A gorgeous one layer Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with a tender crumb. Covered in creamy real chocolate frosting and a boatload of chocolate chips, it’s THE best chocolate cake EVER.
This cake👆🏻is the answer.
To what, you ask? To EVERYTHING. I’m talking a one bowl, face-plant-worthy, I-must-have-seconds kind of chocolate cake.
If you’re looking for a go-to Chocolate Buttermilk Cake recipe, then this is your day.
It took a number of tries to get this cake just right, but it was more than worth it. All I knew was that I wanted a chocolate cake that was THE chocolate cake.
You know the one. The cake that everyone requests for their birthday. The cake recipe that you print out and keep in your recipe box because it’s THAT good. The cake that when served, everyone asks for seconds.
And yes, this is THE cake.
When I started recipe testing 👆🏻 I knew I wanted a thick one layer chocolate cake that could be made with just a bowl and spoon. My first attempt used melted butter, and while it looked great in form, it was too dense and dry. I cannot stand dry cake, so I knew we had some work to do.
I then switched to vegetable oil as the main fat, as it tends to lend itself to moist chocolate cakes, as I know from my favourite Mint Chocolate Layer Cake. However the cake rose too much in the middle and tasted vaguely of oil – ew.
However the third time round we got lucky. ❤️ Like seriously lucky. The perfect Chocolate Buttermilk Cake was born. It’s soft and tender with a rich cocoa flavour and a gorgeous texture.
I went back to melted butter, but this time added a little more sugar, a little less buttermilk and a little more water – yes hot water is the ultimate ingredient in chocolate cake. And then and there my new favourite chocolate cake was born.
Once you take that cake and add my favourite real chocolate frosting AND a boatload of chocolate chips, you have one downright delicious treat. It’s chocolate on chocolate on chocolate. And I love it.
It’s the ultimate chocolate lovers cake. And the fact that it can be made with a bowl and spoon, just makes it all the more tempting.
There’s no exotic flavours. No outrageous ingredients. Just an old-fashioned, lick-the-bowl, chocolate cake. Even though the cake only uses cocoa powder for it’s chocolate flavour, it is oh-so-choco-licious.
And once you add lashes of luscious chocolate frosting, you are all set. And this frosting is next level. Made with melted dark chocolate, it’s a fluffy, creamy, melt-in-your-mouth kinda buttercream.
Honestly, I can’t wait to make this Chocolate Buttermilk Cake again. And handy tip, if you don’t have store bought buttermilk on hand, you can make your own. Just take 1/2 cup of regular milk and add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar. Voila! Homemade buttermilk.
I really hope you enjoy this lovely chocolate cake. If you do make it, be sure to take a photo and share it with me on Instagram.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for more amazing recipe ideas.
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PinDescription
A gorgeous one layer chocolate buttermilk cake with real chocolate frosting.
Ingredients
Chocolate buttermilk cake
- 210 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) plain flour
- 40 grams (1/2 cup) cocoa powder
- 90 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 170 grams (3/4 cup or 1.5 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk*
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) hot water
Chocolate frosting
- 115 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 375 grams (3 cups) icing or powder sugar
- 100 grams (2/3 cup) dark chocolate
- 1–2 tablespoons milk*
- 75 grams (1/2 cup) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C (360 F). Grease and line an 8 inch round cake tin with baking or parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, add flour, cocoa powder, sugars, baking powder and baking soda. Boil the kettle and pour out 1/2 cup of hot water and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, add butter, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk and stir briefly. Add butter mixture to dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add hot water and stir until chocolate cake batter is smooth. It will be a thin batter – that’s ok.
- Place in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave on a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the frosting, place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and creamy. Meanwhile melt the chocolate in a microwave, stirring in between 20 second bursts, until just melted and set aside.
- Add half the sugar and one tablespoon of milk and beat until combined. Add the remaining sugar and beat until smooth.
- Add melted chocolate, ensuring the chocolate is still smooth and melted but is not warm. Beat until the chocolate is completely mixed through. If frosting is too thick, add an extra tablespoon of milk. Generously frost the top and sides of the cake using a spatula. Sprinkle over chocolate chips.
Notes
*Make your own buttermilk by adding 1 teaspoon white vinegar to 1/2 cup milk.
*If your frosting is too thick, add an extra tablespoon or two of milk and beat until smooth.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice of cake
- Calories: 540
Keywords: Chocolate, Cake, Frosting, Buttermilk, Dessert
Just baked this cake a few hours ago. After my very first bite it took me right back to my childhood days when my next door neighbor would bake her famed chocolate cake but never share her recipe. Well….I found it here!!
This cake is so wonderfully moist with a tender crumb. The buttermilk lends a fabulously creamy texture to this cake. Not too sweet, not too rich and very forgiving too. I added a whole cup of homemade buttermilk instead of half a cup and realized it only after it was in the oven.
I baked the cake in two 8 inch pans and adjusted the baking time as well. Rotated the cake pans midway for even baking and tested at around 23 minutes.
The cake layers baked evenly which I absolutely loved.
I had every intention to ice it but my daughter loves naked cakes so we went that route instead and enjoyed it with a cup of rooibos tea.
I’m sure it would stack beautifully if needed. Will try that next time.
All your recipe testing was totally worth it! This is chocolate cake perfection.
★★★★★
Joy, thank you so much for your lovely feedback! Isn’t it special the way food can transport you straight back to your childhood?! Love that it worked with a whole cup of buttermilk too xxx
I made this cake it was a big hit thanks for sharing
★★★★★
Amazing! Thanks for sharing Keshia!
I did this recipe in layers, cooking time 15 minutes with 3x layers.
Used this for my birthday, thank you so much!!
★★★★★
Oh amazing! So glad you enjoyed it Baci!
Hi Jessica
I have made this cake quite a few times; a favourite with my grandsons. My grandson is celebrating his 11th birthday on Saturday with his 12 friends.
My daughter has asked me to make two of these . Can I make them tomorrow, which will be Thursday, in the UK, to be decorated on Saturday before the party.
How long can one keep this cake for.
Many thanks, Vimla
★★★★★
Hi Vimla, I’m so glad you like this cake – it’s one of my favourites. I think it would be fine to make the cake two days in advance. If you are worried about freshness, you can always freeze the cakes once they are cooled and then defrosted and frost on the day you are serving. Hope that helps!
I decreased the butter by 1 Tbs. and added 1 Tbs. of oil. Used Droste cocoa, rounded 1/2 cup. DELICIOUS
★★★★★
Awesome!! So glad you enjoyed it Pat!! ☺️
WEll, I have been looking for a chocolate cake that highlight buttermilk, uses butter and NOT oil and is one layer! and this is it. So good. Now, sadly, I am intolerant of brown sugar/molassas. So I used all white sugar, reduced the full amount of sugar to ONE cup. And ADDED 1 1/2 tsp instant coffee powder to the chocolate mix. Both brown sugar and coffee enhance the flavor of the cocoa, and when I realized that I was not supposed to be dating brown sugar (and a while lot of other sugars, EXCEPT white–wierd, hunh?) I started substitution the instant coffee. This is one delicious, light luscious cake. The other change I made ws to use white whole wheat pastry flour. So a few changes to accommodate dietary needs, but it did not matter. This cake came out beautifully. Oh, did I mention that I baked it in a square 8×8′ pan in my ToASTER/Convection OVEN as I no longer have a conventional oven? Still GREAT. Thank you so much. I much prefer using butter in my cakes because I LOVE the flavor that it imparts. And I use salted, and reduce the added salt accordingly. So much better than unsalted. So thank you for a GREAT buttermilk chocolate cake. I also took a refi on your Black Forrest Cake and added in some dried cherries to the batter. Just mixed them in. Then we eat this with whipped cream.. No way to keep ice cream, and there is often stuff in the mix that I cannot eat. So thanks again for a delicious dessert. Surprised Hubby with this and he loved it as well. WE get to eat the WHOLE thing as there are no kids around right now.. Now I know it works for the holidays!.
★★★★★
Awesome! I’m glad it was still delicious with white sugar too. And love the idea of adding dried cherries to the batter.
Hello, I would like to know what type and brand of cocoa you use for this recipe, is it natural or Dutch processed? Thank you.
Hi Ruth, I just use natural cocoa for this recipe.
Hi Jessica, I would like to make this as a NUMBER 4 birthday cake. Do you think doubling this recipe would alter it in any way? I have doubled many recipes in the past, some work and others don’t but I’d really like to try this as it looks and sounds delicious 😀
Hi Alisar, I haven’t tried it myself but I think it would be ok. Alternatively, you could try my Chocolate Fudge Cake which produces an equally delicious cake but has a slightly larger batter, producing two 8 inch cakes – https://www.sweetestmenu.com/chocolate-fudge-layer-cake/
Thanks so much 😊
Hi Jess
Would like to make this cake, but would like to replace the butter with vegetable/canola oil. What quantity can i use? Is it the same as the melted butter 3/4 cup?
Also what is the difference of using normal butter to unsalted? Some recipes have added salt.
Hi Rosa, thanks for your question! The general rule of thumb when subbing oil for butter is to add a little less, so in this case, closer to 1/2 cup. However I haven’t tested oil in this cake recipe so I’m reluctant to recommend. Alternatively, you might like to try one of my other chocolate cake recipes that use oil, like this one – https://www.sweetestmenu.com/malteser-cake/#tasty-recipes-14657
Can I make cupcakes out of these instead?
Hi Melanie, you sure can. Or you can try my chocolate cupcake recipe here – https://www.sweetestmenu.com/nutella-stuffed-chocolate-cupcakes/
Thank you for this recipe! I’m single and love the fact that this cake is one layer. I used a 9” cake pan and cooked it about 40 minutes and it came out great! The texture is very light and the top is a bit crunchy . Not too sweet either which I love. I did add about 1/4 teaspoon of salt to help bring out the chocolate flavor. Also, I don’t care much for icing so I’m eating it ‘naked’! Delish!!!
Aww so glad like it Diane! It’s one of my faves too. Adding salt is a great idea! And I love eating cakes without frosting too ❤️
Absolutely lovely cake! So moist and chocolately. Thank you so much for the recipe. The kids couldn’t believe I made it from scratch and said it was the best choc vajecthey had ever tasted ☺️☺️☺️
★★★★★
So happy to hear that Charlene! Thank you for such lovely feedback ❤️❤️
Made this with butter and vegetable oil ( didn’t have enough butter) and was delicious.. yum yum. Will make
Again
So glad you liked it Al! 🙂
For the frosting, can I replace dark chocolate with semisweet?
Yes Heidi! You sure can! ☺️
Hello! I scrolled through all of the comments and didnt find anyone asking about castor sugar — would I be able to substitute castor sugar for any other sugar since I do not have that readily available? If so, how much?
Thank you
Hi Libertie, thanks for asking. You can substitute caster sure for granulated sugar or white sugar. To find out more about caster sugar, you might want to read this blog post: https://www.sweetestmenu.com/what-is-caster-sugar/
Hope that helps!
This was my first recipe from this site but won’t be my last !’ve just made this cake as the base for my german chocolate cake. It baked up well and was light and fluffy. I made my own buttermilk with 2% and vinegar and it turned out great! Thanks. Happy baking!
★★★★
Hi Donya! Thank you for such a lovely review! I’m so pleased you enjoyed the recipe ☺️ I always make my own buttermilk using vinegar too, such a lifesaver!
Hi there., I recently made this cake. The flavor was delicious… Not too sweet, very moist and nice and chocolatey. My cake was very dense though.. Almost like brownie texture. Is this how it should be? Just curious…. I would definitely make it again. 🙂
Hi Stacey! I’m so glad you enjoyed this cake! It’s one of my favourites. It is supposed to be lovely moist but not as dense as a brownie or mud cake. Perhaps yours was slightly under baked? Thanks for the lovely feedback! 💕
HI, thank you for your reply! I doubled the recipe and baked in a large (12 inch) round pan. Maybe that had something to do with it….or it may be possible that I didn’t double the ingredients properly. I was just curious to know if it was supposed to be like that. I will try again as it was delicious, just very dense 🙂
we are going to make the cake
Hope you enjoy it!
Hello,
I followed the recipe and baked the cake in an 8 inch cake tin…I took it out of the oven after 50 minutes when the skewer I inserted came out clean, but after I cut the cake the inside was very under-cooked. Would could be the problem?
Hi Tina, the skewer test should work, if you insert it right into the middle of the deepest part of the cake. Look for other clues too, like if the cake springs back to the touch or starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. Every oven is different. I recommend everyone get an oven thermometer to accurately see what temp your oven is. I hope that helps a little.