My husband’s fave birthday cake has insanely moist and soft layers plus a super creamy chocolate frosting. It’s everything a birthday cake should be.
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Chocolate Birthday Cake Ingredients
- Large Eggs: Make sure these are room temp.
- Granulated Sugar: Swap in homemade brown sugar for an even more tender cake.
- Cocoa Powder: I use unsweetened cocoa powder here.
- Instant Coffee Powder: This intensifies the chocolate flavor. Swap in your fave cup of coffee and just leave out the coffee powder.
- Salt: Just a pinch is all that’s needed.
- Hot Water: Again, you can use coffee here.
- All-Purpose Flour: I don’t recommend using cake flour here since it will make our cake too soft to work with.
- Baking Soda & Baking Powder: Make sure you check the expiration dates on these before using.
- Vegetable Oil: Any neutral oil like canola will also work here.
- Buttermilk: None around? Make some by adding a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup of milk and letting it sit for 5 minutes until it thickens.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Don’t use artificial here.
- Unsalted Butter: Just leave out the salt if you use salted butter here.
- Confectioner’s Sugar: I like to sift this so the frosting turns out smooth.
- Cocoa Powder: Unsweetened is best here.
- Milk: Use any you prefer. It just helps smooth the consistency.
How to Make Chocolate Birthday Cake
Make the Batter
Step 1: Add eggs and sugar to bowl of your stand mixer and beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes.
Step 2: In a separate bowl, mix together cocoa, instant coffee, and a dash of salt with hot water.
Step 3: Pour the hot cocoa mixture into the egg and sugar party happening in your mixer.
Step 4: Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in small bowl.
Step 5: Decrease the speed to low and add to stand mixer. Add in buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla and beat until just combined. Batter will be thin; this is normal.
Bake the Layers
Step 6: Divide that batter evenly between the prepared pans.
Step 7: Bake for 22-25 minutes at 350 F. You’ll know they are ready when a toothpick comes out clean.
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Step 8: Cool the cakes in pans for 10 minutes. Then gently remove cakes from the pans and place on a wire rack and allow to cool fully.
Frost the Cake
Step 9: Add butter and confectioner’s sugar to bowl of mixer and mix on high speed until smooth then add in cocoa powder.
Step 10: Lastly add in vanilla extract, milk and salt until frosting is fluffy and smooth.
Step 11: Add frosting between each layer then frost the outsides, add sprinkles if ya want and serve it up.
Chocolate Birthday Cake Recipe
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Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
- 1 cup hot water
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
For the Frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 6 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup milk
- pinch of salt
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 3 9 inch round pans with non-stick baking spray.
- Add eggs and sugar to bowl of your stand mixer and beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes.
- While mixture beats, add cocoa powder, and instant coffee powder to hot water in a separate bowl. Slowly add this mixture to the eggs and sugar.
- Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Turn the speed down to low then add in the dry ingredients in intervals. Next, add vegetable oil, buttermilk and vanilla extract to the mixer and beat until just combined. Batter will be sort of thin but this is normal.
- Evenly divide cake batter to all three pans and bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow to rest for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.
For the Frosting:
- Add butter, confectioner's sugar to bowl of mixer and mix on high speed. Then add in cocoa powder and continue mixing until smooth.
- Lastly add in vanilla extract, milk and salt until frosting is fluffy and smooth.
- Add frosting to each layer and stack on each other. Finally frost the sides and top of cake and serve it up.
Notes
How to Store
Wrap your leftovers tightly in plastic wrap or place it in an airtight container or cake carrier to keep it fresh and fab for up to 3-4 days at room temp. If you need to keep it longer than that, slide the extra cake into the fridge. Just a little tip: if you’re diving back in for another slice, let it sit out for a bit to get back to room temperature – it’ll taste just like it did on day one!How long will chocolate birthday cake last in the fridge?
It’ll stay scrumptious for up to 6 days.Can I freeze ?
Absolutely boos! I like to chill the cake in the fridge first to get that frosting firmed. Then I cut individual slices and wrap them tightly in plastic wrap then add to freezer bags releasing all the air. Add the date. It should last in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge then bring back to room temperature before indulging.Nutrition
Recipe Tips
- Don’t Skip the Coffee: This really does add a richer chocolate flavor to the mixture. You won’t even taste the coffee boos, trust me.
- Don’t Overbake: Make sure you watch that bake time so you don’t dry out your cakes.
- Cool Completely Before Frosting: If you don’t want a super melty cake sliding around everywhere, make sure that the cake layers have cooled completely before frosting.
Recipe Help
I like to grease my round pans with cake release then add parchment to the bottoms so the layers come out super clean y’all.
Absolutely boos. In fact, you can bake the cake layers and freeze them by wrapping them tightly with plastic wrap a few times. When you are ready to serve, pop them in the fridge to defrost. Then make the frosting fresh, ice your cake and serve it up.
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Legit, BEST chocolate cake ever!
Thank you so much!!
I am so excited to make this for my birthday! Do you happen to have the ingredients for a 2 layer version of this cake?
I actually don’t since I didn’t test that way. You can use a baking calculator and cut down the ratios by 1/3 to bake just two layers however.
What if I only have 1/4 of buttermilk ?
Hi Jo, you can actually make your own buttermilk if you have some milk and vinegar or lemon juice. Just use 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice.
Hello, I want to make the cake but have questions about the coffee. Do, I have to use the coffee or can it be substituted with something else or what if I don’t have the coffee on hand at the moment?
You can just omit the coffee if you don’t want to use. Just use hot water instead.
Thank you for the quick response.. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours..
Is it safe for a kiddo to eat this with the small amount of coffee or should I omit it?
How far ahead can this be made and how do I store before icing it. I’d like to bake the cake 2 days beforehand. Do I leave in an airtight container, or do I need to freeze and then defrost?
Thank you!
What type of vegetable oil do you use? And why all purpose flour instead of cake flour?
Thank you for sharing your recipes!
A traditional vegetable oil in the grocery store or canola. Also this is a very tender cake because of all the oil so all purpose flour will give the cake some stability instead of using cake flour.
I really love this recipe .so crazy it is. Thanks for sharing
I absolutely love this recipe..
I made this recipe plant based by using flax eggs (2 tbsp flax seed mixed with 6 tbsp water) and vegan buttermilk (1 cup soya milk with large tbsp lemon left to curdle). It went down a treat. I also left out coffee because no-one in their right mind gives coffee in any shape or form to their 8, 6 and 4 year old on a Monday night I also used a quarter of the frosting because we’re not mad on frosting and also I was running out of ingredients from having to make two chi cakes in two days.
Thanks a million for the recipe. Winner!