Best Chocolate Cake

There’s so much to love about our best chocolate cake. Made using only one bowl, it’s a fuss-free recipe that comes together quickly and easily. A combination of buttermilk, baking powder, and baking soda ensures it’s incredibly light and tender, while a hefty amount of cocoa powder brings an intense chocolatey richness. Divide the batter between two round pans for a dramatic, towering layer cake or make a sheet cake fit for feeding a crowd. This recipe can also make 30 cupcakes, just right for a party. Top the cake with our Easy Chocolate Frosting for the ultimate in chocolate desserts.

Top Tips for Our Best Chocolate Cake

Sift the dry ingredients: Sifting helps break up any clumps and aerates the dry ingredients, making the cake extra light and tender. Skipping this step can leave you with a lumpy batter, and it only adds a minute or so of extra work.

Add wet ingredients one at a time: Because this batter is built using a single bowl, it's essential to mix in the wet ingredients one by one, beating well after each addition. This will help them incorporate more easily, reducing the risk of over-mixing.

Handle cakes gently: Be as gentle as possible when rotating the cakes, removing them from the oven, and tipping them out of the pans after cooling. This batter makes for a supremely tender cake which eats beautifully, but the cakes must be handled gently to keep them from breaking apart.

Equipment Needs (and Swaps)

You'll need the following ingredients to make this extra chocolatey cake recipe:

Cake pans: Grab two 9-inch cake pans to make a layer cake—do not use 8-inch pans or the batter will overflow. If making a sheet-cake, reach for a 13-by-9-inch pan.

Parchment paper: Fitting a piece of parchment paper into the bottom of each cake pan will ensure your cakes release easily (and in one piece!). For the perfect fit, trace around the outside of the pan, then trim.

Sifter or fine-mesh strainer: Sifting the dry ingredients will make for the lightest and most tender cakes. If you don't have a flour sifter, send each ingredient through a fine-mesh strainer instead, pressing with a rubber spatula as needed.

Stand-mixer: Using a stand-mixer to build the batter will make it easy to add the wet ingredients one by one. If you don't have one, though, you can certainly use a hand-held mixer and a large mixing bowl.

Cooling rack: Cooling your cakes on a wire rack will allow the air to circulate around the pans, ensuring the cakes cool as efficiently and evenly as possible.

Serrated knife: Trimming off the rounded top of one of the cake layers will help the second cake sit more evenly. Use a serrated knife for this task, preferably one with a long blade.

Offset spatula: If you have an offset spatula, reach for it when it's time to frost. A butter knife or rubber spatula will work well otherwise.

Making a Buttermilk Substitute for This Recipe

If you don't have buttermilk handy or can't locate any at the store, you can still make this cake by using a quick substitute. While it won't be as thick or tangy as a store-bought version, it'll still react perfectly well with the leaveners to create an impressive rise. Here's how it's done:

1. To a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, add 4 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice or white vinegar.
2. Add enough milk to reach the 1 1/2 cup mark, then stir gently.
3. Wait 5 minutes, or until the milk looks lightly curdled, before using.