Dark Chocolate Cake Recipe and Video

This decadent chocolate cake recipe is full of chocolatey, moist perfection with a soft, tender crumb. The cake is rich in chocolate flavor, not too sweet nor bitter. The recipe uses basic ingredients and by following a few simple guidelines this cake has never failed me.

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• Recipe tips
• Flavor pairings
• 📋 Recipe

This cake gets its rich, dark flavor and appearance by using a combination of black cocoa and regular cocoa. Additionally, the recipe calls for brewed coffee which enhances the chocolate flavor but does not impart the taste of coffee. My customers and family refer to this as my 'blackout cake' due to the deep chocolate color.

Recipe tips

• Measure all ingredients and set out all equipment before beginning to make this cake. This extra step ensures your ingredients are properly measured and you are not searching for tools while making the cake batter.

• Cocoa Powder to Achieve the Blackout Cake: Not all cocoa powders are equal! Be sure to use a Dutch processed cocoa powder. To achieve the dark color and intense flavor use a combination of black cocoa powder and regular cocoa powder. Using all black cocoa powder will result in giving the cake a bitter aftertaste.
• Mixing this 'One-Bowl Cake': Even a great cake recipe may produce a tough cake if the batter is overmixed. Overmixing will inherently lead to excess gluten development. Make this recipe using a stand mixer, by hand with a spatula, or using a hand mixer. Mix the batter gently after the wet ingredients (eggs, oil, coffee) are added to the dry ingredients and only mix until homogenous.
• Coffee: You may substitute water for the coffee used in this recipe. I recommend using cooled, brewed coffee. The end result will be a more chocolatey cake and not a coffee-flavored cake.

Flavor pairings

I don't consider myself a 'purist' when it comes to flavor pairings. My philosophy is eat what you like! Consider the following cake filling flavors:

• You can't go wrong with a vanilla bean filling and icing in a chocolate cake! Just scrape the seeds out of a few vanilla beans into your favorite icing. Alternatively, use a few tablespoons of vanilla bean paste.
• Fresh raspberries or strawberries pair nicely with this chocolate cake. Fill each layer with a vanilla pastry cream and press in an abundance of fruit.
• Nut fillings are a great choice because you will be adding taste and texture to your cake. Make a hazelnut praline (or nut of your choice), chop the praline into bits and press into your filling.
• Mousses are my favorite fillings for cakes as they are light, creamy and not too sweet. Consider coffee mousse, chocolate mousse (you can't have too much chocolate!), fruit mousses or caramel mousse. Check out my Triple Chocolate Mousse cake recipe which uses this recipe as the base.

📋 Recipe

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