Moist chocolate cake prepared from scratch at home is so simple, easy and delicious even beginners or kids learning to bake can easily bake this cake (with guidance from parents or teachers). The texture of the chocolate cake is soft, super moist, slightly dense and absolutely delicious you can make this easily for birthdays, holidays, Valentine’s day or any day if you are looking for a simple and easy dessert for dinner. Using brown sugar for sweetening the cake makes the chocolate cake really moist and soft too, so make sure to use brown sugar for this recipe although white sugar will also work.
I made this for the holidays for my kids and they loved it, so this is a simple and easy chocolate cake recipe that the kids love and approved and even the kids can help you decorate this cake using fresh fruits like strawberries or colorful sprinkles. As I mentioned earlier, this is also a very easy chocolate cake recipe which kids who are just learning to bake can try with supervision, help and guidance from the parents or teachers.
I frosted the cake with simple vanilla whipped cream frosting and fresh strawberries but you can enjoy this chocolate cake without any icing or frosting also, as it is so delicious on its own or you can use your favorite frosting to make it even more delicious.
I have this moist yellow cake recipe here which is another favorite cake recipe of mine which is so delicious, super moist and easy to prepare too. This is a simple chocolate cake which gives you about 8 to 10 large slices of cake and you can easily slice the cake and frost as you like.
I have tried many chocolate cake recipes but not really satisfied with the results. But with this moist chocolate cake, I am very much happy with the results as it is so simple and easy to make and its also so moist in texture and delicious too.
Cocoa Powder For Chocolate Cake
I recommend using an unsweetened good quality cocoa powder to make this moist chocolate cake. Also I do not recommend using dark cocoa powder for this chocolate cake unless you want a very strong chocolate flavor which can affect the sweetness of the cake.
I used Hershey’s natural unsweetened cocoa powder in this recipe, which works great.
Using Brown Sugar
I used brown sugar to sweeten this chocolate cake. Using brown sugar helped the cake to be really moist and it also helped with having a nice flavor. For the best results, try to stick with brown sugar for this chocolate cake. In case you are out of brown sugar, you can replace brown sugar with white sugar although it may affect some flavor. I used light brown sugar for this chocolate cake but dark brown sugar will give even more flavor!
Why You Should Make This Chocolate Cake?
- easy to make
- easily available ingredients
- simple
- moist
- soft
- delicious
This chocolate cake is delicious without any frosting so if you just want a slice of chocolate cake for dessert, you can enjoy it as it is. I frosted it with vanilla whipped cream frosting and also strawberries which was simple and delicious. You can use any frosting recipes that you like for this recipe.
More Moist Cake Recipes:
- moist dense yellow cake
- moist applesauce cake
- moist fruit cake
- semolina yogurt cake
- apple nut cake
- sweet potato cake
- eggless vanilla cake
- banana cake recipe
- eggless blueberry banana cake recipe
How To Make Moist Chocolate Cake At Home?
We use the regular stuff for making cakes – eggs, flour, milk, sweetener, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and vanilla extract to make this chocolate cake. As I mentioned earlier, I used brown sugar for sweetener which helps make the cake really moist. You may also use white sugar instead, but using the brown sugar will make the chocolate cake more moist and flavorful. Also make sure to use whole milk for moist, rich and flavorful chocolate cake.
Below you can see the list of ingredients I used to make this delicious, moist chocolate cake.
Ingredients For Moist Chocolate Cake
- all purpose flour 1 cup
- cocoa powder 1/2 cup
- baking powder 1.5 teaspoon
- baking soda 1/2 teaspoon
- eggs 2 large at room temperature
- butter 1/2 cup softened
- brown sugar 1 1/4 cup
- whole milk 1/2 cup
- vanilla extract 1 teaspoon
Steps To Follow (The Process)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
- In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients – flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda evenly.
- Beat the eggs in a different bowl, keep it aside.
- Whisk together the softened butter and sugar in a different bowl very well.
- Also add milk and vanilla extract to the butter sugar mixture and mix very well to combine.
- Pour the wet ingredients mixture to the dry flour mixture, stir well to combine. Make sure there are no lumps in the batter and make sure there is no dry flour at the bottom of the bowl.
- Grease a 9 inch cake pan with little butter, line with parchment paper and dust with a little flour.
- Pour the cake batter on to the prepared cake pan.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center of the pan comes out clean. Once the cake is baked, immediately transfer from the hot oven so it won’t be over baked. Wait until the cake is cooled completely so you can easily transfer to another serving dish and slice and serve or frost as you wish!
Frosting Recipe Ideas For This Chocolate Cake:
chocolate cream cheese frosting
Tips To Make The Best Chocolate Cake
- Make sure to use all good quality, fresh ingredients. If the baking powder or cocoa powder is close to expiry date, they may yield the same results.
- Always use the best quality cocoa powder to make the chocolate cake, as the texture and flavor of the cake will much depend on the cocoa powder used.
- Try to use eggs at room temperature.
- Use softened butter to make the batter.
- Also make sure to use whole milk for the best, delicious and rich flavor.
- You can also try using cake flour instead of all purpose flour which will result in even more soft texture for the chocolate cake.
Can you use oil instead of butter for making the cake?
In many chocolate cake recipes, the recipe call for oil instead of butter. In this chocolate cake recipe, I have used butter which makes the cake even more delicious, rich and flavorful.
You can replace the butter with any flavorless oil like canola oil if you wish though you may not get the same flavor as you will with butter, but yes its fine to use oil instead of butter!
Easy Decoration Ideas
This moist chocolate cake is very delicious even without any frosting or icing. I used a simple vanilla whipped cream frosting (after I sliced the cake in two layers, I used the frosting to fill in between the layers and applied the frosting on top of the cake too) and topped with fresh strawberries.
As I said, I sliced the cake in two layers so I could apply the whipped cream in between but you can also enjoy this as a one layer cake with just frosting applied on top of the cake. You can use any other frosting or icing you like for your chocolate cake like chocolate cream cheese frosting, vanilla cream cheese frosting, chocolate ganache etc.
More ideas to decorate the chocolate cake include using fresh fruits like strawberries, cherries, blueberries etc as you like. Also use rainbow sprinkles with a little whipped cream or use candies like m&m for an easy colorful decoration.
You can also simply use powdered sugar which can be sprinkled on the cake or pair it with fresh fruits.
Below you can read the recipe for homemade moist chocolate cake in detail.
Moist Chocolate Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder not the dark variety
- 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
- In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients - flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda evenly.
- Beat the eggs in a different bowl, keep it aside.
- Whisk together the softened butter and sugar in a different bowl very well.
- Also add milk and vanilla extract to the butter sugar mixture and mix very well to combine.
- Pour the wet ingredients mixture to the dry flour mixture, stir well to combine. Make sure there are no lumps in the batter and make sure there is no dry flour at the bottom of the bowl.
- Grease a 9 inch cake pan with little butter, line with parchment paper and dust with a little flour.
- Pour the cake batter on to the prepared cake pan.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center of the pan comes out clean. Once the cake is baked, immediately transfer from the hot oven so it won't be over baked. Wait until the cake is cooled completely so you can easily transfer to another serving dish and slice and serve or frost as you wish!
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