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Triple Chocolate
Cake
Published by Sally on February 7, 2020
1761 comments

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This is my favorite homemade chocolate cake

recipe. With a super moist crumb and fudgy, yet
light texture, this chocolate cake recipe will soon
be your favorite too. Top with chocolate
buttercream and chocolate chips for 3x the
chocolate flavor. You can also prepare this
chocolate layer cake as a sheet cake, too. See
recipe note.

Originally published in 2013 and now with more

in-depth descriptions, a helpful video tutorial,
clearer instructions, and different ways to use
this classic chocolate cake recipe. I hope you
enjoy all the new features in this recipe post!

Devil’s Food Chocolate

Cake… But Better
This pictured cake is a combination of chocolate
buttercream and mock-devil’s food cake. You
know the Devil’s Food chocolate cake you get at
a restaurant or even from a box mix? This is that
exact cake, only completely homemade. Notice
the reddish tint? That’s where the name Devil’s
Food comes from. The baking soda in this recipe
reacts with the natural cocoa powder, which
results in the reddish color. More on the science
behind using dutch-process vs. natural cocoa
powder here, if you’re interested.

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This is, without a doubt, the best chocolate cake

I’ve ever had. And judging by your feedback in
the reviews, I’m confident you’d say the same
thing!

This Chocolate Cake Is:

Extra moist
2 layers, but can be made as 3 layers or as a
sheet cake
Soft with a velvety crumb
Deeply flavorful
Unapologetically rich, just like my flourless
chocolate cake
Covered with creamy chocolate buttercream

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00:13 / 01:03

Chocolate Cake Video

Tutorial

Triple Chocolate Cake | Sally's …

Chocolate Cake Ingredients

Each ingredient serves an important role. For
best results, do not make substitutions.

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1 All-Purpose Flour: The structure of the cake.

Do not use cake flour– when combined with
ultra-light cocoa powder, cake flour is too
fine.
2 Unsweetened Natural Cocoa Powder: Do
not use dutch-process cocoa powder. If
you’re interested, see dutch-process vs
natural cocoa powder for an in-depth
explanation.
3 Baking Soda & Baking Powder: Remember
the differences in baking soda vs baking
powder? We use both here for lift.
4 Salt: Salt balances the flavor.
5 Espresso Powder: Espresso powder is
optional, but I recommend its addition
because it enhances the chocolate flavor. The
chocolate cake will not taste like coffee, I
promise. I use espresso powder in my
chocolate zucchini cake and marble loaf
cake too!
6 Oil: Don’t use butter in this cake batter.
Cocoa powder is a particularly drying
ingredient, so this cake needs oil for suitable
moisture.
7 Eggs: Use 2 room temperature eggs. To
speed up the gently warming, place
refrigerated eggs in a cup of warm water for
10 minutes. Did you know what the
temperature of your ingredients has a direct
correlation to the success of your recipes?
Unless otherwise noted, use room
temperature ingredients.
8 Buttermilk: This chocolate cake requires the
moisture and acidity from buttermilk. Lately
I’ve been using a mix of sour cream and
buttermilk, as well as reducing the hot liquid.
You can read more about this next and see
my dark chocolate mousse cake, tuxedo
cake, black forest cake, German chocolate
cake, and chocolate peanut butter cake
recipes.
9 Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract adds flavor.
10 Hot Coffee or Hot Water: Hot liquid
enhances the cocoa powder’s flavor. It also
encourages it to bloom and dissolve
appropriately. You’ll notice I don’t use hot
liquid in my chocolate cupcakes recipe.
That’s because there isn’t the same volume of
dry ingredients. With this amount of cake
batter, we need a hot liquid to break up the
cocoa powder lumps resting in all that flour. If
you don’t drink coffee, you can use hot water.
For deeper and darker flavor, though, use
coffee. (Decaf coffee works!)

How to Make Chocolate

Cake
What an easy chocolate cake! No mixer required
for the batter, simply whisk the dry ingredients
in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another
bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry
ingredients (or vice versa, it doesn’t make any
difference), add the hot coffee, then whisk
everything together. The cake batter is thin.
Divide between 2 9-inch cake pans. You can
easily stretch it to 3 or 4 8-inch or 9-inch cakes if
needed. Or make a quarter sheet cake using a
9×13 inch cake pan. See my recipe notes for
details.

Need cupcakes instead? Use my super moist

chocolate cupcakes recipe.

Lately I’ve Been Using Sour

Cream
As mentioned above and in the video tutorial,
there are two ways to prepare this cake batter
and the slight difference involves the wet
ingredients. You can follow the recipe as written
using buttermilk and hot coffee/water. Or you
can add sour cream. Whichever way you make it,
the process is the same. (Just reduce the liquids
and add sour cream!)

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1 Original Version (pictured and written

below): The original recipe produces a very
thin batter. The cake is extra soft with a
deliciously spongey texture.
2 Sour Cream Version (written in recipe notes
and shown in video tutorial): By replacing
some of the buttermilk and hot coffee with
sour cream, the cake batter is slightly thicker
and produces a slightly denser cake with
more structure. I love using sour cream in my
vanilla cake, too!

Both cakes are equally moist and chocolatey

with the same flavor and ease of preparation. It
just depends if you want a spongier cake or not.

Chocolate Buttercream
Like my yellow cake, I use my
favorite chocolate buttercream. I slightly
increase the amount of each ingredient to
produce extra frosting. If you prefer a thinner
layer of frosting, use the chocolate buttercream
recipe. But if you crave extra buttercream, follow
the frosting measurements below. You need 6
ingredients total:

1 Unsalted Butter
2 Confectioners’ Sugar
3 Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
4 Heavy Cream or Milk
5 Vanilla Extract
6 Salt

Because there is no leavening occurring, you can

use either dutch-process or natural cocoa
powder in the buttercream. Heavy cream
provides an extra creamy frosting, but milk can
be substituted if needed.

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So, why do I call it triple chocolate layer cake

when it only has 2 layers? Well, chocolate is used
three times: chocolate cake, chocolate frosting,
chocolate chips. Press a handful on top like we
do with warm chocolate chip cookies, or go
with “the more the better” motto like we did.
Let’s eat!

4.9 from 681 reviews

Triple Chocolate Layer

Cake
Author: Sally
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours
Yield: serves 12

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Description

This is my favorite homemade chocolate

cake recipe. With a super moist crumb
and fudgy, yet light texture, this
chocolate cake recipe will be your
favorite too. Top with chocolate
buttercream and chocolate chips for 3x
the chocolate flavor. You can also prepare
this chocolate layer cake as a sheet cake
too. See recipe note.

Ingredients
1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose
flour (spoon & leveled)

3/4 cup (62g) unsweetened natural cocoa

powder

1 and 3/4 cups (350g) granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons espresso powder (optional)

1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil (or canola

oil or melted coconut oil)

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup (240ml) buttermilk, at room

temperature

1 cup (240ml) freshly brewed strong hot

coffee (regular or decaf)

Chocolate Buttercream
1.25 cups (2.5 sticks or 290g) unsalted
butter, softened to room temperature

3 and 1/2 cups (420g)

confectioners’ sugar

3/4 cup (65g) unsweetened cocoa powder

(natural or dutch process)

3–5 Tablespoons (45-75ml) heavy cream

(or half-and-half or milk), at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

optional for decoration: semi-sweet

chocolate chips