an exterior that is crunchy and salty and a soft, sweet interior. They make a good snack, but be careful—they could become addicting.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 40 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 cups white sugar
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
- 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups milk
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups hot water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line the bottom and sides of a deep 14×17-inch baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper.
- Sift sugar, flour, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Transfer to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment; whisk dry ingredients together on low.
- Whisk milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract together in a separate medium bowl. Add to the flour mixture and mix at low speed until well incorporated, about 5 minutes. Gradually add hot water while mixer is on low speed until just combined. Pour batter into the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cake cool in the pan for about 1 hour.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 473 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 78 g |
| Cholesterol | 49 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 555 mg |
| Sugars | 52 g |
| Fat | 17 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I have made this cake multiple times. It is the only chocolate cake recipe I use. For the cocoa I use Hershey’s Dark Chocolate and I use coconut oil. I bake it in 3 – 9″ rounds. When I want a German Chocolate Cake I use the frosting recipe from the Willard Family GCC and adjust the quantity for a 3 layer cake. This recipe makes me look good as a baker. Grateful!
This was the BEST chocolate cake ever! I made it for Thanksgiving and it was gone quickly, and everyone raved on how moist it was. It went so quickly that I wasn’t able to take a pic of it…thanks for sharing!
Third time I’ve made the recipe, I never tweak it, it’s perfect as is. The addition of peanut butter frosting makes it even better, the whole family loves it that way.
I’m panicking. Opened the oven to check with toothpick and the top looks well cooked but sliding it out of the oven I find it jiggling like a waterbed!! Why so much water?? Am I not supposed to add the full portion of water in the recipe?!?! This cake is not cooked and my German chocolate cake birthday party surprise is kaput. What am I going to do with this?? It’s pure liquid under the surface!
This was absolutely DELICIOUS!!! Not too dark, as I’m not a fan, but perfect for the German Chocolate frosting.
this was a disaster. I wonder if the recipe is right. 2.75 cups of flour to 3 cups of liquid plus .75 cup of vegetable oil and just 3 eggs. Runny batter ran over the sides of the pan and 30 minutes until done saw the entire cake still completely runny. Yikes
Absolute best chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever tried. These are soooo moist and chocolatey. I followed recipe exactly except I only had almond milk instead of regular milk. Didn’t use parchment paper, just greased and floured a shallow baking pan. This will not be my go to cake recipe. I think cupcakes will be next.
I made the recipe as described but baked as cupcakes. The cupcakes are moist, fluffy and deliciously chocolatey. I will definitely be making this again. This made three batches of 12 cupcakes and a fourth batch of 8 — enough to have some for a party and some to give away.
When I made this cake the first time it was delicious, I’ve made it lots now, my girl’s love it. it’s so moist.
I’ve made this recipe quite a few times and I must say it is Devine . Moist delicious And RICH ! YUM
Absolutely love this recipe the cake was light moist and very fluffy! I made it for my father in law’s birthday dinner and the entire family loved it. Made this exactly per the recipe- baked in two rounds instead of the rectangular pan. This is a keeper!
Awesome cake!!! I will use this recipe all the time. Love it. So moist. Yummy yummy.
It turned out great!! Really moist.
This is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had!! Feeds 20 people easy and truly doesn’t even need frosting it’s that moist. It freezes wonderfully too.
Excellent! Followed recipe and it was delicious!
The BEST chocolate cake recipe EVER! I’ve tried tons and they’re either too dense or too dry, this one is fluffy and moist. Sooo good!!! It wasn’t done by 30 minutes so I baked for about 40 minutes, also the batter was extremely runny and I almost threw it out because I thought I measured incorrectly but, don’t panic, it’s going to bake perfectly!
Super moist dark chocolate cake! I will be using this for years to come. I made 2 9-inch cakes and 9 cupcakes with the recipe.
I generally don’t leave reviews but felt this recipe deserved one. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate cake because it seems to be dry. However, this cake was absolutely delicious. My family loved it too. Because it’s in a large pan (pay attention to the pan size) it is a thinner cake. Absolutely delicious. I made it just as instructed and it was wonderful but next time I’m going to replace the water with coffee and 1 tsp of espresso powder.
First time making this recipe; cake tastes amazing, but there was too much liquid in the batter. I had to bake for an hour.
I made these as cupcakes and the batter seems very thin, but it bakes up beautifully. Moist, very chocolatey.
Easily the best chocolate cake recipe I’ve come across. Very easy to make, super light and tender, deep chocolate flavor. Goes great with every frosting I’ve tried so far including German chocolate, caramel, cream cheese, and vanilla. The two biggest issues I have are that it can be a little difficult to get the hot water to start incorporating and the final product is so tender it’s almost fragile. The batter is very thin before baking, but bakes up beautifully.