Surprise! It’s chocolate cake day here at Honest & Tasty! That means it’s extra YURRRM day.
From time to time, I’ll get a strong craving for a really good piece of chocolate cake. And I’ll get really desperate and find myself scouring the web for “the best chocolate cake in Chicago,” stomach growling and all. And I know I’m not alone when I do this. We all do this…
Well I can easily search for about hour or so when I get like that and you know what comes up, right at the top of my search, every time (because yes, I do this every time, hoping to Google there will be something new)? Portillo’s mayonnaise chocolate cake. Ugh.
Mayo? Is that really the best you’ve got, Chi-town? Mayo cake from Portillo’s? Whatever, although I’m fully aware that mayo is essentially a mixture of eggs and oil and cake recipes call for eggs and oil, it’s a big ol’ “na-uh” from me. So guys, no need to worry. I promise, I’m NOT giving you a mayo cake recipe.
I’m just a bit bewildered because there really should be a better quality chocolate cake that also tastes awesome in a big city like Chicago, right? Right? One would hope. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere—and no offense to any Portillo’s mayo cake lovers—but after a bunch of failed attempts at trying to find the perfect chocolate cake, I set out to satisfy my craving from within the walls of my own little kitchen here in Chicago and after some research and testing, I got it!
I.
got.
it.
It’s been gotten!!
Cue the symphony because this cake is the bee’s knees, and all that sweet nectar that’s stuck to those cute little knees too.
Imagine the best slice of chocolate cake, right now in your head. Is it rich and fluffy at the same time? Is it super soft and super moist? Fudgy, chocolate-y, yummy, extraordinary? Mhmm. I’m telling you guys, this is honestly… honestly that cake. For years I have been eating the wrong chocolate cakes that never really satisfied my chocolate cake cravings. Outrageous and shameful!
But you know what? I am just fine with that because now I get to eat the best chocolate cake ever, whenever I please. Yes, truly, the very best.
The frosting on this cake—it’s the good kind. Not that stiff, poor quality type of “buttercream.” You know what I’m talking about. When you touch it, the frosting doesn’t push or stick, it just crumbles and breaks. Or it simply doesn’t taste like the sweet, heavenly love of chocolate. Yeah, this frosting ain’t that. It’s the good kind. The real good kind.
And what I love is that frosting aside, the cake itself is just really delicious and this means you don’t get a chocolate cake that tastes OK because there’s some good frosting to mask the whatever cake part that’s underneath. But you actually get the perfect chocolate cake matched with the most perfect chocolate frosting. How many times have I used “perfect” to describe this cake? Who really cares when a cake deserves it though, right?
Oh! And it’s a cinch to make. Because if you can make something simple, why wouldn’t you? Life and all its goodness should be simple. And if it’s amazingly yummy to boot, then let’s just call it a day. A chocolate cake day!
Soft and Fudgy Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 full teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder aluminum-free
- ½ cup olive oil + extra for greasing pans
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup water
For the Frosting:
- 1 ¾ stick butter just barely melted
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup whole milk if you want it even softer, add up to 2/3 cup in total
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 5 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350º F (176ºC).
- Thoroughly grease two 9-inch round cake pans with olive oil. Optional: You could also lightly dust pans with some cocoa powder and flour after greasing them to doubly ensure the cake won't stick at all (a mixture of about 1 tbsp each, and don't forget to get rid of the excess by tapping out the pan).
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients from the medium bowl, combine and mix on low speed. Don’t overmix.
- Add water and mix again to combine it all together. Don’t overmix. Don’t worry, the batter will be thin.
- Pour the batter into the pans and bake for 25 min or just until a toothpick/fork poked into the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing cakes from the pans.
For the Frosting:
- In a medium bowl, stir together softened/melted butter and cocoa.
- Add milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Using an electric mixer, beat well to combine.
This is just calling my name! I can tell by the photos how wonderful the texture is. I am pinning for later!
Thanks so much, Andrea! And you’re eyes aren’t lying to ya! This cake isn’t kidding. Enjoy it! 🙂
This might be the sexiest chocolate cake I’ve ever seen! YUM! That frosting / layer shot is gorgeous.
Thank you so much, Ahu! I would have to agree! This cake is a beaut, inside and out! 😉
I have to say though, even if it was a fugly cake, it sure makes up for it in flavor and texture.
But I’m happy it’s pretty too 🙂
xoxo
lol @ fugly! glad your cake is neither fugly nor not delicious (sorry for the double negative!)
A better chocolate cake than Portillo’s in Chicago comes from my kitchen 🙂 I’m also anti- the-mayo-chocolate cake. This looks amazing, and proof that most good things in life are made at home and not store bought!
Thanks Chrissy! For sure, the best food is home cooked. Always.
This looks so moist and chocolaty!! Perfect!
Thanks Ami!! 🙂
looks like a perfect chocolate cake!
Thanks Dina! It seriously was, if I don’t say so myself! 🙂
Your photography is spectacular! Can’t wait to try this one! 🙂
Thanks Becky! You’re the sweetest! <3 <3
Cant. Wait. To. Try. This! what divinely delicious beauty. Thanks 🙂
Why thank you, Farah 🙂
It is such a perfect chocolate cake, I have to be honest!
did you use hot water or just plain room temp water?
It has the same result for this cake. Don’t you just love fool-proof baking recipes? 😉
Did you change the quantity of powdered sugar in the frosting? On the Tasty Kitchen site it says to use 3 3/4 cups and on your site you have 5 cups. I’d love to make this for my father (who adores frosting and chocolate), but I’m unsure which recipe to follow. Would love your advice.
Hi Darlene, thanks for bringing this to my attention. I originally had 3 3/4 cups written down but I realized I had the conversion off and fixed it on my site. I’ll go into TastyKitchen and change that too. Thanks for mentioning that. At any rate, it is a pound of powdered sugar which comes out to 4 3/4 – 5 cups. So yes, go ahead with the 5 cups 🙂
Let me know how it went and if your father enjoyed it! Best of luck to ya!
My birthday is tomorrow and my hubby and I are making this cake tonight! 😀 I can’t wait!
Happy Birthday, Stephanie!! I’m delighted you chose this cake. You’ll love it! It’s a perfect bday cake 🙂
Have fun baking it with your husband and have a wonderful birthday!
How did it turned out?
I made this cake a few days ago, and it was amazing!! Still going through the leftovers too, haha. It was the first time I’ve ever baked a cake from scratch, and it turned out so, so, SO good. I’m at home for the holidays and my parents were thoroughly impressed 🙂 Thanks for all the simple and delicious recipes, I can’t wait to try some of the Persian dishes!!
That’s awesome, Chiemi!! I’m SO happy to hear about it! Love that you tried it out (especially since you’d never baked a cake from scratch before—props to ya!)! Glad you enjoyed it and I hope you do try some other stuff out while you’re here! xoxo
This looks so rich and divine!
Thanks so much! 😀 It’s the most addicting dessert I’ve ever tasted. 😉
What kind of powdered cocoa did you use? I want to stop by the grocery on my way home and get the stuff I need for this beaut!
Hi Sarah! Any ol’ unsweetened baking cocoa powder will do. 🙂 I’ve used various brands for this cake and they all work fine, just some are a tad more intense than others but it’s barely noticeable. Have fun baking and eating this precious lovely thing!
Hi Bita. Could I use milk for the cake instead of buttermilk? What is the difference? It is hard to get buttermilk where I live. Thanks a lot. 😀 I still dream about your fudgy brownies. They were TOP. 😀 😀
Hi Pam! I love hearing that about the brownies! So the buttermilk helps make the cake really fluffy when the acid in the dairy reacts with the baking soda. So if you want to substitute something else for buttermilk, you could take 3/4 cup of plain yogurt (or even sour cream) and mix it with 1/4 cup of milk or water. You want the consistency to be like buttermilk, which is like a very thick milk. You could also substitute 1 cup of kefir for the 1 cup of buttermilk. Good luck and let me know how it goes! 🙂
This looks delicious!! Any suggestions on baking it in a rectangular, 9×13 cake pan rather than a round pan? My sons 3rd birthday is tomorrow and he’s requested a specific “truck cake” that is rectangular! Thanks for any advice!!
Ahhhh! I’m late! I’m late! Beth, 1,000 apologies. I had a full (and extremely chaotic) travel day when you wrote so I couldn’t get back in time. I feel terrible :(. For what it’s worth, I’d just pour the batter into the rectangular cake pan and check for doneness with a toothpick. Though, it’d take longer of course. Happy belated birthday to your wonderful son and I hope he got his cake and wish!
perfect! classic american chocolate cake!
Why thank you! And I have to not so humbly agree! 😉
i made this cake. the cake was amazing……..!!! thank you soo much for the lovely recipe!! but one thing i want to clarify,is it okay if i beat the mixer for about 15 mins? does it mean that the mixer is overbeat?
and could you tell me how to melt the sugar? 🙂
The batter shouldn’t be overmixed. It’ll toughen your cake, which is never very nice 😉
Also, there’s no melting of the sugar in the recipe. You do want melted/softened butter for the frosting but you can do that by leaving it out at room temp for an hour or two beforehand, or just zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds. 🙂
So happy you loved the cake, Lila!! 🙂 xoxo
Hi there. It takes time to melt the sugar in the cake batter right?
In the recipe you say “In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder” so should we just combine the dry ingredients or mix them by using the mixer?? Because, when I add the dry ingredients to the large bowl it takes to melt the sugar so I have to beat it at high speed to melt the sugar.. I’m sorry for asking too many questions from you..this was my first cake..☺️
Hi Lila, don’t even be sorry for asking questions. I’m here to answer all of them! Baking a cake from scratch for the first time can be tricky! I’m so happy you’re doing it though! *thumbs way up* 🙂
So when you combine the dry ingredients, don’t use the electric mixer because everything will go flying right out of your bowl since there’s no wet ingredient to bind the ingredients together yet. You want to whisk the dry ingredients by hand. If you don’t have a whisk, use a spoon or a fork. Just combine the dry ingredients for a few seconds to disperse all the smaller dry ingredients into the flower and cocoa powder. Then take a larger bowl and use an electric mixer to combine the wet ingredients together until they’re fully incorporated (a couple of minutes). Then take the dry ingredients and add them to the big bowl of wet ingredients. Use the electric mixer on low speed (so that the dry ingredients don’t go flying out of the bowl) and mix everything together until just incorporated. It will only take about 30 seconds to a minute or so to combine the wet and dry ingredients. Once the dry ingredients disappear into the wet ingredients, you’ve made your batter and you’re done. Don’t over-beat it because you will end up with a tougher cake. Don’t worry about anything else. There’s no point in this recipe where you’d have to melt any sugar. I hope this helps! Good luck, Lila!
Oh now I got the point.. Im going to make this wonderful cake again.. Thank you so much for your help.. I really appreciate it…you are soo awesome..? Thanks again I will do it according to your instrcutions..xoxoxo
It’s a perfect chocolate cake!!!! Looking great until I did the frosting, by ‘melted’ do you mean to soften the butter or completely melt? Mine seems too runny because I accidentally added too much liquid.
Hi Nicole! Sorry it ended up runny. In my experience, if I add too much liquid to the frosting ingredients, it will end up runny. If you used measuring cups to add the ingredients, then the frosting should not end up runny. But if you did all that and it still ended up runny, then I’d suggest 2 things to you: cutting down on the milk just a tad or using softened butter. When I melt butter for frostings, I always make sure not to let the butter boil. Just when the butter looks like it’s melted, take it out of the microwave. I hope this helps! Thanks for asking your question, Nicole! 🙂
Hi! I’ve been searching (and trying) different chocolate cake recipes and have yet to find “the one.”
Have you ever made these as cupcakes or in a mini loaf tin? If so, did you change the temperature and how long did you bake? The boys in my house prefer smaller handheld desserts 🙂
Hi Tiffany! I can’t say that I’ve made this cake into cupcakes before but I really see no reason why it wouldn’t turn out well. I’d just advise you to check for doneness much earlier (i.e. half the regular time).
Good luck and if you try it, report back! 🙂
Hi Bita,thanks for this good recipt of chocolate cake .my daughter loves choclate cakes and I usually search for best recipts.I cant wait for baking of it till tomarrow.I am proud of you as an iranian woman.
Thank you, Mercede! You’re so kind to say that. I am proud of you too, being so supportive of your fellow Iranian women. That’s lovely. 🙂
I hope you and your daughter love my recipe! It’s very soft and chocolatey! <3
Hi, this looks great! I don’t have an electric mixer though, anyway to make this recipe without one?
You could try to just mix manually, by hand, but you might get tired fast 😉 Also, I’m not sure if the texture will be exactly the same but in all honesty, I’m sure you’ll be fine. My electric mixer was like 20 bucks from Target I think. I haven’t found a need to spend hundreds on a big kitchen aid stand-up mixer, yet! Good luck, Chava! You’ll love this recipe!
Fantastic. Honestly the best chocolate cake ever. Hubby is my toughest critic and he agreed and still after 4 days it is still soft amd moist!!!
Thanks, Debbie! Yes!! I love that! Totally agree 😉
Thank you thank you THANK YOU!!! I’m usually horrid at making cakes and they come out really weird, so they’ve never come out as the types I would eat without being forced to, much less want to buy from a bakery….. Until now. When I first bit into it, it was so good I ended up shouting “YES!!!” The cake is super moist and fluffy yet dense at the same time and actually has a chocolate flavor instead of some bland one. It’s just like how you described, and I can’t thank you enough for this! THANK YOU!!!
You just made me want to bake the cake again! Thank you for your lovely comment! I am so happy you loved it so much! I was sick of the same ol’ bland, dry chocolate cake that always missed the mark, so I knew I’d have to make it myself if I wanted it to be exactly like the chocolate cake of my dreams! So I’m thrilled you loved it too! It’s definitely a winner for us! <3
If you do, then SEND ME SOME!!! There’s no such thing as too much cake. Good job on making our dream cake! YAY US *high fives you*
P.S – My family tried it, and THEY ACTUALLY WANTED SECONDS
THIS IS THE GREATEST ACOMPLISHMENT OF MY LIFE *sob sob*
I actually made this yesterday. Pics posted on twitter @BelleTraveler It really is quite good. I used a dark cocoa powder.
Looks great! Now I need a slice of my own!
Looks great am about to make my own but don’t have the oven
No oven? That might be a problem. Perhaps a neighbor’s? Good luck, Carmela! xx
How much is one cup?
Honestly the best cake I’ve ever made! This is the best recipe, couldn’t recommend it enough; really simple too.