Literally the BEST chocolate cake ever to cross my lips. It is dense and rich and moist and almost brownie-like but still in a cake way. It’s a Magleby’s copycat. You will not regret this!
A couple weeks ago, I tried to make myself a gorgeous layer cake as a belated birthday present to myself. But my cakes broke coming out of the pan. So I shoved them into a 9×13 and smeared frosting on top and ate it like an animal.
I shared my broken cake on Facebook and my friend Jane said, “Sorry about baking your own cake for your birthday. That is just wrong!” And I told her that I didn’t mind, because Eric had made me pancakes on my birthday and I ACTUALLY had to spit them out in the sink. True story.
GUESS WHAT. The Food Charlatan turns FOUR this week! My actual anniversary was on Sunday (but I don’t post on Sundays because Sundays are for family and cake.) My first post ever was Pumpkin Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies, where I tell the story about the time we brought cookies to our neighbor and he opened the door wearing nothing but a towel. True story.
A couple years ago I updated the photos on that post, which I kind of regret. That post is more important to me as a piece of my own history than as a traffic-driver. I still kept one of the old photos up, and the story is the same, but still. I kind of feel like I went back and edited my own journal.
Buuuut that’s one of the things about food blogging. It’s kind of like that part in Princess Bride when Inigo Montoya is all like “Father, guide my sword,” and it’s this epic moment, but then he runs into a tree and thinks he failed. But then, he leans on the tree, and the secret passage opens and he saves the day!
Okay so maybe if you’re not a Princess Bride freak that went over your head. What I’m TRYING to say is that food blogging is AWESOME and WEIRD and FUN and HARD and CONSTANTLY changing. And I freaking love it. It is crazy to think how far we’ve come from the days when it was just Eric and my mom reading my posts. I’m so glad you guys are here! It’s a par-tay!
How to make the best chocolate cake ever
And what’s a party without cake and candles. This is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had, hands down. It’s a copycat of the cake served at Magleby’s, a restaurant in Utah. When they served it to me (I was at a wedding, one of dozens) I thought to myself, meh, mass-served chocolate cake. Then I tried a bite and was completely blown away.
I saw this copycat cake over on Baked in AZ (who has a beautiful blog by the way, definitely check out her work!) and knew I had to try it. It is so dense and rich and moist. It’s like a Texas Sheet Cake, only better. You know how the edges of a cake are usually dry? Eric and I were fighting over the edge pieces because they are so fudgy. SO GOOD!
So good that I made it twice. I won’t tell you how much that had to do with me breaking my first cake. But both times, Eric said to me, “Don’t make any other chocolate cake recipe ever again.” Maybe I will make this again on my 5th anniversary…or maybe I should make it at least 5 times before then.
UPDATE: I recently made a Homemade White Cake Recipe that you might also want to try out!!
P.S. Do you have gluten free friends? Try out my friend Sarah’s Gluten Free Chocolate Cake! I’ve tried it and it’s legit amazing.
More chocolate!!
- Absolutely The Best Brownies I Have Ever Made >> No, I’m serious. I wouldn’t joke about this.
- Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies >> These are to die for.
- Cream Cheese Chocolate Cupcakes >> Gotta love the tang in these!
- Strawberry Truffle Cake >> These are definitely decadent
- Brown Sugar Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting: << this is today’s chocolate cake, minus the chocolate. Whaaat? It works, I promise.
- If you are on the hunt for The Perfect White Cake, try this one! It’s amazing!
- Death By Chocolate Cupcakes from American Heritage Cooking
- Whipped Chocolate Buttercream Frosting from I am Baker
- Crockpot Chocolate Lava Cake from Life in the Lofthouse
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The Best Chocolate Cake I’ve Ever Had (And a Par-taaay!)
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 cups flour, sifted spooned
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Frosting:
- 1 & 1/2 cups salted butter, 3 sticks, softened
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
- 5 & 1/4 cups powder sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease 2 9-inch cake pans with butter, then coat with flour. Then trace the bottom of the cake pans onto parchment paper, cut out the circles, and put them in the bottom of the pan.*
- In a medium saucepan, melt 1 cup butter over medium heat. Stir in the water and cocoa and whisk until combined. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for about 30 seconds. Remove pot from heat and let sit aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the white sugar, flour, and 3/4 teaspoon salt.
- In another medium bowl, whisk together 2 eggs. Slowly sprinkle baking soda and baking powder over the top while you whisk. Beat until there are no lumps. The mixture may foam, and that's ok!
- Stir in the vanilla and 1 cup brown sugar.
- When the chocolate mixture in the pot has cooled enough to handle, stir it into the flour mixture. Then add the egg mixture. Each time mix only until combined.
- Lastly, fold in the sour cream. DON'T over mix!!
- Divide the batter evenly between the 2 pans (I use a scale). Drop the cakes on the counter from a few inches above to get out some of the air bubbles.
- Bake for about 34-40 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Remove from the oven when a toothpick comes out of the center clean.
- Let cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then carefully loosen edges with a knife and invert onto a cooling wrack. Let cakes cool completely.
- Wrap the cakes securely in plastic wrap and freeze for about an hour or 2. (This is only so that it's easy to frost the cake. If you are in a hurry and presentation isn't an issue, frost as soon as they are cool!)
Make the frosting:
- Cream the butter well. Add the cocoa and powdered sugar in increments, adding the cream in between. Beat well after each addition. Add the salt and vanilla.
- Smear a bit of frosting on the bottom of a cake plate. Place 1 frozen cake on top, then cover the top with about 1 cup of frosting (I like to use an offset spatula).
- Place the other cake on top, then frost the outside and edges. If you don't want your cake plate to get frosting all over it, line it with strips of parchment paper that you can pull out when the cake is completely frosted.
- Serve with lots of milk!
Notes
Nutrition
Hi – has your cake ever come out flat? I just made the cake and followed the recipe exactly as written. My cakes didn’t rise and are half the height of my 9” cake pans. Do you have any insights? They’re wrapped and in the freezer. I may try them again tomorrow as I’d hoped to bring your beautiful cake to a friends milestone birthday party.
Hi M! No, I’ve never had that issue! I will say that this cake is not traditional and does not rise as high as your average cake. But it should be higher than you’re describing, I would say. Have you checked the expiration dates on your baking soda and powder?
The icing was soooo salty
So sad Janet! I will change the recipe to say kosher salt, since that’s what I usually have on hand, but even using table salt, a ratio of 3/4 teaspoon salt to 3 sticks of butter is pretty standard. That’s only 1/4 teaspoon per stick of butter. I understand everyone has different tastes though. Next time use unsalted butter and just salt to taste while you are mixing up your frosting.
Hello! I tried the recipe again as per your suggestion with unsalted butter and less salt and it was perfection! Thank you!
Made this delicious cake tonight! It was the best cake I’ve ever had! Thank you for a great receipe.
Thank you Shannon, I’m so glad we agree about the best cake in the world!! You just can’t beat it!
Honestly, the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. Not an exaggeration. My husband thinks it’s better than Magelby’s. :)
Yess! Another believer! I think it’s better than Magelby’s too, although I might be biased by now, especially since I haven’t been to the restaurant in years. Thanks Brenda!
What brand cocoa powder do you like to use? Do you use the same cocoa powder for the frosting and cake? Thanks! I’m so excited to make this!
Hey Jill! I use Hershey, but any brand will work! Enjoy the cake, you are going to love it!
Thank you so much!! I am making a figure 8 mud track from Cars 3 for my sons birthday and think this will work perfectly!
Oh my gosh! I need to see this Jill!! That sounds awesome. If you post any pictures on Instagram, tag #thefoodcharlatan so I can see it! How fun!
Do you by any chance know what effect leaving out the sour cream altogether would have? I completely forgot to add it and don’t know if I should redo or not!
Cakes didn’t dome enough to taste some :(
Hey Alysha! If you leave out the sour cream the cake will not be as moist. It will still be cake, just not quite as delicious.
Hi, can i use plain yogurt or butter milk instead of sour cream? I’m craving for some chocolata cake n hopeklinik to bake this cakeis tomorrow
Hey Maryam! I have not tried it but I think buttermilk would be the perfect substitute. I can’t guarantee results because I haven’t tried it but I think it will go well. Let me know how it turns out!! Great question!
This cake is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing. I made half of this recipe and half of your yellow cake using my checkerboard cake tin. I also used buttermilk instead of sour cream as its what i had in my kitchen. The texture of the cake was beautiful.
Whaaaat checkerboard cake with my two favorite cakes!! That sounds so fun! I’ve never made a fancy cake like that, I should totally try it out. Did you take any pictures? If you’re on Instagram, post it and tag #thefoodcharlatan I would love to see it :) Buttermilk is a great sub, thanks for the tip. And thanks for coming back to comment Samantha!!
Almost afraid to ask, but did you use the same amount of buttermilk as the sour cream calls for? Probably pretty obvious answer. Thanks.
Hey Ellen, yes, use the same amount! :)
Ok again I am super impressed with another recipe from this webaite. For a novice chef at beat, its super easy to understand and was seriously delicious! The yummiest cake I’ve ever made for sure. (But the carrot cake on this website is pretty amazing too!)
High praise Kim! I’m so glad you liked the cake! It’s absolutely my favorite. And I agree, the carrot cake is a close second :) Thank you so much for stopping by to leave a comment!
Bloggers, please quit calling every recipe “the best”, the “ultimate”, “epic”, yes everything you do is absolutely better than anybody else ever but your life readers and ppl who hate blogs and just want the recipe are looking for descriptive names. You write blogs, you can do it! There are tons of recipes named the best.
Hey Linda! I don’t think everything I do is better than everyone else’s, this is just an honest title for this cake: The best one I’ve ever had! Maybe someday I’ll find a better chocolate cake recipe but I’m going 3 years strong on this one.
Also, I don’t run this business to please “people who hate blogs.” If you don’t like my blog or blogs in general, I’m sure you can find a cake recipe somewhere else, and there’s really no need to let me know. I’m giving away free recipes. Remember when you had to pay for cookbooks to get recipes from strangers?
I made cupcakes instead and made a chocolate mint glaze instead of frosting. Dense, rich and cooool!
chocolate mint glaze!!!!!!!! omg I need this.
I know this may take away from some of the chocolate goodness, but is there anyway I can make this recipe with yellow cake instead of chocolate cake? I definitely wanna keep the frosting but was wondering if and how I could change the cake part while still keeping the recipe.
Hey Shannon! I honestly have no idea if it would work out. There is a half cup cocoa. Maybe try replacing it with 1/2 cup flour? or 1/4 cup flour? It would be a risk, let me know how it turns out!!
Hi, I’m new to baking and I’m going to make the Best Chocolate Cake ever!!! Do I use sweetened Cocoa or unsweetened. It’s for my husbands birthday:) I usually don’t have the best luck so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!! Thank you!!
Hey Vickie! Unsweetened cocoa :) Good luck! You will do great! Your husband will love it!
how long in advance can I make a cake before the frosting?
Hey Ginny! If you make the cake, wrap it well, and freeze, you can make it up to a week ahead.
This cake was very good! The only thing I would do differently is the frosting. It was too rich with 3 sticks of butter. So I made it a second time and only did 1 stick of butter and about 1 cup heavy cream. I kept all the other frosting ingredient amounts the same. It was perfect!! We all loved it and I think this might be our “go to” chocolate cake.
I’m so glad you enjoyed is Angena, and were able to figure out a frosting recipe that works for you! That is the best! Thanks for the comment!