The Only Chocolate Cake Recipe You'll Ever Need! (Devil's Food)

Submitted by Karen=^..^=

"This chocolate cake is absolutely thee best we have ever had. It is so moist and rich, I never make anything else (unless I am short on time :) The frosting recipe included goes perfectly with this cake, but you can use any frosting you like. Try this once and you'll see why I call it "The Only Chocolate Cake Recipe You'll Ever Need"!! Adding 2/18/06: I want to note that I recently used sweetened whipped heavy cream with vanilla and it was just as fabulous as the frosting recipe listed, plus much easier. I also used hazelnut coffee in the cake and it added even more of a little extra something!"

Download

photo by Ashley Cuoco

Ready In:: 1hr 15mins
Ingredients:: 17
Serves:: 16

ingredients

Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
³⁄₄ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup hot coffee
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Frosting
1 cup milk
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¹⁄₂ cup butter, softened
¹⁄₂ cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

directions

Preheat oven to 325°F.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Add oil, coffee and milk and mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat 2 more minutes. Expect batter to be thin.
Pour into a 9" x 13" greased and floured pan or 2- 9" round pans. Bake 9 x 13 pan for about 45 minutes or 9" pans for about 30 minutes. Cool in pans for about 15 minutes and then cool completely on racks.
While cake is cooling make the icing: Combine the milk and flour in a saucepan and cook over low heat until thick, whisking constantly. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
In a medium bowl, beat butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add chilled milk and flour mixture and beat for 10 minutes. Frost cooled cake and enjoy! The frosting sounds intimidating, but it is worth it! By the way, for some reason, we prefer this cake chilled, right out of the refrigerator. The rich chocolate and cool frosting just seem to taste best this way.

Questions & Replies

I wanted to make this recipe: The website offers units in US and Metric. Since I do a lot of baking, I prefer using metric. The metric conversions are so off, it's a disaster. For example, the recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar, the website converts to approx 473g, that's not right! 2 cups of granulated sugar is only 402g. Look at flour which is 2 cups, converts to 473g again, but 2 cups of flour is only 240g. So 473g is actually 3-3/4 cups, not 2! Cocoa powder is 3/4 cup, but converts to 178g, once again 3/4 cup of cocoa powder is only 75g. This is nuts. The end result is a recipe mixture that looks like thick fudge brownie, not cake batter!!! If the website cannot offer accurate conversions, then just turn the feature off!!

larry b.
Hello, I am looking forward to trying this cake - I have a stand mixer, so i was wondering - when mixing the cake batter - do you use a paddle or a whisk?

yelenakabo
Trying to figure out why once cooled my cake turned dense and fudgey?
ellyxfoster
DO YOU ADD ANY CHOCOLATE TO THE FROSTING RECIPE?

Merilee P.
The icing looks chocolaty but I did not notice any cocoa powder or any type of chocolate included in the recipe. Want to make sure I'm not missing something. Can't wait to try. Thanks!

Sandy W.

see 68 more questions

Reviews

I'm not very good at making cakes, but I wanted to try this one because of the very good reviews it had, so I made it last night... and wow it was great!! not too sweet , really moist and the frosting was just right!! my husband loved it!! thank you for the recipe!!!

Poppy
The cake had an intense chocolate taste, was deliciously moist and not too sweet. I used two round baking tins instead of one and after 30 minutes at 160C the cakes were not yet done. Next time, I'll bake them for 35-40 minutes at 180C.

Del2002
Used SMBC frosting and chocolate custard filling. Super moist and able to make a tall cake! Cake recipe never fails!
luheu
I made this for a co-workers 18th birthday and everyone loved it. Very moist and chocolaty. The frosting was also very good with a nice texture and not overly sweet. I did add semi-sweet chocolate morsels to the frosting while I was stirring the flour and milk together over med. heat. Came out tasting very good.

Cathie Bolduc
I wish I could rate this recipe 5 stars. The cake definitely earns 5 stars; however, with the frosting recipe that is included, I can only rate this a 3. I have made this cake before, using a different frosting, and it was loved by all. I made the cake a second time, using the included frosting recipe. The cake itself turned out great, but the frosting was not something I would ever make again. I didn't have any problems with the texture of the frosting, as some reviewers have. It looked great, but the flavor was very lacking. I can't recommend the cake enough, but I won't be making the frosting again.

Heavens Kitchen

see 410 more reviews

Tweaks

This recipe is fantastic when made without sugar, using two teaspoons of stevia, instead of sugar, and, 1 cup of natural unsweetened apple sauce. Followed the recipe exactly with just the Apple sauce and, stevia introduction. Try it.

Kevin C.
I made cupcakes, baked for 23 minutes, came out perfect. I tweaked the frosting by using coconut oil versus shortening (healthier) and added a few tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. It is absolutely delicious, like a mousse.

Debbie C.
I was worried when the batter came out very thin, but this recipe made an awesome, moist, dense (but not brownie-like) cake! I subbed 1 C unsweetened applesauce for the 1 C oil, and used only about 1/2 t salt. Perfect. I will definitely turn to this recipe when I want to make chocolate cake.

Clarely
Excellent cake! Halfway through getting my ingredients together I realized that I was out of milk :( So, I used 1 cup of sweetened condensed milk and only used 1 cup of sugar, rather than the 2 suggested. I also used 2 tsp. of espresso powder with 1 cup of hot water in place of the 1 cup of hot coffee. The cake came out beautifully!! Instead of using the suggested frosting, I made a ganache out of melted butter, hot water, powedered sugar and cocoa powder. This recipe made a really moist and delicious cake, thanks for posting!!

xpnsve
Fabulous recipe! I substituted half and half for the milk, then added 3/4 tsp red cayenne pepper to the dry ingredients for a tiny bit of zing. For the frosting I did 7-minute to keep it light. Delicious!

Karen K.

see 22 more tweaks

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

Karen=^..^=

Sharon Hill, 0

I live in Pa (outside of Philadelphia) and cooking, baking, cross-stitching and reading are my hobbies. I collect cookbooks and cookie stamps/cutters and have a pretty big collection of both. I am also a fan of all things Amish, so I have quite a collection of things picked up in Reading, Lancaster and surrounding areas here in Pennsylvania. I have 4 kids, who are the loves of my life and cooking for them and my husband keeps me on my toes! ;) We bought an ice cream parlor in March 04 and it's been quite an experience! Note: I love getting feedback on my recipes; all I ask is that you actually *make* them before reviewing them. Also, if you make changes or substitutions, I'd love to see your suggestions and/or comments, but I'd appreciate no rating at all if it's not made as posted. Too many recipe reviews state margarine subbed for butter (if I list butter, it's REAL butter), different spices, low-fat ingredients, whole wheat flour instead of white, etc. The recipes will not work/taste as intended, so it's really not fair to rate them as such. I'd also really appreciate it if you refrain from rating a recipe if you overcook or overbake it or it you don't refrigerate or store as listed. I, of course, will adhere to the above when rating recipes, too! Thanks and have a great day! My Rating System: ***** A delicious recipe that was thoroughly enjoyed. It has excellent, detailed directions and is perfect as is. If a dish is especially easy, and I'm on the fence, I will give it 5* for ease even if it's very good instead of great. Something I will definitely make again. **** Excellent recipe but confusing directions that I will make again in my own less confusing way OR Very good recipe that I'll probably make again if I find the time! *** Good/OK recipe but probably not something I would make again OR Very Good recipe that doesn't have clear, detailed directions. ** Recipe was edible but not really enjoyed and will not be made again. Work involved not a good trade-off for the end result. * Not edible and probably an error in the recipe. I feel that I pick recipes with ingredients our family likes, so in my opinion, there's an error somewhere. If there's a chance I made the error, I won't rate the recipe. ;) <img src=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y164/lauralie41/swapbanner.jpg border=0 alt=Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket /> <a href=http://s224.photobucket.com/albums/dd235/MidwestMaven/?action=view&current=cookieswapparticip.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd235/MidwestMaven/cookieswapparticip.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /></a> <img src=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/honey-pot-print-c10069558.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /> <a href=http://s224.photobucket.com/albums/dd235/MidwestMaven/?action=view&current=09holidayparticipationbanner.jpg target=_blank><img src=http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd235/MidwestMaven/09holidayparticipationbanner.jpg border=0 alt=Photobucket /></a>

View Full Profile