I Tried the Most Popular Chocolate Cake Recipe on the Internet

As an avid home baker, I’m always looking for simple recipes to introduce to my collection. While investigating the best simple recipe for chocolate cake, I kept stumbling upon one — sitting unbothered at the top of my Google search page result — from the blog Add a Pinch. After digging deeper, I realized it’s racked up nearly 5,000 five-star reviews. One person mentioned on the site, “I have been making this recipe for many years now, and every person in my family requests this chocolate cake for their birthday. I look forward to eating it several times a year.” I was easily convinced to test this out after sifting through a bunch of endearing comments. So, with fall in full swing and more time on my hands, I decided to try it to see if it was worth the hype.

Get the recipe: The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe {Ever}

How to Make the Most Popular Chocolate Cake on the Internet

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Prepare two nine-inch cake pans by coating them with baking spray, or buttering and lightly flouring them.

Then whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder in a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer.

Combine the milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Then, add this wet mixture to the flour mixture and mix it at medium speed until it is well-combined. Reduce the speed and slowly add the boiling water to the cake batter until well-blended.

Distribute the cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake the cakes for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the chocolate cake comes out clean.

Take the cakes out of the oven and allow them to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove them from the pans to chill completely.

In the meantime, assemble the chocolate buttercream frosting by beating the cocoa powder — whisk through the cocoa powder in a large bowl to remove any lumps — and butter until creamy. Next, pour in the sugar and milk, alternating between the confectioner’s sugar and the milk. After each addition, mix on high speed for about a minute. This step is crucial for making the frosting fluffy. Then, use this frosting to decorate your cake.

My Honest Review of the Most Popular Chocolate Cake on the Internet

One aspect of this recipe that I love is that it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare the batter. Once it bakes, you can make the chocolate buttercream frosting to have it ready when it’s time to decorate.

I baked this chocolate cake and let it cool overnight in the fridge so it would be easier to frost. The suggested buttercream frosting recipe is fluffy, which makes it easy to decorate the cake layers. I served this to guests who were spending a week at my house — including my picky sister — and they could not stop raving about how delicious it was.

The espresso powder used in the batter and frosting makes this chocolate cake stand apart from the rest. It helps enhance the flavor of the chocolate, delivering ultra-rich and decadent bites. Even though I didn’t serve this cake until the next day, it still remained fluffy and spongy. The next time I have a celebratory gathering, I cannot wait to pull out this secret showstopper to impress my loved ones.

Tips for Making the Most Popular Chocolate Cake on the Internet

• Use buttermilk. For the fluffiest crumb possible, use buttermilk in this recipe instead of regular milk. This creamy fridge staple helps activate the baking soda, which in turn helps your batter rise in the oven.

• Don’t overmix the batter. While you may be tempted to overmix the batter, try not to — because you can accidentally overdevelop the gluten in the recipe, leading to a dense cake.

• Frost on a cold cake. To create a bakery-like finish, don’t immediately frost the cake once it comes out of the oven. For this recipe, I allowed my cake to sit in the fridge overnight so that the crumbs wouldn’t break apart when frosting. Then, once you’re done decorating and ready to serve, just let it come back to room temperature.

Get the recipe: The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe {Ever}

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