If you love dark chocolate, you’ll adore this dark chocolate cake recipe. The layers are moist, deeply chocolatey, and ideal for anyone who craves an intense chocolate dessert.
This dark chocolate layer cake is one of many favorite chocolate recipes in our Cake Recipes collection. In this version we use both unsweetened cocoa powder and melted dark chocolate for an exceptionally rich flavor.
How to Make Dark Chocolate Cake
See the recipe card below for the full printable recipe. Here’s a concise overview of the method:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare your pans. Grease, flour, and line pans with parchment for best results.
- Combine dark chocolate chips and milk in a microwave-safe bowl. Melt in short bursts, stirring often until smooth, then let the mixture cool slightly.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients—flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt—and set aside.
- Mix the melted chocolate and milk with the sour cream, then set aside.
- Cream the butter until smooth, add sugar gradually, and beat until light and fluffy (about 4–5 minutes). Add vanilla, then the eggs one at a time until incorporated.
- Add the dry ingredients alternately with the chocolate-sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until blended, scraping the bowl as needed.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add hot coffee and mix until combined. The coffee enhances the chocolate flavor.
- Divide the batter among prepared pans and bake 22–25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream
This frosting is a hybrid between a classic chocolate buttercream and a chocolate cream cheese frosting. It has enough butter and powdered sugar to hold its shape for piping while still offering the pleasant tang of cream cheese.
The frosting is simple to make: beat softened butter until smooth, add softened cream cheese, then gradually add sifted powdered sugar, cocoa, a touch of milk, and a pinch of salt. Mix until combined but avoid overbeating. If the frosting becomes too soft, chill briefly to firm it up. This yields about 5 ½ cups—enough to fill, frost, and decorate a three-layer cake.
Decorating the Dark Chocolate Cake
The frosting is easy to work with and supports many decorating options. For a classic finish we smoothed the sides with a bench scraper, used a cake comb for texture, and piped small rosettes, shells, and stars along the top using a star tip.
Combing the cake and piped details
After frosting, smooth the sides with a bench scraper and use a cake comb to add any desired pattern. If the frosting gets too soft while working, chill the cake in the freezer for 10–15 minutes to firm the surface.
Before piping the top decorations, warm a spatula and gently smooth the chilled top for a clean finish. Pipe details with a star tip (we used tip 21) to add rosettes, shells, or stars.
More Chocolate Cakes and Frostings
We’ve tested many chocolate cake variations—classic chocolate cake from scratch, chocolate mousse cake, German chocolate cake, Black Forest cake, and others. This dark chocolate layer cake pairs well with many fillings and frostings, but the chocolate cream cheese buttercream is a particularly delicious choice.
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Chocolate Truffle Cake
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Chocolate Cake from Scratch
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Black Forest Cake Recipe
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German Chocolate Cake Recipe
Recipe FAQs
Yes. Once cooled to room temperature (or slightly warm), wrap each layer tightly in plastic wrap, then foil, and freeze. Properly wrapped layers will keep up to three months.
To thaw, leave wrapped on the counter for 30–45 minutes, then unwrap and allow to reach the desired temperature. Some bakers assemble cakes while layers are still slightly frozen because they are easier to handle.
Settling is optional but helpful. After filling the layers, wrap the cake (before final frosting) and place a light weight on top for a few hours in the refrigerator. This reduces bulging caused by the filling shifting under the cake’s weight and makes final smoothing easier.
Yes. Because the frosting contains cream cheese, refrigerate the cake in an airtight container. For best flavor and texture, remove the cake from the refrigerator a couple of hours before serving to let it soften slightly.
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Dark Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
For the Dark Chocolate Cake Layers
- 1 stick + 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (185g)
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (300g)
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (322g)
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, measured then sifted (55g)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda (10g)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder (2g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (2g)
- 1 ¼ cups dark chocolate (Ghirardelli chips, 72% cacao) (177g)
- 1 cup milk (220g)
- 1 cup sour cream (242g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4g)
- ½ cup hot coffee (110g)
For the Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened (339g)
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened (do not use reduced-fat or tub cream cheese)
- ¼ cup milk, adjust as needed (57g)
- 7 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted (863g)
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa, sifted (22g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (2g)
Instructions
For the Dark Chocolate Cake Layers
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 8×2-inch round cake pans and line with parchment circles, or use two 9×2-inch pans.
- Combine milk and dark chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in short bursts (about 20 seconds), stirring between intervals, until softened and then stir or whisk until completely melted. Let cool slightly.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa, and salt for about 30 seconds to blend and aerate. Set aside.
- Mix the melted chocolate-milk mixture with the sour cream and set aside.
- Cream the butter in a mixer until smooth. Add sugar slowly and beat on medium speed 4–5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add vanilla.
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing until yolk color disappears between additions.
- Add the dry ingredients alternately with the chocolate-sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (three additions dry, two additions wet). Scrape the bowl as needed.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the hot coffee and mix until combined (about 30 seconds).
- Divide batter among prepared pans and bake 22–25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with a few crumbs. Cool in pans 5–10 minutes, then turn out to finish cooling.
For the Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream
- Beat the slightly softened butter on medium speed until smooth.
- Add pieces of softened cream cheese and mix until combined.
- Lower speed and gradually add powdered sugar and cocoa along with the milk. Return to medium speed and mix until combined. Do not overmix; the frosting softens with prolonged mixing. Chill briefly if it becomes too soft.
- This makes about 5 ½ cups of frosting. Cakes frosted with cream cheese-based frostings should be refrigerated until closer to serving time.
Decorating the Cake
- Decorate as desired. If the frosting softens, chill for 5–10 minutes. For the example cake, the layers were filled and frosted, excess frosting smoothed with a bench scraper, the sides combed for texture, and the top decorated with small rosettes, shells, and stars using a star tip.
Notes
The recipe works well for standard-sized cupcakes; bake at 350°F for 18–20 minutes and test with a toothpick for doneness.