Skip to content

One Bowl Chocolate Cake (Moist and Decadent!)

  • by
Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

My passion for baking started when I was little and still in elementary school. I had a few go-to recipes that I would whip out after school and make routinely. One of those recipes was a recipe in my mom’s binder of recipes titled “Six Minute Chocolate Cake”.

Since I would routinely bake this recipe, I would often run out of ingredients and have to make substitutes with whatever I had on hand. Eventually, the substitutions left 11 year old me with their own chocolate cake recipe which always left grown-ups wanting a copy (of course I would tell them it was a secret and deny).

If you’re not confident with your baking skills, know that this recipe is the easiest recipe to follow. As the name implies, you only need one bowl for the entire recipe. You basically just need to dump all of your ingredients together and stir, hence why it was originally called “Six Minute Chocolate Cake”.

If you’re looking for a decadent and moist chocolate cake recipe, this is the one for you! This recipe has been kept under wraps by childhood me until now so you’ll want to make this before I change my mind and take it down ;).

Prepping The Pans

For this recipe, you’re going to need three nine-inch round cake pans. There’s a couple of ways to prep a pan but if you just spray them with non-stick spray and call it a day, you’ll be left with some crusty edges.

The best way to prep a pan for chocolate cake is to coat it with a thin layer of butter, dust in some cocoa powder or flour and tap out the excess. I also like to line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper by tracing the bottom of the pan onto a sheet and cutting it out. If you do this step, you only need to grease and flour the sides of the pan.

Coffee or Water

This recipe calls for three cups of water or coffee. I seriously just considered writing coffee in the recipe and calling it a day, but you can use just water if you don’t have coffee on hand.

However, I usually only use coffee with this recipe. I think it enhances the flavour nicely and compliments the chocolate. If you’re concerned about the coffee being overpowering, it’s not. Adding coffee won’t turn it into a coffee cake but instead, add a very subtle taste that makes the recipe that much better.

So I would recommend using coffee over water. Although I have an espresso machine and a coffee maker, I always keep on hand a container of decaf instant coffee for my baking (which I would totally recommend getting if you don’t have any). It makes it easier to make cold coffee and I prefer to use decaf since I usually serve this cake as a late-night dessert.

Checking for Doneness and Prepping the Cake

You’ll know your cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. In my oven, that usually takes about 25 minutes. However, each oven varies so start keeping an eye on your cakes around the 20 minute mark so that you don’t over bake them.

Once your cakes are done, let them cool at room temperature for about 10 minutes before flipping them onto a cooling rack. Don’t let them cool completely in the pan otherwise, you’ll suffer with caved-in tops.

When your cakes are completely cooled, you’ll need to level the top of your cake so that they are flat for stacking. I like to use a cake leveller, but you can also use a serrated knife to cut any domes off your cake layers before you stack them.

For stacking, place a dollop of icing onto a cake stand or plate to “glue” your base layer down. Apply a layer of frosting on top and repeat. Once the top layer is on, use a serrated knife to trim the edges of the cakes so that they are all the same size (in case your pans were a bit different or your placement skills were a little off). For this step, I like to place a small plate on top of my layered cake and use that as a guide for my cutting.

Once all of that is completed, frost or glaze your cake! In this post I’ve included my favourite icing recipe to pair with this cake, which is a rich chocolate-coffee frosting. If you’re not big on the whole coffee thing, substitute the coffee for milk or a milk alternative and it’ll turn out just as good!

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

This recipe yields a decadent and moist chocolate cake which can be whipped up in minutes using only one bowl!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Cool/Decorating Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes
Course Dessert
Servings 1 three layered cake

Equipment

  • 3 nine inch round cake pans

Ingredients
  

  • 4 ½ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup cocoa powder
  • 3 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • 1 ½ cups light brown sugar
  • 1 ½ cups vegetable oil
  • 3 cups cold coffee can substitute for water
  • 6 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup vinegar

Chocolate-Coffee Frosting

  • 1 cup butter room temperature
  • 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 7 cups icing sugar
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 11 tablespoons cold coffee

Regular Chocolate Frosting

  • 1 cup butter room temperature
  • 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 7 cups icing sugar
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 11 tablespoons cold milk or milk alternative

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease, flour and line three, 9 inch round cake pans.
  • In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add in both sugars and vegetable oil. Stir until combined.
  • Next, mix in the cold coffee or water and vanilla extract. Gently pour the vinegar evenly over the top of the batter and stir until combined.
  • Evenly disperse the batter into the prepared pans. Tap the pans on the counter to remove and air bubbles and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
  • Once done, let cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack. Cool completely before decorating.

For the Frosting

  • For either the plain chocolate or chocolate/coffee frosting, whip the butter in a stand mixer until fluffy. Add in the vanilla.
  • Gradually sift in the icing sugar, adding in about one cup at a time and stirring until combined in between each new addition. Sift in your cocoa powder.
  • Once all of the icing sugar is combined, add in your liquid (coffee for chocolate/coffee frosting and milk for plain chocolate frosting), a tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Depending on what consistency you're going for, you may need a few tablespoons more or less of the liquid.
  • Decorate and serve! This recipe is good to leave at room temperature for several hours and is best served at room temp, so if you decide to keep it in the fridge, make sure it returns to room temp before serving.

Notes

This recipe freezes beautifully and the cakes can be made weeks (sometimes months) in advance. Simply bake the cakes according to the instructions and cool completely before wrapping in plastic wrap and freezing. 
When you’re ready to decorate, remove them from the freezer and thaw to room temperature before using. 
Keyword baking, chocolate, easy

Last Words

This recipe freezes nicely and can be made weeks before you need a cake. It’s incredibly easy to make a stunning cake out of this recipe and you can use it to impress people while putting in minimal effort (win-win)!

If you like this content, follow my socials and subscribe to my blog to stay up to date with new content and inspo!

Tags:
Join Waitlist We will inform you when the product arrives in stock. Please leave your valid email address below.