Tips For The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe
- While most cakes do best with cake flour, I recommend all-purpose flour for this recipe. That’s because the chocolate cake includes cocoa powder which already has a soft, dry texture. The combination of both cake flour and cocoa powder can result in a flimsy cake. All-purpose flour has a higher protein content and is milled to a slightly coarser consistency, which keeps this cake nice and sturdy.
- Use thick, full-fat buttermilk. This adds richness, moisture and flavor to the cake that you won’t get with low-fat varieties.
- Make sure that all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This helps them blend together more easily and smoothly, and helps to avoid over-mixing .
- Sift the confectioners’ sugar to avoid any lumps in your frosting.
- Do not over-bake the cake or it can become dry. Start checking for doneness by the 30-minute mark, since total baking times will vary depending on your personal oven and the pans that you use.
- Make the cake about 1 day ahead of when you plan to serve it. The cake just gets better as it sits!
Faq: Hersheys Perfectly Chocolate Cake Recipe Troubleshooting
Help! My cake came out weird. Its top looks bubbly in the center. What did I do wrong?
Ah! Im so excited to answer this question because I learned the answer straight from bakers at Hersheys test kitchens themselves! And according to them, this texture comes from undermixing the cake.
Specifically, after adding the hot water to the recipe, you need to whisk the batter for the amount of time listed in the recipe. Seriouslyset a timer. It helps! Whisk at a steady pace thats neither too fast or too slow. At the end, the batter will be thin in texture but uniform in color. There should be no streaks or differing shades of brown. If it looks even a little bit streaky, the batter needs more whisking!
Help! I froze the cakes like you instructed but now water is beading through the cake and frosting. What did I do wrong?
To answer this question, we need to understand where that water is coming from. That water is condensation from the frozen cake thawing as it comes to room temperature. Its similar to how the outside of a glass full of ice water is wet on a hot day. Luckily, the cake is still perfectly safe to eat. The condensation just makes an ugly cake .
And in the recipe below, I instruct you to start the cake assembling process by first removing the cakes from the freezer. Doing so allows them to thaw slightly while you make the frosting, helping prevent this condensation issue. If you skipped this step, youre more likely to have this issue.
Light Moist And Perfect For Any Celebration This Classic Chocolate Cake Mixes Up Quickly In A Single Bowl With Ingredients You Likely Have On Hand
When it comes to chocolate cake, this tried-and-true recipe is, without a doubt, the best that I have found. It has been a birthday favorite in my family for years, and I usually top it with an equally incredible homemade caramel frosting. As if fabulous taste and perfect texture arent enough, this cake is so easy to makeit mixes up quickly in one bowl with basic pantry ingredients!
For our latest birthday celebrationFebruary is a big birthday month in our family with three of themI decided to revisit an even older frosting favorite, Foolproof Peanut Butter Frosting. I am such a big fan of chocolate cake with fluffy peanut butter frosting that I chose this combination for our wedding cake. Though it wasnt the pretty white cake that most brides select, it sure was delicious and most of the plates were crumb-less!
This light and moist chocolate cake is an old recipe from the Hersheys cocoa canister. For my sons 12th birthday, I substituted my gluten-free flour blend, and the results were every bit as moist and delicious as the standard version with all-purpose flour. Coincidently, my older son told us at dinner about a girl in his algebra class that had to go gluten-free recently. She has said that so many of the store-bought products her mom has bought for her havent tasted very good. My son decided she might like a piece of this cake, so we wrapped up a big piece and he brought it to math class the next day. He said she was thrilled, which made us all happy.
Yield:
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The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe
Chocolate flavour oozes all through this cake even though its only made with cocoa powder, like our very own Fudgy Chocolate Cake. With a crumb so incredibly tender, this cake stays moist for a good 4-5 days. Whether you eat it plain, dust it with powdered sugar or serve with dollops of cream or scoops of ice cream, it truly is perfectly perfect!
Of course, smothering it with a buttercream frosting never hurt anyone.
Ingredients To Make The Hersheys Perfectly Chocolate Cake Recipe More Chocolaty
So to make the Hersheys Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe even MORE chocolaty, make the following changes to the cake recipe:
- add 1 ½ teaspoons espresso powder OR instant coffee crystals
- replace the 1 cup boiling water with 1 cup boiling coffee
Whats espresso powder and where can I find it?
Espresso powder is made from espresso grounds that have been roasted, ground, and brewed. The water is then removed from the espresso either by flash-heat drying or freeze-drying, leaving behind dehydrated crystals.
Historically, espresso powder was primarily used in baking as an ingredient. As a result, it was only available for purchase or in specialty stores like King Arthur Baking Company. However, these days, folks use espresso powder to make drinks! You can now buy espresso powder in most major grocery stores and Target. In the US, the most readily available instant espresso brand is Medaglia DOro.
Whats instant coffee? Is it different from ground coffee? And if so, can I use ground coffee instead?
Instant coffee is different from ground coffee. Ground coffee is made by grinding coffee beans into a coarse or fine powder. You can easily make ground coffee at home with a coffee grinder.
In a pinch, you can use ground coffee instead of instant coffee in this recipe. However, ground coffee doesnt dissolve as well as instant coffee during the baking process. You may end up with small flecks of ground coffee in your chocolate cake!
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How To Make Hersheys Chocolate Cake
This moist chocolate cake is very simple to make. It can even be made in one bowl, so I guess weve got a One Bowl Chocolate Cake recipe here!
-Dry ingredients are combined and mixed well.
-Next, the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla are added to mix, and the ingredients are beaten with a hand mixer.
-Finally the boiling water, with instant coffee if you are using it, are stirred in. This is a very thin cake batter, so dont be alarmed if it seems runny.
-The batter is poured into two 9 round cake pans and then into the oven it goes.
-Once the cakes have baked, and cooled, they can be assembled and frosted.
Easy peasy!
Would This Recipe Make Good Cupcakes
Yes! Hersheys even has a guide on how to use this recipe to make cupcakes. This recipe will make 30 cupcakes.
1. Make the batter using the same method listed below.
2. Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners .
3. Fill liners full with the batter use a pitcher or ice cream scoop to prevent spills.
4. Bake at 350°F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool for a few minutes before moving cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
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Adding Coffee To Chocolate Cake
One of my tips for really pumping up the chocolate flavor in this easy chocolate cake is to add some coffee. Even though I am not a coffee drinker, I find it gives great depth to the chocolate flavor.
This Hersheys chocolate cake recipe calls for one cup of boiling water. The cup of boiling water is a perfect place to sneak in some coffee.
Not being a coffee drinker, I dont go with a full cup of coffee. Instead I add about half a packet of instant coffee crystals to my boiling water. I usually use the Starbucks Via Instant coffee. These are great to keep on hand for baking.
Best Cake Making Technique Tips
- For even cake layers, I like to actually weigh out the layers with a digital kitchen scale to make sure theyre even. The easiest way to do this is to set a prepared cake pan on a digital scale and tare it to 0. Pour batter into the pan until the scale registers the weight listed in the recipe . Repeat with the second and third cake pans.
- Use a large, fine-mesh sieve to sift ingredients for the frosting. Its the fastest and easiest way to sift ingredients! All you need to do is place the fine-mesh sieve over a bowl. Then, dump the ingredients that need to be sifted into the sieve. Use a whisk to stir the ingredients until they pass through the bottom of the sieve and into the bowl below.
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What Is Crazy Cake
This cake, which seems to date from the late 30s or early 40s and also goes by the name wacky cake, doesnt use eggs or dairy. And youd never know it.
It bakes up moist and tender, thanks to a combination of baking soda and vinegar, without any of the heaviness that often occurs in egg-free cakes. The texture reminds me of the classic comfort of boxed cake mix in the best possible way.
Its a perfect dessert to make for last-minute guests or for those times when you crave a slice of cake, but dont want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
Dont Forget The Frosting
What cake would be complete without frosting??
I think this recipe for Hersheys Chocolate Cake is perfect with the accompanying homemade chocolate frosting recipe.
After all, we already discussed how chocolate cake and chocolate frosting are a match made in heaven.
But if you want to change it up, you could always turn to homemade buttercream frosting instead. would be a fun option, too!
Honestly, it doesnt really matter which frosting you use, because when theres homemade chocolate cake, you know everybody will be happy.
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How Do You Make A One
The promise of this recipe is that you can prepare the entire batter in just one bowl. Heres how.
First, preheat your oven. Youll bake the cake to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grease two round cake pans with oil or butter, lightly coat them with flour, and shake off the excess.
Alternatively, you can also just line the cake pans with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, sift and stir the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Sifting the ingredients will prevent lumps.
Then, beat in the wet ingredients: the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.
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Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed or until the wet and dry ingredients have combined.
Last, stir in the boiling water. The water will help dissolve lumps, giving you a smooth batter.
Dont worry that its too thin, as thats how its supposed to look.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 20 to 35 minutes.
To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cakes.
If it comes out clean or with a few dry crumbs, the cakes are ready.
If it comes out with wet batter sticking to it, bake for 2-3 minutes and check again.
Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Thats it! Easy, right? All thats left is to frost your cake.
Hersheys Chocolate Cake Recipe
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Day : Make The Chocolate Cake
Faq: Tools To Make The Hersheys Perfectly Chocolate Cake Recipe
Do I need special tools to make the Hersheys Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe?
Sort of. If you bake cakes regularly, its likely that you already have the main tools you need for this chocolate cake: a round cake board, a rotating cake stand and an offset spatula.
Whats a cake board?
A cake board is a stiff piece of cardboard thats placed underneath the cake. The cake board makes it easy to transfer the cake from the rotating cake stand and onto a different serving plate or cake stand.
Cake boards come in different sizes to match the most commonly used cake pans. Professionals like to match the size of their cake board to their cake panthat is, professional bakers will place an 8-inch round cake on top of an 8-inch round cake board. That being said, its easier for beginners and novice bakers to use a slightly larger cake board . Doing so makes it easier to pick the cake up for transfer. You can cover the rest of the cake board with a piped frosting border, or leave it as isnobody will mind, I promise!
Do I really need a cake board for the Hersheys Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe?
Whats a rotating cake stand?
Can I make the Hersheys Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe without a rotating cake stand?
Okay, now whats an offset spatula?
Can I make the Hersheys Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe without an offset spatula?
Ugh, making a layer cake sounds like way too much work. Can I make the Hersheys Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe as a sheet cake instead?
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The Best Topping Takes Only Two Seconds
Most of the time, I dont frost this cake. Once its cooled, I sift some powdered sugar over the top and call it a day. Just put a little powdered sugar in a sifter or a mesh sieve and tap over the top. It takes two seconds and is pretty, fancy, and tasty.
Of course, there are the times when life just needs a little frosting and the extra time is worth it. Top this cake with your favorite frosting when you need to. Chocolate, vanilla, and cream cheese frostings all taste great.
Frostings for Your Wacky Cake
How Do You Make The Best Chocolate Cake
- Make sure you preheat your oven before starting. Weve included temperatures for standard AND fan or convention ovens.
- If using springform pans, note that they are NOT 100% leakproof. Very thin cake batters such as this one will leak through the base. To combat this issue, line the base with parchment paper coming up where the sides meets the base to create a cover. Place a baking sheet on the shelf below the cake pan to catch any stray drips. Dont put cake pans directly on the pan as the heat will effect the base of your cakes.
- Let cakes cool COMPLETELY before frosting. You can make this chocolate cake the day before and frost the next day.
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How To Make The Hersheys Perfectly Chocolate Cake Recipe In One Day
I get it. You read everything above but thought that overnight seems like a long time to wait for a chocolate cake. What if you want the Hersheys Perfectly Chocolate Cake RIGHT NOW? Good news! You dont have to assemble the cake over two days.You can make the both the cake and frosting in one day, and assemble it in the same day, too.
To do so, follow the recipe instructions to make the chocolate cake. Cool completely in the pans on a wire rack before frosting. Once cool, tightly wrap each cake layer in its own sheet of plastic wrap. Freeze for 5 to 10 minutes while you make prep the ingredients for and make the chocolate frosting. Then, follow the recipe instructions to assemble, crumb coat, and frost the cake.
Freezing the cakes for 5 to 10 minutes will stiffen the cake and make it easier to frost. Note that youll likely need to set the crumb coat for longer than whats listed in the recipe below. The recipe instructs you to refrigerate the crumb coated cake for 10 to 15 minutes. However, if the cakes havent been frozen overnight, you need to refrigerate the crumb coated cake for at least 30 minutes.