This chocolate cake is the best you will ever taste, and using black cocoa gives it a dramatic dark color without risking staining anyone’s teeth or tongue black!
This black chocolate cake recipe is one I return to time and again. The black cocoa powder, which is responsible for the distinct flavor and color of Oreos, also gives this cake its deep hue. I originally used it to make “dirt” cakes for a garbage truck-themed party, but I quickly realized it creates some of the most delicious chocolate cake. Now, I often use this ingredient in my baking. I follow Ina Garten’s famous chocolate cake recipe but just substitute black cocoa powder for regular cocoa powder in her recipe.
Pro Tip: You’ll also notice coffee in the recipe. This is a trick Ina swears by to bring out the intense chocolate flavor. If you’re worried about giving caffeine cake to kiddos, just switch to decaf for this ingredient.
Black Chocolate Cake – Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup black cocoa powder (I like this brand)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk (can substitute whole milk or cream)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot coffee
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare your baking pans: for cake use two 8-inch round cake pans (buttered and lined with parchment paper rounds); for cupcakes you can either make 24 cupcakes or 12 cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes (liners in place).
2. In your mixer bowl (or another large bowl), whisk all the dry ingredients together well in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients EXCEPT the coffee.
4. On low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Once incorporated, add the coffee, and mix everything until there are no pockets of dry flour left. Scrape the sides at least once and mix again. The batter will be very thin.
5. Divide the batter between your pans, and bake until risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out without wet batter clinging to it (About 35 minutes for the round cakes; 18-22 minutes for the cupcakes; and 9-10 minutes for the mini cupcakes).
Frosting:
I use a cream cheese frosting because it pipes nicely and tastes better than anything on this planet. See link for cream cheese frosting and chocolate frosting recipes.
For this black chocolate cake recipe, I’ve often made a black frosting (shown in Halloween cupcakes photo). If you don’t want to dye all of your guests’ mouths, use the same black cocoa powder (I like this brand) used in the cake recipe above. For full recipe, see chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe at link above.
