Ina Garten’s Chocolate Cake recipe ~ it’s a classic! When I hear the word dessert, this homey, rich, chocolatey cake is what springs to mind. Everybody should make it at least once.

Ina Garten’s chocolate cake is hands-down one of my favorite chocolate cakes I’ve ever baked, (or tasted!)
It will take a lot for me to look for another chocolate cake recipe in the near future. The texture and flavor of Ina Garten’s chocolate cake is just my style — it’s very moist without being dense or heavy at all, and has just the right balance of sweetness with rich chocolate flavor. I can see why this is a beloved recipe, and will be my go-to from now on.

This easy chocolate cake has the light, even texture of a boxed cake mix
The chocolate cake itself is similar to my Chocolate Cake with Cranberry Buttercream, but even a little bit simpler to put together as it calls for oil and cocoa powder rather than melted butter and chocolate. You can feel confident going with either one, depending on whether you’re in a butter creaming mood or not. They both bake up perfectly with a nice deep rich color and fabulous chocolate flavor.

A pinch of salt and some silky sour cream makes chocolate frosting even better!
I did make a couple of changes to the original frosting recipe to suit my preferences ~ I added a pinch of salt, a bit of sour cream, and increased the amount of powdered sugar. These changes help to bulk up the frosting a bit so that there’s plenty to generously frost a double layer cake (I’m paranoid about running out!)
I feel that the salt and sour cream help offset the added sugar a little bit. The added sour cream also makes for a slightly softer frosting that doesn’t go quite as crusty over time as a plain buttercream frosting tends to do.

I kept my cake as plain and simple as can be, but of course this is a wonderful base for all kinds of variations and decorations. The cake would be amazing with a vanilla frosting, a peanut butter frosting, a blackberry buttercream, whatever you like!
Suggestions for decorating a chocolate layer cake
If your occasion calls for a little more frippery, here are some ideas…
- One of my favorite ways to decorate any chocolate surface is with chocolate shavings: just take a bar of chocolate and a vegetable peeler and peel off little curls. If your chocolate is dry you can microwave it for a few seconds to soften it so that you can get it to curl beautifully.
- Chocolate sprinkles look pretty on a chocolate cake, you can decorate the top, or press them into the sides.
- If it’s the season, pop some berries on top, strawberries and raspberries are perfect. Intersperse some green mint leaves.
- Arrange malted milk balls or other chocolate candy around the perimeter of the cake.

How to crumb coat a layer cake
The moist, delicate texture of this cake mean that it is a little bit trickier to frost without getting crumbs in your frosting, so I recommend doing a quick “crumb coat,” which, if you’ve never bothered with one in the past, really isn’t as complicated or annoying as it might sound!
- To make a “crumb coat,” simply frost the top and sids of the cake with a thin layer of frosting, getting everything as smooth as you can. Don’t worry if there are crumbs showing.
- Then, refrigerate the cake for at least 15 minutes. This sets the frosting and effectively locks all those crumbs in place before you move on to your next coat of frosting, so they won’t be floating around and getting in your way! That’s it!

I think this cake is the perfect celebratory cake for any and all occasions ~ it’s a great recipe to have in your back pocket for birthdays, anniversaries, graduation parties, you name it.
More luscious layer cakes ~
- Banana Cake with Spiced Vanilla Buttercream
- Orange Creamsicle Cake
- Raspberry Lemon Cake
- Blueberry Lemon Layer Cake

Ina Garten’s Chocolate Cake
Equipment
- Two 8-inch round cake pans Note: this cake is thick, so make sure your cake pans are at least 2 inches tall to accomodate the batter.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk (I used half-and-half, which worked fine, too!)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup hot coffee
For the frosting
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat oven to 350F. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper discs.
- Whisk all the dry ingredients together well in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients EXCEPT the coffee.
- Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing as you go. Once incorporated, add the hot coffee, and mix everything until there are no pockets of dry flour left. The batter will be very thin.
- Divide the batter between the two cake pans, and bake for 35 minutes until risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out without wet batter clinging to it.
- Allow the cakes to partially cool in the pans, then turn out onto a cooling rack to completely cool before frosting. The cakes can be made a day or two ahead and kept in the refrigerator before frosting.
For the frosting
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave using short bursts. Stir until smooth and set aside to cool slightly.
- Beat the room temperature butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment for a couple minutes until smooth and noticeably paler in color. Slowly add the powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla, beating on a low-medium speed until everything is smooth.
- Whisk the sour cream into the partially cooled melted chocolate. This both cools down the chocolate and warms up the sour cream so that both are more-or-less room temperature before adding to the butter mixture.
- Add the chocolate and sour cream mixture to the mixer bowl and beat on low speed until everything is smooth and combined.
- If your frosting seems a little too loose, you can refrigerate it for 10-15 minutes to allow it to firm up a little bit. Then give it a good stir before frosting the cake.
Notes
Nutrition

I made this cake exactly as written and it is absolutely delicious. It is even better the next day. Thanks so much for sharing.
Best chocolate cake ever! Made multiple times
I’ve made this cake many times. It’s the best easiest cake you will ever make. Will not be disappointed.
Lol I made this had all my ingredients set up and all just forgot to add the cocoa powder ?
Been there done that with so many recipes 😉
Can I substitute cream cheese for the sour cream? Just wondering
I don’t see why not, just be sure it’s nice and soft.
I love this cake, super moist and yummy. Easy recipe as well. I just need to work on my cake decorating skills…
Epic fail for me.
Could be baking in a high altitude city or my oven.
Julie P.
Oh no! I’m so sorry Julie, I don’t want you to miss out on this epic cake. High altitude baking is such a complex issue. I recommend checking out King Arthur Flour’s high altitude baking guide, on their site, and also purchasing an inexpensive oven thermometer to be sure of your temperature.
Thanks for this recipe. This is my 1st cake made from scratch, that I ever made .. this cake is Amazing. Can’t wait to share it with my family.
The very best chocolate cake ever.
I have tried TONS of recipes for chocolate cakes from everywhere and none of them have been what I was looking for in a chocolate cake. This is very moist in a very good way and the taste is AMAZING.
The right amount of sweetness with the strong delicious taste of chocolate.
Simply the best ever.
For the frosting I used a brigadier o style one and paired so delicious. I don’t like buttercream frosting I feel they are too strong no matter what.
The frosting I used was 1 Tbs of butter in a sauce pan when melted add a 14 oz can of condensed milk and then a 1/4 of cocoa powder just cook until well incorporated.
Once cooled down stir again and covered this delicious cake and we had the most amazing combo of sweet and chocolate in just one slice of chocolate cake heaven.
Thanks for your feedback, your frosting sounds interesting!
This isn’t inas cake recipe. She swiped it from Hershey’s. It’s called Hershey’s black magic cake. I’ve been making it long before ina published this recipe.
I second this!
Hi! Do you have this receipe adapted for two 9 inch round cake pans? Thank you!
Hi Kim – you can use the recipe as written in two 9-inch pans, the cake layers will just be a little bit thinner, and the cooking time will be a little bit shorter. I’d check them around 25 minutes.
I’ve made this a few times and the cakes always sink in the middle even though they are done. It seems like 2 tsp of baking soda is a little much based on the amount of flour and that there is also baking powder. Do you think this could be my problem?
I had same problem so halved the baking soda & it worked perfectly.