperature before frosting.
Cooks Tip: The cake layers have a very soft crumb so it is important to let them rest in the baking pans and let them firm up slightly before transferring to prevent broken cake layers.
5. While cakes cool, make your frosting. We used this Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting. Reserve about 1 cup of frosting to pipe roses or poofs over the top.
How to Assemble Chocolate Cake:
1. Carefully place your first layer onto the cake platter and cover with a generous layer of frosting. Gently transfer the next cake layer over the top and frost the top and sides.
2. Finely grate a bar of chocolate and pat the crumbs halfway up the side of the cake and sprinkle around the top rim of the cake. Pipe roses or puffs around the top rim of the cake.
Make-Ahead Tip: Cake can be covered and stored at room temperature for about 24 hours. If storing longer, cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving to soften the buttercream.
Chocolate Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup canola or extra light olive oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, *measured correctly
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 Tbsp baking soda
- 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup very warm/hot water
- 1 Recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting
- Semi-sweet or milk chocolate bar to grate for decor
Instructions
Prep:
- Preheat Oven to 350˚F. Grease two (9" round) cake pans. Grease sides with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper.
How to Make Chocolate Cake Recipe:
- In a large mixing bowl, combine: 2 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup oil and 2 tsp vanilla and beat with an electric mixeruntil smooth.
- In a second mixing bowl, sift in 1 1/2 cups flour and 1 cup cocoa powder. Add 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 Tbsp baking soda, 1/2 Tbsp baking powdered and 1 tsp salt. Whisk to combine. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk until smooth without lumps, then gradually add 3/4 cup hot water while beating until well combined and smooth.
- Divide batter between 2 prepared cake pans and bake at 350˚F for 20-25 min (mine was perfect at 23 min) or until tops are set and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into center. Cool cakes in pan for 15-20 min** then run a thin spatula or knife around the edges to loosen from the pan and gently invert onto cooling rack and let cool completely to room temperature before frosting.
- While cakes cool, make your frosting. We used Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting. Reserve about 1 cup frosting to decorate the top.
How to Assemble Chocolate Cake:
- Carefully place first cake layer onto platter and cover the top with a generous layer of frosting. Gently transfer the next cake layer over the top and frost top and sides.
- Finely grate a bar of chocolate and pat the crumbs halfway up side of cake and sprinkle around the top rim of the cake. Use reserved frosting to pipe roses or puffs around top rim of cake.
Notes
**Giving the layers time to rest will make cake layers most stable for transfering.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
If you are a chocolate lover, this chocolate cake recipe is for you! I hope you have a delicious week, my friends!
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Hello Natasha,
I have made this cake recipe before with success and it was a hit! I would love to make it into cupcakes. Have you tried this one in cupcakes before? I see you have another chocolate cupcake recipe but this one is already a favorite so I would love to use it. Would you reccomend time and temp settings to be the same as the chocolate cupcake recipe you have on your website? Seems like that would likely be a safe bet but wanted to ask first in case you’ve done this one as cupcakes before! Thank you for any insights!
Hi Claudia, I’m so glad you loved it. I have not made this recipe in cupcakes. I think it would work. I also have this Chocolate Cupcake Recipe.
Delicious cake! Funny story about how I made the cake. After I had put the cake in the oven, I realized I had used the wrong measuring cup for the flour, cocoa powder and sugar. It was too late to fix it! Instead of using a 1 cup, I used a 2/3 cup measuring cup. I knew the batter had tasted a little salty but thought maybe it was just me. Nope, I just shorted myself on flour, cocoa powder and sugar. Thankfully, not by much. After the cake baked, it wasn’t as sweet as it probably should have been but it baked up beautifully and so moist. I did make a sweet frosting to put on it to help with the lack of sweetness and saltiness. Even though I messed up, the cake was still so good. I’ll definitely be making this one again!
Hello Brooke! That happens, but don’t worry as that will make you a better cook/baker next time. I’m glad though that it was still a success! Thanks for sharing and I hope you’ll love it more when you try it again next time!
Hi Natasha, I am trying to figure out if I need to double or triple this recipe (per layer), if I am trying to make a double layer half sheet cake. I tried using your math in your Cheat Sheet for cake pans, but I am not certain if I am doing it correctly. Would you mind assisting me with this, please? Thank you!
Hi Kristel. I haven’t tested different size pans so I’m not sure, and without testing it myself, I can’t say exactly how to adjust the recipe for different sizes. You can find cake conversion charts online that may be helpful to convert the recipe but you’ll likely have to do some experimenting with it. A 9” cake pan is my go to pan size that I bake most of my cakes in so my recipes are mainly based on this size. I looked online, it says that a 9” cake pan holds about 8cups of batter, and a 1/2 sheet holds 7-8cups of batter so you may start there to see how many cups of batter this recipe yields and then using that information to determine how many more batches you’d need.
Hey natasha, what is the replacement of sour cream in this cake? I ll make this cake tonight but i dont have sour cream.
Hi Saadeya! I have not tested an alternative. The closest thing would likely be Greek yogurt.
what other frosting does this cake taste good with? I’m not a fan of buttercreams so would like to make this with an other frosting…
also which cake do you like better as in flavor\texture and how moist it is, This cake or your classic chocolate\coffee cake?
Hi Alina! You can use another frosting of your choice, I have plenty on my website to choose from, just use the search bar above.
If you have never tried Swiss meringue buttercream, it’s quite different from traditional American buttercream and significantly less sweet and lighter.
The classic chocolate cake is one of our go-to’s and we make it often. You may even enjoy that frosting more.
This is the BEST cake and frosting recipe! I made it last night for friends and they all agreed it was excellent. This is the cake and frosting recipe I’ll use from now on. Thank you Natasha!!
Hi Michelle! That’s wonderful to hear. So glad you loved the recipe. Thank you for the review. 🙂
This recipe, including the icing, is AMAZING! Made everything exactly per the recipe for DSIL’s birthday and it was the “best cake he ever had!” My husband even raved over it, and he isn’t a cake eater – and he requested that I “save that recipe!” Thank you so much! I would post a pic, but this review doesn’t allow it.
Hi Laura! That’s awesome. I’m so glad to hear that it was enjoyed. If you have Instagram or facebook, you can tag me in the picture. #natashaskitchen 🙂
Hi i have a question how about 2 8 inch pan is it ok thank you
Hi Miluse, I have not tried this in an 8″ pan to advise. If you would like to alter your pan size, you can try using this guide HERE to help you.
Hey, thanks for the recipe. Can you add powdered strawberries to the cream?
Hi Ren! I have not tested it myself but I think it could work. Let us know how it turns out if you experiment.
Love all your recipes! Thanks! Will this cake hold a curd well between the layers?
Hi Carol. Yes, it should. I would be more concerned about the type of curd you use than the cake itself. This cake for the most part is moist but stable enough to stack. Let us know it turns out!
Can you make this in a 13×9” pan instead of 9” pans? I would like to make it for Christmas and can get more servings with 13×9” pan
Hi Kathy, I haven’t tested that but I think it could work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Hi Natasha, can this be frozen? I was hoping I can freeze the cake layers and frosting separately and then to defrost them both to assamble?
Thank you!!
Hi Dorina, you can refrigerate up to a week and I haven’t tried freezing but I have read that you can freeze up to 2 months.
I made this cake recipe for my boyfriend’s birthday, and the whole family loved it! The directions were easy to follow, the cake and frosting had a good balance of flavor and sweetness, and it was moist but not too rich. I tend to end up running out of frosting for extra decorations on most cake recipes, but maybe that’s user error. You won’t regret trying this cake!
Hi Tanya, thanks for sharing! I recommend making sure that the ingredients were followed exactly as it is to get great results but good to know that your family loved it!
Hi Natasha,
I made this cake for my daughter’s 5th birthday. It was a big hit. I watched a video of the Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe on YouTube. I searched for a perfect cake to pair it with. I came across this recipe and it worked like a charm.
So glad you found this recipe. Thank you for the feedback. 🙂