Simple Moist Chocolate Cake – Simple, Quick and Easy
A versatile chocolate cake recipe is a must-have on hand recipe. This simple, easy and effortless recipe makes an irresistible simple moist chocolate cake. All you need are two bowls and a whisk. The light and airy texture of this cake mean you it can be served with whipped cream for a light dessert or with chocolate frosting for a more indulgent affair.
I love spending time baking so all my cakes are perfectly moist and incredible. And yet, sometimes, I love those quickies. Just throw something together and voila! you have a cake. Well, not literally like that but you know…… I think you get the idea.
This is a delicious chocolate cake. Very soft, moist and dark in color. I honestly didn’t know what to call it. Since it’s very easy to make and yet so moist I thought why not just call it Simple yet Moist Chocolate Cake.
It’s simple! I love baking from scratch and in an attempt to encourage everyone to bake from scratch I have come up with a few recipes that are easier then you can ever imagine. Most of these use one bowl or in this case; this cake use two bowls but with the same concept. Simple, easy, quick and effortlessly baking a cake from scratch. And I’m happy you all are enjoying these recipes. Free free to let me know in the comments below. I love the feedback.
About this moist chocolate cake (Save/Pin )
As I said above this is a very versatile cake. Here are a few suggestions on how to customize this cake to your own needs.
- If you need a cake to decorate with fresh cream? this is it.
- Like a chocolate cake with strawberries – this is perfect again. Layer whipped cream and strawberries for a light summer dessert of strawberry chocolate cake.
- Need a cake to make Black Forest Cake – This works great.
- Make a chocoholics chocolate cake and use chocolate ganache instead of whipped cream and it turns into a decadent chocolate cake.
- Here I’ve used my velvet American Buttercream to make a quick last-minute birthday cake.
Note – Please do not use this one to carve or for a novelty cake. It’s a nightmare! Way too soft and falls apart. So while it’s perfect for your dessert type cakes not so perfect for those carving adventures.
As I said above, this cake is delicious with Buttercream. You can even cover it with fondant for a single tier cake. It’s quite a delicate cake so I wouldn’t use it in tier cakes unless it is the top tier.
Useful Tips and Tools
- A simple Bowl, whisk and Spatula is all you need for this recipe
- Personally, I believe in weighing ingredients by weight, which makes my kitchen scaleone of the most valuable items when baking.
- The same goes for mymeasuring cups and measuring spoons. It’s always a good idea to have these handy and use them when baking rather than trying to guess measurements.
- Personally, I like to bake three layers rather than torte my cakes and it bakes faster too. For most of my layer cake recipes on this blog I use 3 x 6-inch round pans or 2 x 8-inch round pans.
- Once baked always invert your cakes on a cooling rack. This encourages air circulation and prevents the steam from pooling at the bottom of the pan.
- Every oven works differently. So the baking times are just guidelines. In the case of cakes, a skewer inserted in the center is a great indication. If the cake bakes too quick or too slow compared to the time given it might be a good idea to check if your oven needs calibration. An oven thermometer is a great little gadget to help keep the oven temperature in check. All you need to do then is adjust the temperature accordingly
Let’s talk ingredients and substitutes (Save/Pin)
- All-purpose flour – yes, regular plain flour (maida) is all you need for this cake. Do not use any self-raising as those contain more leavening.
- Butter – I prefer to use unsalted butter so I can control the quantity of sugar in my recipe but if salted butter is all you gave go ahead and use it. Just omit salt in the recipe.
- Sugar – I prefer to use white sugar so it won’t alter the color of my cupcakes but feel free to use the same amount of light brown sugar. I would not recommend dark brown sugar.
- Yogurt – gives the cake a soft crumb. If you don’t have yogurt you can use sour cream or buttermilk.
- Eggs – Always use large size eggs when baking unless specified. The size of eggs varies significantly these days so as a guide on large eggs weighs between 50 to 60 grams
- Vanilla – A good quality vanilla will make a huge difference in anything you make. Premium vanilla can be expensive which is why I make my own homemade vanilla extract, bean paste or sugar.
How to Make a Simple Moist Chocolate Cake (Save/Pin)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160 C / 320 F.
- Prepare two 8″ round pans for baking – grease and line them.
For the wet ingredients
- Start with the hot water and coffee, then add in the yogurt, milk, eggs, oil, and vanilla.
- Use a whisk to make sure the eggs are well incorporated.
For the dry ingredients
- Use a bowl large enough for the final batter.
- Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix them well together with a whisk.
Combine wet and dry
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.
- Use a whisk to combine the two slowly so you have a smooth, not lumpy batter.
- This is a very pouring cake batter.
- Pour the batter into your baking pans.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 160 C / 320 F for about 25 to 30 mins.
Prepare Frosting
- Prepare buttercream or ganache frosting as directed in the links above.
- Tort the cake into two or four layers as desired.
- Layer with frosting, smooth using a spatula or bench scraper.
- Pipe any remaining frosting as desired.
Storage
- The cake will stay fresh for up to four days at cool room temperature, longer if kept in the fridge.
- It can be frozen for a month or more.
Frequently asked questions
If properly stored, this simple moist chocolate cake will last for 2 to 3 days at room temperature. It can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 or 6 days.
Yes. Freeze it on a tray for a few hours then wrap well in cling/plastic wrap, followed by a parchment paper and then aluminum foil. Thaw wrapped in the fridge for 24 hours so the condensation will stay on the papers, not the cake.
No, but you can use my Eggless Chocolate Cake and bake it in two 8 inch cake pans
Yes, you can but brown sugar is more coarse so it won’t dissolve properly in the batter with the minimum mixing. I highly recommend my tried and test moist chocolate fudge cake or Devil’s food chocolate cake. Both of these cakes use brown sugar and butter.
I have not tried this recipe with either almond or coconut flour, but I do have a gluten-free chocolate cake recipe that is very popular.
If you don’t want to make a layer cake like this,
You can make this into a sheet cake – a ‘Moist Chocolate Sheet Cake’.
You can also pour the batter into a well-greased and dusted bundt pan for a ‘Simple Moist Chocolate Bundt Cake’.
This recipe can also be baked into 24 beautiful simple moist chocolate cupcakes
What other frostings can I use for this simple moist chocolate cake?
There are so many other choices for frosting. Such as:
Swiss or Italian Meringue Buttercream
French or German Buttercream Frosting
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
I have over 30 plus frosting recipes on this blog. And I highly recommend checking them out.
Don’t forget to save this recipe on Pinterest for later.
You can find a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest.
Simple Moist Chocolate Cake Recipe
Print Pin RateDescription
Equipment /Tools
- 8" Round baking pan
- Kitchen Scale
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 300 grams Sugar
- 220 grams All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1/2 tsp Baking powder
- 85 grams Cocoa powder
- 1 pinch Salt
Wet Ingredients
- 158 ml Vegetable oil
- 180 ml Boiling water
- 2 tsp Instant coffee
- 180 ml Milk
- 60 ml Yogurt
- 2 Eggs large
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
Frosting of your Choice
- 4 cups Velvet American Buttercream recipe here
Conversions – Switch between Metric & US for other measurement options
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160 C / 320 F.
- Prepare two 8 inches round pans for baking – grease and line them.
For the wet ingredients
- Start with the hot water and coffee, then add in the yogurt, milk, eggs, oil, and vanilla.
- Use a whisk to make sure the eggs are well incorporated.
For the dry ingredients
- Use a bowl large enough for the final batter.
- Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix them well together with a whisk.
Combine wet and dry
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.
- Use a whisk to combine the two slowly so you have a smooth, no lumpy batter.
- This is a very pouring cake batter.
- Pour the batter into your baking pans.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 160 C / 320 F for about 25 to 30 mins.
Prepare Frosting
- Prepare buttercream frosting as directed in the links above.
- Tort each cake into two horizontally
- Layer with frosting in between layers and around the cake.
- Smooth using a spatula or bench scraper.
- Pipe any remaining frosting as desired.
Recipe Notes
Featured video below
One bowl Vanilla CakeRecipe Video
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Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
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Sofia
can I use this chocolate cake recipe for my fondant cake?
Veena Azmanov
Yes, you can. If you use it in tiered cakes make sure to dowel the cake properly
Javeria
Hi Veena, the recipe was just superb and one of the best recipe I found after trying out many chocolate cake.
I make this very often and I fact it’s the only Chocolate cake my whole family loves.
Just one thing to mention, I add just 1tsp of baking soda, as 2 tsp makes the cake taste soapy.
Why do you think that happens?
Just to mention, i do use measuring spoon for it.
Veena Azmanov
Sorry for the late reply Javeria. Not sure why. Next time try, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp baking powder.
Angela Zeppetelli-Ali
Hi Veena
i hope all is well with you and your family.
Thank you for another fantastic recipe.
I bought quite a few of your recipes but haven’t tried them all.
The one i tried this week was THE SIMPLE MOIST CHOCOLATE CAKE.
Just to say a big thank you, i know when i bake your recipies it will be a winner!
I used 2 batches yielding 5.5 inch cake in an 8 inch round pan.
I also used self raising flour with 1 tsp of baking flour to each batch successfully.
Thank you again ☺
Veena Azmanov
Thank you so much, Angela. For you positive feedback as well as for your kind support. So happy you are enjoying all my recipes both here on the blog as well as on the online shop. Thank you so much for coming back to write this feedback. Positive feedback like this is so motivating and makes me happy. Thank you.
Sravya
Hi Veena mam! What is the pan size used for the given recipe?? I want to bake this in convection oven so can I keep the remaining batter aside and bake it after the first one got baked??!!! Thank you for sharing such easy recipes ?
Veena Azmanov
Yes Sravya – This cake can be baked in two or one tall eight inch baking pan. You can keep the second batch until the first one is baking
Akila
Hi Veena,
I always use this Chocolate cake recipe for my cakes and it is a huge hit every single time. Thank you so much. But I would like to add variations to it – like , strawberry flavour / orange flavour. Could you kindly let me know what are the quantity of additional ingredients to be added to this recipe please? I know that there is one with variations in your website. But I would like to stick on to this. Please advise me.
Veena Azmanov
Thank you Akila.. Happy to hear that you like using this recipe. The variation as you can see are made using the other recipe. That is tried and tested. I have not tried / tested the variations on this one so can’t tell you more. You are welcome to make your own variations and let us know of the outcome.Thanks
Vandana
Hi veena mam
My fondant flowers and articles get very sticky what should i add so that it get hard
Veena Azmanov
Sounds like you are in a high humid area. Are you using gumpaste? It’s best to use gumpaste and may be a little extra cmc.
Sonal khandelwal
Mam plz share eggless reciepe of this cake
faiza magram
Hi veena
I give this cake 5 stars i did it as a blackforest it came out very yummy for me i ve found the best blackforest cake
Veena Azmanov
Thank you so much Faiza! So happy to hear that you are enjoying my recipes.
michele
i have just put this in the oven,i reckon this is going to be a beautiful cake.veenas cake is so very moist and ruich looking.peeps if you make this cake but add or remove and substitute items please do not expect the cake to be the exact same as veenas ok.she has put up the method and all that goes into it and some others just like to say can i replace with this n that?come on guys ,if you do other stuff to it then you are not following the recipie properly,dont expect it to be the same and then winge its no good.respect veena xxox
Veena Azmanov
Thank you Michele <3 Appreciate the support
Shabana Hafiz
Hi veena i love ur recipies
Veena Azmanov
Thank you !
Ariane
Hi Veena I tried your recipe, but the cake didn’t risen well, could it be because I only use a hand-mixer? It’s delicious thought but it’s like a big brownie.
Veena Azmanov
NO a hand mixer is fine!! I sometimes do not use a mixer at all. It’s a cake I call fuss free because it’s so easy and require not much effort.
Caroline
Hi you mention in the section ‘Lets talk about ingredients’ using sour cream or possibly a buttermilk but neither of these is listed in your ingredients. Would sour cream replace milk or yoghurt or both? Many thanks. Asking as I have sour cream not yoghurt.
Veena Azmanov
Hey Caroline. I wassuppose to write it the other way round. So, yes, you can use sour cream or buttermilk if you don’t have yogurt.
ancie
Mam ur site a simply super , a true guideline .. Actually Im not not able to get A mirror glaze with chocolate ganache …Tips plz l
Veena Azmanov
I think you are looking for this <3 http://www.ahomemadechef.net/chocolate-ganache-chocolate-cake/
Elena Pogrevnoi
Hi Veena! Thank you for posting all these useful informations. Can I please have the ingredients for the moist chocolate cake for many tiers? Cause I can’t find the pdf you are referring to above!
Thank you in advance!
Veena Azmanov
I have some calculate recipes in my online shop. Please check those on my Facebook page.
Santhi Ramesh Iyer
Veena excellent
Monika Rathod
Hey veena mam.. Which ingredient make cake spongy n soft?? N i would also love 2 know which ingredient v can add instead of egg to get goid result plzz rpl me.. As soon as possible….
Nadira Totaram
Hi Veena you are the best love all your recipies
ana
Hi!
I Want to do this recipie but i want to know if i have to use unsweet Cocoa or semi sweet Cocoa?
Another question, is this cake firm enough to decorate with fondant?
I want to thank you, because ive learned so much from you!
Greetings from Guatemala!
Veena Azmanov
I used unsweetened cocoa for baking cakes. And yes I have covered this cake in fondant
mru
Hi Veena,
This cake is called chocolate mud cake if m not wrong…correct me please…I want to try dis one..but it does not have baking powder..have u forgot to put dat or it just doesn’t have? Also when u say use a whisk..is it a hand whisk which comes with springs in the tool or we have to whisk in d mixer..please reply about my white fondant also..it is very sweet and I had not put meringue powder.. Used butter in place of shortening and halved the measurements.. It is easy to play with but tastewise sweet :(..I mean very very sweet..and also the glycerin which I got here is different from yours..it has a consistency lil denser den aloe Vera gel..but it’s not liquid as urs..u r a great artist as well… Went through lots of pages yest..
Thanks from India,
Mru..
Veena Azmanov
Hi Mru.
This is not a chocolate mud cake – much lighter. Please follow the recipe exactly as it says.
No I have not forgotten the baking powder. You can use a mixer or a hand whisk.
I did reply to your fondant question please check the reply to your previous comment.
As long as your glycerin is edible it’s ok – you do get non edible glycerine as well.
Thanks
Praba
Hi Veena, I would like to bake a single tall cake like yours (in my 28 LITRES OTG) instead of two cakes. Bit worried if the center will be cooked properly. Pls help.
Abbie Kamau
Hi Veena, is it ok to use self raising flour instead of all purpose flour. And would I need to use baking powder if still using self raising flour?
Anndze Tan
I tried but my cake came out dry. No one likes it. 🙁 Where have I gone wrong?
Sarah McDonald
Simply the best chocolate cake I have ever made! Thank you so much for sharing. Everybody should try this
Sapna Gupta
Any substitute for egg
Enza
Looks delicious. .have you ever made cupcakes with this recipe? ? Thanks
Harini
Hai veena,
Tried this . Successfully done. Finished wid choklate ganache and fresh cherries. Becos I’m following good experienced teacher know? Thank u mam I send u picture in fb
Veena Azmanov
Thank you so much !