Chocolate cake is one of my favorite things in the whole world. But, if you’ve read Add a Pinch for very long, you could’ve probably already guessed that little tidbit of information. And this Chocolate Velvet Cake? Well, it needs to happen in your life soon. You will love it!
With it’s signature crumb and flavor, this chocolate cake is an unmistakable velvet cake recipe. Unlike the red velvet cake of my childhood and the blue velvet cake I dreamt up a while back, this chocolate velvet cake just lets the chocolate shine through.
And boy does it ever shine!
This chocolate velvet cake comes with a bit of a history. You see, I was asked last summer to develop a recipe for novelist Jane Porter for her book, The Good Wife.
Jane and I went back and forth about the character, her history, her passions and hobbies, and the like. I was thrilled when we decided that only a chocolate cake would work! I loved reading through the character notes and developing the perfect chocolate cake that held a touch of Southern roots while still being a modern cake.
Here’s my Chocolate Velvet Cake Recipe. I think you’ll love it.
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Chocolate Velvet Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113 g) butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups (297 g) sugar
- 2 large (100 g) eggs, room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons (15.75 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon (2.6 g) kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon (1.16 g) espresso powder
- 1 cup (227 g) buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (4.7 g) vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) baking soda
- 1 tablespoon (14.9 g) distilled white vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350o F. Prepare three 8-inch cake pans with butter and flour, taking care to remove any excess flour.
- Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add eggs one at a time, completely incorporating after each addition.
- Sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and espresso powder in a separate medium bowl, set aside.
- Pour buttermilk and vanilla into a measuring cup, set aside.
- Alternately, mix flour mixture and buttermilk mixture into butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
- Scrape down sides of mixing bowl to ensure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Reduce speed of mixer and stir in baking soda, making sure incorporated into batter. Then, stir in the vinegar, taking care not to over mix.
- Distribute cake batter evenly into the three cake pans. Bake for 25 minutes or until cakes have gently pulled away from the edges of the cake pans and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. You can follow my tips for how to tell when your cake is done.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool. Cool in pans for about 10 minutes and then turn out onto cooling racks until cakes are completely cooled before frosting cake.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
For the frosting, you can use a favorite buttercream frosting or my chocolate heritage frosting. I think you’ll love it, too!
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
how do you make the frosting?
Meryl, I used my Chocolate Heritage Frosting Recipe for this cake. Just click on this blue link to go to the frosting recipe. I hope you enjoy.
Can’t wait to make this cake. What was the amazing frosting shown. Please share.
Carol, I used my Chocolate Heritage Frosting Recipe with this cake. I hope you enjoy the cake.
Hi is there a substitute for expresso powder?
You can omit the espresso powder if you wish, Fazlin.
Lovely
Yum! Love this. Made it for my grandsons birthday
I’m so glad you like this cake, Jeanine!
Can I use 2 9” pans or a 9×13 and still have the cake delicious
Tim, you could use 2 9-inch pans but would have batter left over. You can always make a few cupcakes with the excess batter.
I must say you, ma’am, did a great job with this recipe taking in the fact that all these ingredients are easily available or prepared. I’ve been looking for a chocolate velvet cake recipe but all the ones I came across weren’t using ingredients that can be easily sourced where I stay. I’m glad I found this. Thank you so much for this recipe.