By far the best chocolate cake recipe ever! This double layer chocolate cake is moist, decadent and very rich – definitely one for all the chocolate lovers out there. Originally published in Gourmet, a US food magazine, this cake recipe is now one of the most popular recipes on many a baking website.
Double Layer, Rich Chocolate Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
Ingredients
Scale
Chocolate Cake
- 80g fine-quality dark chocolate (I used 65% Lindt), finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
- 3 cups sugar
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
- 1 tsp teaspoon vanilla
Chocolate Icing
- 350g icing sugar
- 4 tablespoons cocoa
- 3 tablespoon boiling water
- 375g baking margarine
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 150°C and grease pans. Line the bottoms with rounds of wax paper.
- In a bowl, add the chocolate and then pour the hot coffee over. Allow the mixture to stand and then stir until all the chocolate has melted.
- In a large bowl sift the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.
- In another large bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer for approx 3 minutes.
- Add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to the eggs and beat until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients mixture and beat on medium speed until well combined.
- Divide the batter between two pans and bake in the middle of the oven for approximately 1 hour 30 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Once cool, invert layers onto racks and remove the wax paper.
Chocolate Icing
- Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl
- Cut margarine into small blocks – soften slightly in the microwave if necessary and then add to the icing sugar and cocoa
- Add the boiling water
- Beat with an electric mixer until the icing is smooth.
Notes
Special Equipment – two 25cm by 5cm deep round cake pans. If you have smaller pans, then you’ll need to reduce the amount of batter added to the pans.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 90 minutes
