This divinely moist chocolate cake recipe gets its richness from a combination of quality dark cocoa powder and sour cream.
I’m calling this ridiculously moist chocolate cake recipe simply, “The Ultimate”. It is the ultimate in rich chocolatey goodness. If you are a chocolate lover than you are going to be head-over-heels for this one! I use Hershey’s Special Dark 100% Cocoa Powder for a deep chocolate flavor that doesn’t overpower like dark chocolate tends to do. I’m a fan of dark chocolate for sure but it can have a slight bitterness.
The reason I really like Hershey’s Special Dark in this recipe is that it doesn’t have the usual bitterness. And while dark cocoa is not critical to the recipe, in that it wouldn’t be tasty, it’s just that regular cocoa powder just isn’t as potent. So, I suggest using the dark cocoa blend. It’s a mixture of Dutch processed and regular cocoa.
This is an extremely simplistic recipe. The most effort will be to sift the dry ingredients. It took me about 3 full siftings to get it uniform in color.
Every other step is pretty straightforward. I recently changed the order of ingredients to simplify it even more. Creaming the butter and sugar before adding the rest of the wet ingredients is still necessary but added each egg one at a time is not. Just be sure that everything is well blended before adding the dry ingredients.
You never want to overmix a cake batter so being sure that the wet ingredients are fully blended before add the dry is critical. Once you get they dry mixed in most of the way, add your milk and beat for another couple of minutes. I am able to to get a 3 layer cake out of this batter or 3 dozen cupcakes if you add one scoop of a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop. It may look like a little but they will rise nicely and pretty level to the top.
Whichever you choose, make sure that you serve it up with an amazing vanilla buttercream!
*Recipe edited 7/16/18 along with updated photos.
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Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 2 1/3 c cake flour
- 2/3 c Hershey's Special Dark 100% Cocoa Powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 c sugar
- 1 c salted butter room temp
- 4 eggs room temp
- 3 tbsp molasses
- 16 oz sour cream
- 2/3 c whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together until the color is uniform then set aside.
- In a large bowl beat soften (room temp; not melted) butter and molasses on low speed until pale yellow and fluffy.
- Add sugar and combine until texture is smooth. Next, beat in eggs followed by the sour cream.
- Add all of the dry mix and beat on medium until batter is formed. Add in the milk to finish.
- Pour into 3 floured or lined 9" round cake pans and bake for 20-24 min or until toothpick comes out on the center clean.
Notes
