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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. 
Hi Natasha. What is the diffrence between this chocolate cake and your more recently added chocolate cake (added in 2019). I know the other recipe does not have eggs and uses olive oil, coffee and vinegar but I absolutely love this one as the crumb is so soft. Is the other cake denser or is it as fluffy as this one?
Hi Lucrecia! We love both! The other cake does seem like a slightly lighter version with no buttercream but it is still airy and fluffy! I recommend reading through a few of our reviews and comments for the recipes!
Hi Natasha
I very much like this recipe – it reminds me of a red velvet without the food colouring – very decadent! I have made this a few times but am struggling a bit with the cooking times. I have a new oven and am still trying to get used to whether it is true to temperature or not and just wondered is your temp in fan forced or non fan forced oven? Also the Swiss buttercream is an absolute dream frosting – I will be using this recipe for a wedding cake later this year
Hi Suzi, mine is an electric oven and it is fan forced. I wonder if yours is convection. If it is, you will have to make modifications to your recipes (usually reducing temperature by about 25 degrees F) unless a recipe specifically says “convection”. All of our recipes use a regular conventional oven (not convection).
I made this cake on Sunday, followed everything to a T, and it was absolutely amazing!!!! Never made Swiss Meringue Buttercream, followed Natasha’s instructions and it’s my new favorite now!
I’m so glad you found a new favorite! Thank you for that great review, Elena!
Hi Natasha,
I’m running out of parchment paper. Can I use aluminium foil instead? Thanks!
Hi Lala, I haven’t tested this with foil but I suspect it would stick.
Thank you Natasha for the recipe. My second time to bake your recipe and my family loved it. The first time was the mango cake and it was really delicious and what I like the most is that it’s not too sweet. Keep on sharing your recipes. More Power! ❤️👍😊
You’re so welcome, Michelle. I hope you love every recipe that you try!
Thank you the recipe looks wonderful, just went into the oven. Quick question, I used an 8oz bag of unsweetened cocoa,dry ingredients I stick with weight. I see yours is in a measured cup, which makes a difference in volume. Should I have stuck with the cup as opposed to weight ?
Thank you!
Hi Molly, I added metric measurements which should help. If you click “metric” in the recipe card, you will see the metric measurements.
I just made this cake with recommended Swiss meringue frosting for my husband’s birthday and it was a huge hit! I also added a bag of chocolate chips (coated in flour first so they would suspend in batter), loved the crunch it added would definitely do this again!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Hi Natasha! What happens if my batter is too smooth, did I overbeat it? Should gradually add a bit more flour?
Hi Hadicha did it bake well with that texture? I’d love to know the outcome of that to better troubleshoot, it’s hard to say without being there.
I added a little bit of flour, though it didn’t make that much of a difference… But the cake came out great!! I baked both of them separately beause I had only on cake pan. There was no problem doing it that way 🙂 Then I made the frosting with four medium eggs and it was enough for the whole cake, plus some extra! I loved this recipe, thank you! I got a lot of compliments from family and friends <3. They thought it was bought from a store XD Lots of love!
I love it! Thanks for sharing that with us, that is definitely useful information for the others who want to do the same. I appreciate your awesome review!
My oven can only bake one layer at a time, can the batter sit on the counter until the first is done?
Hi Felicia, I honestly haven’t tried that but if it is the only option, let me know how it turns out if you experiment.
Hi Natasha, I am looking to use this cake batter for a wedding cake. How would the cooking times vary for an 8in and 6in cake?
Hi Megan, I honestly haven’t tested it that way so you will have to make some estimates and experiment. If you are dividing into 2 pans – one an 8″ and one a 6″ pan, both would take longer to bake as they will be taller cakes. My only concern is that it might be too much batter for 2 smaller pans.
Hi Natasha! I tried this recipe and it turned out great. I wasn’t able to use the frosting recipe on here because i bought the wrong whipping cream. Instead I used the frosting from your chocolate cake recipe and just didn’t add coco powder. It turned out great! I think I put the frosting on too early though, because it started melting. It was much better the second day. I am looking forward to trying this recipe again with the correct frosting!!!
I’m so glad you caught that in time Jasmine! Thank you for sharing that awesome feedback with us!
This is a delicious recipe!!! I made the cake part and it was really easy. When it was time to make the frosting I tried adding the heavy whipping to make it thicker….I later found out I bought whipping cream instead of HEAVY whipping cream. To fix this I found another recipe on Natasha’s kitchen for chocolate frosting that didn’t require heavy whipping cream!!! I’m so glad I found that or it would’ve been a disaster!!! Even thought I used a different cream the cake still turned out amazing! I also noticed the cream melting a bit. I don’t know why…
Anyway thank you for the awesome recipe I can’t wait to try it with the correct frosting next time
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Jasmine!
Hi Natasha,
Would you foresee any issues with doubling the ingredients for this recipe?
Hi Kate, I haven’t tested that but is should work! If you experiment please let me know how you like this recipe!
Hi can i bake this cake in one tall baking tin instead of two?
Hi Raimonda! I haven’t tested that but it should work. You may need to bake that longer!
Gave this a trial run before making it for my daughter’s bday. Glad I did coz I took it out a tad bit too early and the middle sank in. Lesson learned. Though boy is that middle part so rich and delicious! Since it was just a trial cake I couldn’t care less abt how it looks, just know that it’s still amazing in my belly. So I only made half in a cake pan and used the other half for cupcakes. The cupcakes came out excellent. I ate one without any frosting and it was great. Froze the rest for future use. Took one out to try with the Swiss meringue buttercream recipe and it defrosted quickly and tasted just as great.
I am going to try your other frostings to go with this as unfortunately the SMBC did not turn out too well for me. But the white chocolate recipe you use for your dark chocolate cupcakes looks yummy too!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us Arantxa!!
It was a hit! During my trial run I used a 10″ inch pan and the middle was undercooked and sank (but oh so delish). This time around I borrowed some 9″ pans and it was perfect! Iced it with white chocolate cream cheese icing from your cupcake recipe and it was nice and light and fluffy. It did take longer to be done, I kept checking after 22 mins and I think in the end it cooked for maybe 26-27 mins However, lesson learned, no more double layer cakes for kiddos (4 y.o. party) as almost all of them ate just one half of the cake and we saw so much precious cake go to waste! I had also made cupcakes with the batter from my trial and those also came out amazing. So happy to have found this recipe. So easy too! Love love love. Thanks so much!
You’re so welcome, Arantxa! Thank you for sharing that with me & Happy Birthday to the Kiddo!
I made it last week and it’s already gone 🙂 Moist and delicious. I made Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting with it (because I was afraid can mess up Swiss Meringue Buttercream). It turned out great – chocolate on to of chocolate 🙂 My husband and son love this cake.
Thank you for your recipes. Time for the next one I am going to try. They all are delicious!
Awww that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I’m all smiles!
Hello Natasha 🙂
This cake looks delicious. I have a question: besides Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting what frosting from your recipes will work for this cake?
Thank you
Hi Svetlana, the cupcake frosting would work well or the frosting from our pumpkin cake. I hope you love it!
hie natasha ..I am a bit confused on the gramms of flour ..you said 1 1/2 its 190 gramms ..I did follow the recipe and it turned out to be very good ,moist ,chocolatey and fluffy bt the butter ddnt fit into 2 pans it was not enough.so I wnt to knoe which metric were you using bcs on some recipe 1 cup = 150gramms and half cup is 75 gramms which is 225 grmms so m a bit lost there ..I would happy if you can help me there ,thank you !
Hi, I’m glad you enjoyed the cake, but I wonder if maybe you were using smaller sized pans? Make sure to use 9″ round cake pans that are at least 1 1/2″ tall up the sides.
I made this cake for my husband’s birthday and was very disappointed. It’s TOO sweet. Also, when you make cream you need to watch to make sure not to over mix. If you over mix the cream it will not be as fluffy as it suppose to be.
Hi Hope, I’m sorry to hear that, but I am always happy to help troubleshoot. Usually with Swiss Meringue buttercream, there is risk in under-mixing rather than overmixing. Did you make any substitutions or modifications in the recipe. We love desserts that are not overly sweet so I wonder if any substitutions were made.
I cannot wait to make this. I was wondering if I could use either espresso powder or brewed coffee in place of water to rev up the chocolate? I only question this because your recipe uses sour cream vs buttermilk which already adds a little tang to the recipe.
Hi Maria, I didn’t think it needed it in this recipe but it could be a good experiment to use coffee instead because you are correct, coffee does amplify the flavor of coffee.