Go Back
Print

Perfect Chocolate Cake (foolproof)

Ingredients

Cake

  • 2 cups plain flour all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs room temperature
  • 1 cup buttermilk or 1 cup milk with 1Tb vinegar, set aside to sour for 5 mins
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil I like to use grapeseed oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup hot brewed coffee instant is also fine to use

Frosting

  • 1/3 cup salted butter room temp
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 2 1/3 cup icing sugar powdered sugar
  • 2/3 cup cocoa powder dutch processed if possible

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 175C. Grease and line the base of an 8in cake tin.

  2. For the CAKE, in a large mixing bowl, sift the first 5 (dry) ingredients together. Make a well in the centre.

  3. Add in the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract. Give a quick whisk to combine.
  4. Add the hot coffee and whisk the batter until smooth (about 1 minute). The batter will be quite runny.
  5. Pour the thin batter into the lined cake tin and bake for 45-55mins. You know it's done when a skewer (or knife) is inserted into the centre of the cake and comes out clean.
  6. Let cake cool in the pan for 10mins on the counter before transferring to a wire rack.

  7. Meanwhile for the FROSTING, whip the butter until light and fluffy.

  8. While that's whipping, sift together the cocoa powder and icing sugar.
  9. Add in 1/3 of the powder along with 1/2 of the milk into the bowl with the butter and combine gently with a spatula so the powdered sugar doesn’t fly everywhere when you whip it!
  10. Whip until smooth and fluffy. Repeat, ending with the last portion of cocoa/icing sugar scraping down the sides as you go.
  11. Spread over the cooled chocolate cake.