Chocolate Layer Cake with Creme Chantilly Frosting
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
Attention chocolate lovers! This Chocolate Layer Cake with Creme turns out so fluffy and nice. Don’t worry, it only sounds fancy. Honestly, it’s pretty simple and straightforward to make.
Good news; you can make this Chocolate Layer Cake with Creme in advance! I baked and assembled it on Friday and served it Sunday afternoon and it was still perfect; kept its fluffiness and the frosting and raspberries stayed perfect. The best part is that everyone who tried this cake loved it. Score! You can use different fruit for the top but I just love how raspberries taste with chocolate cake; that sweet tang of each little druplet compliments the chocolate and lightly sweetened frosting so well.
This was round two in making this cake. The original recipe comes from my Mother’s Day gift; the Vintage Cakes Cookbook
The recipe for the chocolate chiffon cake is hers. I tried her chocolate frosting and I think I over-whipped and made it grainy (still tasty, but despite my best efforts to salvage it, the final product just wasn’t pretty and neither was this situation). Anyway, this is basically the best chocolate cake ever. Thanks Julie! It baked perfectly and didn’t cave in the center. Fluffy, moist and delicious.
Ingredients for Chocolate Layer Cake – Chiffon Cake:
1/2 cup unsweetened dutch cocoa
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 egg yolks, room temp (keep the whites!)
(note: you can put cold eggs in warm water 10 min to bring them to room temp)
1 3/4 cups cake flour (click for a quick video on how to make cake flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp fine sea salt or 1/2 tsp table salt
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
7 egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
*Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly
Ingredients for Creme Chantilly Frosting:
3 cups Cold Heavy Whipping Cream
1/3 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
12-16 oz fresh Raspberries to decorate the top
Tools you’ll need:
Either a 3 inch deep Springform Pan
Flour Sifter (I love this multi-use OXO strainer/sifter/fruit rinser
How to Make the Chocolate Layer Cake:
Preheat oven to 325˚F with the rack in the bottom third of the oven.
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup cocoa and 1/2 cup boiling water. Add in the 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup buttermilk and 2 tsp vanilla. Add 6 yolks and whisk until smooth.
2. In a separate large mixing bowl, sift together 1 3/4 cups cake flour and 2 tsp baking powder. Sprinkle in 1 tsp sea salt. Whisk in 1 1/4 cups brown sugar breaking up any clumps.
3. Combine the chocolate batter with the sifted dry ingredients and mix just until smooth (don’t over-mix,… or else).
4. Add egg whites to the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes until frothy. Add 1/2 tsp cream of tartar and beat another 2 minutes on medium-high speed until whites have soft peaks. Turn the mixer up to high speed and add 1/2 cup sugar in a slow steady stream. Continue mixing on high speed another two minutes until your meringue has stiff shiny peaks.
5. Use a spatula to fold the white meringue mixture into your batter adding about 1/3 of the meringue at at time.
6. Pour batter into your un-greased baking pan (I prefer using the springform pan) and bake in the bottom third of the oven at 325˚F for 55 min or until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center come out clean. Remove cake to a wire rack and let cool to room temp before removing the cake from the pan or cutting into it.
7. Once cake is at room temp, slice it into three layers. Its a good idea to trace around the cake with a knife before slicing through; this ensures more even cake layers. Re-stack and cover the layers with plastic wrap until ready to frost so they don’t dry out.
How to Make the Creme Chantilly Frosting:
Tip: For best results, freeze your mixing bowl and whisk attachment for 10 minutes before beating the cream and keep the heavy whipping cream refrigerated until ready to use.
1. Whip the heavy cream at high speed until soft peaks form (1 minute).
2. Add 1/3 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla and continue whipping at high speed until stiff peaks form and the frosting is smooth (about 1 – 1 1/2 minutes). Don’t over-beat the frosting or it will turn buttery.
Assembling the Chocolate Layer Cake with Creme:
1. Place the bottom layer on your serving platter and top with 1/3 of your frosting. Repeat with the second and third layer, and top with the remaining frosting; swirl it around on the top to make it look like waves in the sea. Decorate the top with raspberries or whatever fruit you have. I arranged them starting from the outside and spiraling inward until the entire top was plastered with raspberries.
Now it’s safe to lick your fingers, the spatula and the bowl (just pull your hair back first). The post a picture of your cake on facebook (@natashaskitchen) or instagram (@natashaskitchen) and make sure to tag me. I really want to see your beautiful creation!
Chocolate Layer Cake with Creme Chantilly Frosting
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup unsweetened dutch cocoa
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 6 egg yolks, room temp (keep the whites!)
- note: you can put cold eggs in warm water 10 min to bring them to room temp
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp fine sea salt or 1/2 tsp table salt
- 1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
Meringue Ingredients:
- 7 egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Creme Chantilly Frosting Ingredients:
- 3 cups Cold Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1/3 cup confectioners, powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 12-16 oz fresh Raspberries to decorate the top
Tools you'll need:
- Either a 3 inch deep Springform Pan or 10" metal Tube Cake Pan where the center comes out.
- Flour Sifter
Instructions
How to make the chocolate layer cake:
- Preheat oven to 325˚F with the rack in the bottom third of the oven. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup cocoa and 1/2 cup boiling water. Add in the 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup buttermilk and 2 tsp vanilla. Add 6 yolks and whisk until smooth.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, sift together 1 3/4 cups cake flour and 2 tsp baking powder. Sprinkle in 1 tsp sea salt. Whisk in 1 1/4 cups brown sugar breaking up any clumps.
- Combine the chocolate batter with the sifted dry ingredients and mix just until smooth (don't overmix,... or else).
- Add egg whites to the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes until frothy. Add 1/2 tsp cream of tartar and beat another 2 minutes on medium-high speed until whites have soft peaks. Turn the mixer up to high speed and add 1/2 cup sugar in a slow steady stream. Continue mixing on high speed another two minutes until your meringue has stiff shiny peaks.
- Use a spatula to fold the white meringue mixture into your batter adding about 1/3 of the meringue at at time.
- Pour batter into your un-greased baking pan (I prefer using the springform pan) and bake in the bottom third of the oven at 325˚F for 55 min or until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center come out clean. Remove cake to a wire rack and let cool to room temp before removing the cake from the pan or cutting into it.
- Once cake is at room temp, slice it into three layers. Its a good idea to trace around the cake with a knife before slicing through; this ensures more even cake layers. Re-stack and cover the layers with plastic wrap until ready to frost so they don't dry out.
How to Make Cream Chantilly Frosting:
- Whip the heavy cream at high speed until soft peaks form (1 minute).
- Add 1/3 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla and continue whipping at high speed until stiff peaks form and the frosting is smooth (about 1 - 1 1/2 minutes). Don't over-beat the frosting or it will turn buttery.
How to Assemble Chocolate Cake:
- Place the bottom layer on your serving platter and top with 1/3 of your frosting. Repeat with the second and third layer, and top with the remaining frosting; swirl it around on the top to make it look like waves in the sea. Decorate the top with raspberries or whatever fruit you have. I arranged them starting from the outside and spiraling inward until the entire top was plastered with raspberries.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I want to make this cake for my dadas birthday and he is a vanilla guy. Do I need Ro add more flower Ro replace the coco powder?
Hi Cami! I have not tested that to advise. You may try looking at some of my other vanilla cake recipes. You could still use this frosting.
Hi Natasha, love your site! Would it work well to put a chocolate glaze over the top of this cake..? Keep the great recipes coming. Thanks so much!
Hi Judy, I haven’t tested that but I think it could work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Natasha’s tres leche layered cake recipe has made me a superstar! Can’t wait to try this choclate layered cake. Can I substitute the light brown sugar with dark brown sugar?
Hi Lissette, You may, however, the cake may be darker in color and have a more caramelly/toffee taste to it. If you experiment I would love to know how you liked that!
FYI- for the assembly of the cake, you have down “top with 1/4 your frosting and repeat” which gives you 1/4 left over since there are only 3 layers. Made the cake today, can’t wait to try it.
Oh goodness! Thank you for catching that! Fixed 🙂
Hi Natash, I’ve made this cake before with raspberries and strawberries , and I really like how well it rised up and how moist it was considering it was a naked cake (I’ve tried others and it would be dry by the next day), but I want to make it a different flavor, I’m wondering if you’ve ever tried making this cake with coffee extract / coffee liquor? And do you think it would be OK to add mini chocolate chips to the batter? Thanks in advance!!
I think it would be great with coffee extract or coffee Lacore. I have not tried putting chocolate chips into the batter so I’m not sure how that would affect the cake layers or if it what it all? I assume that it could work, but without testing it I really can’t recommend it.
Hello Natasha. Thank for all the recipes and your hard work. I was wondering can I use any other oil besides canola, (such as olive or sunflower or grape seed oil) since I don’t have it on hand?!
Thank you so much.
Hi Nina, I have only tested it with Canola but I think an extra LIGHT olive oil or grapeseed oil would work. Sunflower oil is too flavorful for this cake – I only use that one as a salad oil.
Thank you so much I use the mix of olive oil and sunflower oil (it was light sunflower oil so didn’t have a smell) I tried a little piece of cake and does taste good.
Also have you tried putting rasberries in between layers? And what about frosting/cream that you use in your chocolate spartak cake?
Thanks again.
Hi Nina, Adding raspberries between layers is a great idea! I haven’t tried the spartak frosting for this cake and I’m not sure if it would be the right consistency. I like that this simple whipped cream frosting is really light and airy – it compliments the cake.
I attempted to make this cake again since the first time i made it the cream did not turn out like the picture it was watery.
I followed the recipe to the T and used the same brand of ingredients you used. It came out perfect. Its not very sweet but still yummy. The raspberries on top make it tastier. My husband loved it too!
That’s awesome! I’m so happy to hear that 🙂
I just made this cake. For some reason when i beat the egg whites and the tartar with the sugar mine looked watery it wasn’t like a marange like yours. I still mixed it with the batter and hope it turns out good. Do you happen to know why it turned out watery? I beat it for the same amount of time you put to beat it. I will follow up when the cake is out the oven … I hope it turns out good 🙂
Was your bowl and whisk attachment clean and dry without any oil or water? Sometimes that can ruin the consistency of a meringue. Also, where your egg whites at room temperature?
Yes they were dry. I made the chocalate cake and it seemed fine. Tasted great too!! So i guess it worked out but then i made the cream which did not work out very well. I followed the instructions of 3 cups of heavy whipping cream and to beat it for a minute to make it like your picture but mine just stayed creamy and watery. It wouldnt thicken. Even when i added the powdered sugar and vanilla. Im not sure what im doing wrong. I tryed it twice with two differend brands of heavy whipping cream but for some reason it wouldnt get thick.
Hi Tina, your cream says “heavy” on it correct? It is just a basic whipped cream without anything unusual in it. Are you using an electric mixer on high speed to beat it? If it’s not beating up, you need to continue beating until it is thick, fluffy and spreadable. How long did you beat it on high speed? It’s also important that the heavy whipping cream is very cold, straight out of the refrigerator.
Yes it said heavy on it. I beat it for 5 minutes and it didnt thicken. I still assembled the cake with the cream being watery. My husband and i ate it this morning. It didnt look anything like yours because the cream was not thick but it still tasted great. My husband loved the chocalate layers! Thanks again. I will try to make the cake again to see if i can make it like yours. Thank you again for always responding to comments and making these incredible recipes.
That’s so odd that it didn’t work. Do you live in a high humidity or very warm area? I can’t think of anything else that would cause that.
Hey Natasha, just wondering what cream of tar tar does and if i can substitute it for something else ? thanks!
Jessie, cream of tar tar stabilizes the egg whites. I haven’t tried making the cake without it. If you decide to omit it, please let me know how it goes :).
Hey Natasha, i was wondering what size of spring form pan you used for this cake? Looks delicious!
It was a 9″ pan 🙂
hi Natasha! do we need to refrigerate this cake after it is finished?
Yes if you arent going to be eating it within a couple hours since the frosting is dairy based.
Natasha, I have never ever had a problem cooking or baking from your blog. Thank you.
I’ve read you assembled the cake almost 2 days later, can you please let me know of the details. Should I make коржи and cream ahead, or just коржи I also need it 2 days ahead. How can I store the cake? Also how long it needs to stay together before коржи can soak through with cream? Thank you so much!
I had it completely assembled a couple of days in advance. I made the layers and cream and had the whole cake frosted, then refrigerated it. You probably would want to add the fresh berries to the top just before serving to make sure they are very fresh. If you have a cake carrier, those work great, but if not, use medium wooden skewers to poke around the top and cover with plastic wrap. The layers don’t really soak up the cream since it isn’t a sponge cake; it’s not really a moist cake. You could probably brush each layer with a little sugar water to moisten it up a little if you wanted to. I hope that’s helpful 🙂
Hi! I really enjoy your recipes! 🙂 I really want to make this cake, but I don’t have that large of a springform pan. Can I just decide the batter into three seperate pans?
I think that should work but it probably would bake faster since the cakes are shallower.
Hello! What should be the cooking time if using a 6″ springfoam pan instead? (basically half the volume compared to 9″)? Also, shouldn’t a non nonstick pan be used so that the batter can cling to the sides? Thanks!
Hi Swarnika, I haven’t tested that but I think reducing bake time may be required. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe
Hi Natasha, I made this beautiful cake for my husband’s birthday. Everyone loved it. Simply delicious. Thanks for your recipe and will definitely try out others.
Thanks so much for the great review 🙂
Will I do this cake wrong if I divide the batter into 3 parts instead of baking it all in one deep pan?
I haven’t tried baking it that way, but I think it should work fine. You probably won’t bake it as long since the layers are thinner.
I made this cake the other day, followed the recipe exactly, and oh my wow was it good! Super moist and tasty, it wasn’t overly sweet either. I don’t usually leave comments on recipes, but I can’t stop thinking about how good this recipe is. I’ve made a couple chocolate cakes before, and they’re always terribly dry and bitter. I really want to make your ptichye moloko cake next…
I’m so happy you enjoyed the cake!! Thank you so much for a great review 🙂 Enjoy the ptichye moloko! 😉
This cake looks so spongey and yummy!
Hi Natasha!:) I’m taking out all ingredients for this cake and was wondering if it will work with coconut oil (I’m out of canola at the moment). And btw I absolutely love your site of recipes! 😀
I haven’t tried it with coconut oil. Actually, I don’t have much experience with that oil. I’ve heard really positive things about it, but I haven’t taken the time to research it and see how it converts. I think it would work, but again, I haven’t experimented. Sorry that’s not terribly helpful 🙂
Hi Natasha! Is this cake moist enough? Can I use a coffee/rum syrop?Or it will be too much?
You can moisten it up with a syrup. It is on the dryer side so yes I think that would work well, but don’t overdue it because this cake isn’t as spongy as a biskvit.
Hi just wanted to know with the cream could i use it as a cake filling the ganche and cover with fondant its for my daughter 13 birthday in 4wks i tryed chocolate more and buttercream she hate cheese so i thought of these or could you help me with same other cake filling ty so much
Have you tried making a “birds milk” filling for a cake? https://natashaskitchen.com/2011/12/09/ptichye-moloko-cake-recipe-birds-milk-cake/
I’m making this cake for my mom’s birthday today! Hoping it will come out as perfect as yours!! I’ll post a picture on my Instagram once its finished!
I can’t wait to see it :).
I just made this cake for my son’s Birthday and I added more powdered sugar to the frosting then in the recipe because it didn’t seem sweet enough. And I still had people tell me that its not overly sweet, which is good actually. And you’d think for all that sugar that goes into the cake it should be like honey. It was just perfect.
Thanks Alla 🙂 I’m so happy you enjoyed it. I love cakes that aren’t overly sweet. I’m so happy you and your guests enjoyed it 🙂
Hi Natasha! Thank you for tha amaising recipe, the cake is delicious. I want to make this cake for my daughters birthday party and wondering if it will turn out as well if I double the recipe, and how should I adjust the oven temp and the baking time. Your advice would be greatly appreciated. 🙂
Hmm…. are you planning to make 2 cakes or will it be a super tall/wide cake? What kind of pans will you be using?
Hey Natasha! I noticed the recipe calles for “cake flour” do you think it will be okay if I used regular flour???
Anna, I haven’t tested the recipe with regular flour so can’t really tell you the outcome. You can easily make your own cake flour, just look for making cake flour at home on Google.
For every 1 cup of all purpose flour remove 2 tbsp of flour. Now add 2 tbsp of cornstarch (replacing the tablespoons of flour taken out). Sift 5-6 times and its ready to use cake flour. =)
Sounds easy enough!!! Thank you Veranika 🙂
Oh my! Once again, you have hit the jackpot! This looks amazing and absolutely perfecto! I can’t wait to make this. Girl, you need to put your own recipe book together! (:
Thank you Zhanna, I would love to hear how it turns out :).
hyy natasha..
abslty love diz recipe.. baking it rite now.. just want to ask ,once the cake is ready , and we decorate it with the cream and raspberries, should we keep it in da fridge covered or uncovered.. ?
thanks. :):)
Cover and keep it in the fridge 🙂
How many hours prior to serving can i assemble the cake?
You can even assemble it the day.
Can I use olive oil instead of canola? Any difference will it make?
I havent tried making it with olive oil so I’m not sure exactly how it would change the recipe. If you do use olive oil, use an extra light one (not extra virgin) so you don’t change the taste of the cake. You can’t really taste the olive-ness in extra light olive oil.
HI Natalichka, the only time a creme chantilly frosting is buttery is if you do overbeat it and it’s very easy to do and can take just seconds. Was it smooth or was it lumpy/grainy? I’m not sure why the cake wouldn’t work out unless our ovens work differently. It sounds like it just needed a little more time in the oven.
I made this cake, cz it looked very delicious on your picture, I followed all your steps. But…. It did not turn out delicious, it tastes like a regular store bought one sheet cake, that they sell in abundance as birthday cakes 🙂 , in addition the buttom of the cake did not bake well, it was still wet, and it was on 325 for 55 minutes on the third rack from the bottom, exactly like it says in the recepie 🙁 . Plus I am sorry to say, but the cream was too buttery and I did not over bit it.
It sounds like our ovens work a little differently and your cake probably needed another 5 min of baking. As far as the creme chantilly frosting; the only time it’s really buttery is if you overbeat it and it is VERY easy to do and can take just seconds (speaking from experience ;)). Also, what kind of olive oil did you end up using?
May be. 🙂 canola or and saoybean oil it says 🙂
Hi Natasha!
This looks YUMMY.
Do you think all the mixing could be done by hand with a wisk? Unfortunately my electric mixer broke and I would really like to make this cake (I am definitely a chocolate lover). =] So you think it’ll be okay?
My arm might be strong enough from carrying our baby around! =]
I don’t think it would be possible to get a glossy stiff egg white mixture by hand.. Sorry 🙁
oh man. okay it’s okay. thanks for the response =]
Just came home with the ingredients to make this delicious looking cake! Bout to start making it with a friend of mine 😀
Great, let me know how it turns out :).
Beautiful summer cake and look at all those berries! You arranged them so neatly on the top – gorgeous!
I tried. It definitely added some pizazz to the cake. I like a little pizazz in my life 😉
This looks delicious and makes my mouth water to look at it 🙂
cheers,violeta
Thank you Violeta, you might just have to make it to stop that mouth from watering :D.
I already love chocolate, but with the addition of raspberries on top? Yum! Genius!
Thank you :).
Yay for a new cake recipe:) it’s in the oven as I’m writing this:)
Ha! That’s awesome! I hope you LOVED every crumb 🙂 If you have Instagram or facebook, please tag me as I’d love to see it!
The cake looks so delicious! I can’t wait to try it. So, do you have one left over egg yolk at the end since you are using 6 yolks and 7 whites?
Yes I realize this is ridiculous but I followed the recipe to a “t”. 🙂 I’ll have to test it with that extra yolk and see what happens!
Hi Natasha,
The cake looks yummy. Raspberries, whipped cream, and chocolate cake sounds like an amazing combination. Do you have a trick for stabilizing whipped cream with clear gelatin? I have done it before but it doesn’t always turn out quite right.
I think the method I shared above works really well and the cream holds up beautifully. I haven’t really tested gelatin because I haven’t had any issues with this frosting.
Looks lovely. Reminds me of a chocolate cake recipe I salvaged from a bakery I used to work at. Something about buttermilk and whipped egg whites makes–absolutely–the best chocolate cake, as you said, ever.
Was it a chocolate chiffon? That’s awesome that you were able to get a recipe from a bakery. I bet it’s amazing!
So curious now! I’ve not consciously dabbled with chiffon, but the texture looks similar. The main differences are that the bakery’s recipe used unsweetened bar chocolate and butter in place of the oil. There might have been a higher butter content. Now I need to make both again!
Hey Natasha, just wanted to clear something up…doesn’t 1 pint=2 cups not 3?
Oh it’s 3 cups. I will fix that. Thanks!!
We’re can I buy cream of tartar?and can I do without it?cant wait to make it.looks so good
I bought it at winco. It should be at most grocery stores in the spice section. It helps the white to stay firmer. I haven’t tried the recipe without it so I can’t really recommend not using it, but I assume it would still work. You might have to beat your whites a little longer.
Beautiful cake! I’m sure it tastes amazing! Thanks for another great recipe!
You’re very welcome 🙂 I hope you love it!!
very beautiful creation!
Thanks Elen 🙂