This Chocolate Cake recipe is super easy to put together, moist and delicious! It’s almost as easy as a box mix cake, but tastier!
Easy Moist Chocolate Cake
If there’s one thing I love about this blog, it’s getting to play around with new recipes and share them with you. It can be so hard to find just the right cake and it’s always my goal to give you that. For me, that often begins with having the right base cakes – meaning a wonderful vanilla and chocolate cake (or cupcake, cheesecake, etc). One of my goals over the next few weeks is to provide you with the best of the best as far as basics are concerned. Today we are starting with chocolate cake!
You may or may not have already tried my Best Chocolate Cake. I still get major heart eyes for that cake. Love it! But I’m not one to be satisfied with just one version of a classic. I like options. Plus, not everyone has the same idea of the “perfect” cake, so variety is good.
And when you bake as much as I do, every so often I decide it’s time for something new. Problem is, when you already have an amazing chocolate cake, how do you make the best even better?
An Easy, Classic Chocolate Sheet Cake
Well since the other version is a slow bake cake that bakes at 300 degrees and that can sometimes throw people off, not to mention it takes longer to bake, I decided to make a version that bakes at the usual 350. I wanted to be sure it was just as tasty though! Surprisingly, that wasn’t as easy of a task as I’d expected.
There was a fair amount of experimenting, but the big thing was decreasing some of the liquid so allow for a quicker baking cake. I played around with decreasing the milk, oil and water. They all have similar effects on the cake, but produce slightly different results. I primarily went back and forth on the oil and milk. I ended up with a little more milk than oil. Oil adds great moisture to the cake, but too much makes it a bit of a firmer cake. Reducing it a touch and leaving more milk makes it a little lighter and softer. The final result is perfect and so delicious!
The Best Chocolate Frosting for Chocolate Cake
The frosting on top is also to die for! It’s my usual chocolate frosting, but this time I beat it for a few minutes to incorporate more air and have more of a whipped frosting. It lightens in color and gets fluffier. It’s just as chocolatey, but the whipped, light texture goes perfectly with the moist cake.
I really am in love with this cake! It’s a nice change from the slow-bake version if you’re looking for something easy and quick to throw together. The other one will always remain the MOISTEST cake ever (like seriously, it’s nutty), but this cake truly is moist and tender and SO good! And the 9×13 cake size is classic and easy to transport so you can have chocolate cake all day, err-y day. 🙂 You’re welcome.
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Read transcript
You might also like these chocolate cake recipes:
German Chocolate Cake
Nutella Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Poke Cake
Best Chocolate Cake
Death By Chocolate Icebox Cake
Mint Chocolate Chip Layer Cake
Easy Moist Chocolate Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 32 minutes
- Total Time: 52 minutes
- Yield: 12-15 Servings
- Category: Cake
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This chocolate cake recipe is super easy to put together, moist and delicious! It’s almost as easy as a box mix, but even tastier.
Ingredients
CHOCOLATE CAKE
- 1 3/4 cups (228g) all purpose flour
- 2 cups (414g) sugar
- 3/4 cup (85g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup (240ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup (240ml) hot water
CHOCOLATE FROSTING
- 1/2 cup (112g) butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (95g) shortening
- 3 cups (345g) powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup (57g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 4–5 tbsp (60-75ml) water or milk
- Sprinkles, optional
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare a 9×13 inch cake pan with non-stick baking spray.
2. Add the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt to a large mixer bowl and combine. Set aside.
3. Add the milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and eggs to a medium sized bowl and combine.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat until well combined.
5. Slowly add the hot water to the batter and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to make sure everything is well combined.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 29-32 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
7. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool.
8. To make the frosting, combine the butter and shortening in a large mixer bowl and mix until smooth.
9. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
10. Add the vanilla extract and 3 tablespoons of water or milk and mix until smooth.
11. Add remaining powdered sugar and cocoa and mix until smooth.
12. Add remaining water or milk as needed and mix until smooth, keeping an eye on the consistency of the frosting so it doesn’t get too thin.
13. Beat frosting on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until it has lightened in color and gotten fluffy.
14. Spread frosting evenly onto the cake. Top with sprinkles, if desired.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 430
- Sugar: 47.2 g
- Sodium: 421.7 mg
- Fat: 19.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 63 g
- Protein: 5.5 g
- Cholesterol: 27.3 mg
Keywords: easy chocolate cake recipe, best chocolate cake recipe, chocolate sheet cake, birthday cake recipe, chocolate frosting
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Enjoy!
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Love this cake, family favourite. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Just one question I didnt realise I dont have baking soda🙈 and I’m too far from the shops how much baking powder should I use instead?
Thanks 😊
I’m so glad you enjoy it! Baking soda and baking powder aren’t necessarily interchangeable and will give you a different result and texture. If you want to try all baking powder, you can. I’d try like 4 teaspoons.
I love all your recipes, so thank you!! Just wondering if I can freeze this with the icing?
I want to stock my freezer with completed iced goodies for ease.
I’m so glad to hear you enjoy the recipes! And yes, this one should do fine frozen.
I like to make this recipe but I was wondering should the butter and shortening be at room temperature? As well as the Milk for batter? Please let me know thank you, Magee
The butter should definitely be room temperature, and I have updated that in the recipe. The shortening should be as well, but that is usually stored at room temperature, at least for me. And the milk and eggs could be room temperature. I don’t always use them that way though, so it isn’t totally necessary.
I made this cake. It was delicious, but I used less sugar. It was perfect. I didn’t make your frosting, cuz we don’t have shortening, here, in Spain.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! And for the frosting, you can always replace shortening with additional butter.
I made this cake for my grandsons birthday, everyone thought it was the best chocolate cake they have ever tasted. Took a bit longer to cook than the recipe said, used gluten free flour, but it turned out really well, very moist, would tell anyone to try the recipe and enjoy.
I’m so glad it was a hit!
Finally a from scratch cake mix that I can actually cook and it comes out so moist and is makes a huge trays worth!
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I want to make 2 round cakes, 9-1/4 diam each….should i double this (2x) or 1.5 make it?
It depends a little on the height you’re looking for, but I’d probable do 1 1/2 recipes worth.