A Simple and Moist One-Bowl Chocolate Cake from Scratch

Oil keeps a chocolate cake moist much longer than butter. You can mix the ingredients for an Easy Everyday Chocolate Cake in a single bowl, and the crumb stays soft for days. Let's get the oven preheated to 350°F (180°C) or 160°C fan.

Lining the cake pans

Rub butter inside two 9-inch (22 cm) cake pans. You want the baked layers to release easily. Fold a piece of parchment paper into a triangle and cut it to the pan's radius to make a round bottom liner.

Mixing the Cake Batter

Take out a large mixing bowl and sift the all purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder directly into it. Dutch-processed cocoa powder produces a darker color and a more intense flavor, though you can absolutely substitute standard cocoa powder. Next, add the white sugar and salt. Granulated, caster, or superfine sugar will all perform perfectly in the Cake Batter. Since cup sizes change depending on your region, measuring these ingredients by weight instead of volume will prevent inaccurate ratios.

Whisk these dry ingredients for a moment so they mix thoroughly. Drop the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract into the bowl. Whisk everything for 30 seconds until the Cake Batter is lump free and well mixed.

Adding boiling water

Pour the boiling water into the bowl. The hot water blooms the cocoa powder so it releases a stronger flavor. Whisk the liquid in so it mixes fully. Do not worry if the batter looks very thin.

Baking & Assembly

Because the batter is quite liquid, standard round cake pans work best. A thin batter will leak from a springform pan unless you plug the bottom seam with butter. If you worry about leaks, place a drip tray on the oven floor to catch them. Pans placed directly on a drip tray will block oven heat circulation. Divide this liquid batter evenly and pour it into the prepared pans.

Bake the pans for 35 minutes. Rotate the cakes during the bake if you place them on different oven shelves to get even cooking. Pull the pans from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto metal cooling grids so they sit upside down. The baked cakes develop a flat surface for easier frosting when you cool them upside down.

Frosting choices

Once the layers cool down all the way, you are ready to decorate. Trimming the tops flat with a bread knife gives the finished dessert a much neater look. Go ahead and spread on 50 percent of your 1 1/2 batches of Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. Chocolate ganache makes another lovely choice if you want to switch things up. You can also skip the heavy toppings completely and simply serve the cake plain, finished with a little powdered sugar and a dollop of cream.

Storage rules

To enjoy your baked cake for up to five days, simply store it at room temperature inside a tightly closed box. If the weather gets hot, you will need to chill your frosted dessert in the refrigerator. Just be sure to avoid the freezer entirely, because freezing alters the texture and leaves the crumb overly wet and pudding-like.