This Hershey’s chocolate cake needs no introduction, as it’s been around for almost a century. It’s one of the great chocolate cakes of all time. If you’ve never made it, you’re in for an old-fashioned treat. And if you’ve never made it with my wee spin on it, you’re in for an even greater treat.
All I’ve done is toss in some instant espresso powder to the batter and the frosting. It amps up the flavor. And because I wanted a frosting that was more buttery and less cloyingly sweet, I use a greater proportion of butter to sugar, which makes the frosting soooo light–nothing at all like the cloying, gritty American buttercreams out there. That’s it. I don’t like to mess (too much) with perfection.
☞ READ MY ARTICLE: Forever and Completely, in which I explain that few things in life are truly forever and completely, save for my adoration for this rich chocolate cake and my love, The One, of 30 years.
Contents
Why Our Testers Loved This
It’s no surprise that the testers are calling this “a cake that screams perfection.” Not only did they adore the rich chocolate flavor of the cake and frosting, but they were delighted that this could be whipped up in just 20 minutes with only a bowl, spoon, and hand mixer.
What You’ll Need to Make This
- Hershey’s Cocoa—Since this is a Hershey’s chocolate cake, you simply gotta use Hershey brand natural cocoa. I sometimes use their extra-dark cocoa for a seriously deep flavor. If you need to substitute another cocoa powder, be sure to use natural unsweetened cocoa, not Dutch-process cocoa.
- Instant espresso powder–The addition of espresso powder enhances the chocolate flavor of the cake, and I highly recommend it. If you don’t have instant espresso powder, you can replace the espresso and hot water with 1 cup of very hot coffee.
- Vegetable oil–Any neutral-flavored oil will work, such as vegetable oil, canola, or sunflower. Don’t use strongly flavored oils as they’ll alter the flavor of the cake.
- Vanilla extract–Only the real stuff, please! (You know how I feel about the fake stuff.)
How to Make Hershey’s Classic Chocolate Cake
- Crank the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans and line with parchment.
- Stir the sugar, flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center.
- Add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla into the well.
- Beat the ingredients with an electric hand mixer for 2 minutes.
- Beat in the boiling water. The batter will be wicked thin. Fear not, that’s as it should be.
- Divide the batter between the two cake pans. Bake until a tester inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then invert onto wire racks spritzed with cooking spray to cool completely.
- Place the first layer on a cake stand and spread frosting over the top. Add the second layer and frost all over.
Common Questions
Yes. I suggest freezing the cake unfrosted. Wrap the cooled cake layers individually in plastic and freeze for up to 3 months. Unwrap the layer and thaw at room temperature before assembling and frosting.
Yes. The cake batter can be divided among 12 jumbo cupcake wells and baked for about 20 minutes.
Helpful Tips
- Mix your ingredients in a deep bowl so that everything stays contained when you start beating it.
- To make sure your cake layers are identical in height, weigh the batter. I use a digital kitchen scale.
Storage
Store the cake under a cake dome or loosely tented with plastic at room temperature for up to 3 days.
More Great Chocolate Cake Recipes
Write a Review
If you make this recipe, or any dish on LC, consider leaving a review, a star rating, and your best photo in the comments below. I love hearing from you.–David
I made this cake last week, and, my goodness, it’s the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had! I love the espresso in the batter and the frosting. The cake is very “more-ish” and moist, and the frosting is smooth.
I froze some slices, and it froze beautifully, too. Thank you for the recipe, I will definitely be making this for a long time to come!
Melanie M.
Hershey’s Chocolate Cake Redux
Ingredients
- Butter or baking spray, for the pans and wire rack
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pans
- ¾ cup Hershey’s Cocoa
- 2 tablespoons instant espresso
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup mild vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 batch Hershey's chocolate frosting recipe
Instructions
Make the Hershey’s chocolate cake
- Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and position a rack in the middle of the oven. Generously butter and flour (or spray with baking spray) two 9-inch round baking pans, tapping out any excess flour. Line each pan with parchment paper rounds. Butter or spray a large wire rack. Set aside.
- In a large bowl with a wooden spoon (surely you have one of those, yes?) or spatula, stir together the 2 cups granulated sugar, 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour ¾ cup Hershey’s Cocoa, 2 tablespoons instant espresso, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center.
- Plop the 2 large eggs into the well and pour in the 1 cup whole milk, ½ cup mild vegetable oil, and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
- Using a handheld electric mixer (c'mon, surely you still have one of those, too?!), beat the ingredients on medium-high speed for 2 minutes.
- Stir in the 1 cup boiling water. The batter will appear alarmingly thin but fear not, that's the way it should be.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans, dividing it evenly, about 1 pound, 8 ounces (680g) in each pan.
- Cool the cakes in the pans on the buttered wire rack for 10 minutes. Then invert the cakes onto the rack, remove the pans, turn the cakes right side up, and let them cool completely.
Frost and serve the Hershey’s chocolate cake
- Place a single cake layer on a platter or cake stand and spread a goodly amount of frosting on top. Place the second cake layer on the first and frost the sides and top, creating as few or as many lavish swoops and swirls with the frosting as desired.
- Cut the frosted cake into gargantuan wedges—none of those diminutive slivers for us, thank you very much—and serve.
Notes
- Use a deep bowl–Mix your ingredients in a deep bowl so that everything stays contained when you start beating it.
- Use a scale–To make sure your cake layers are identical in height, weigh the batter. I use a digital kitchen scale.
- Storage–Store the cake covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. Unfrosted cake layers can be frozen for up to 3 months. Wrap them in plastic before freezing.
An LC Original
View More Original RecipesNutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This really is the best chocolate cake! I’ve made lots of cakes, and this chocolate cake is absolutely the best.
I prefer using butter in baking; however, I make an exception with this cake, which calls for oil. Yes, the batter is thin, but that’s okay. And the frosting comes together beautifully, complements the cake, spreads easily, and isn’t overpowering.
The first time I made this cake, I brought it to a small dinner gathering. After everyone had their cake, the room went silent, given that everyone was blissfully sated.
If I’d been wearing pearls, it would’ve been a Donna Reed moment, maybe June Cleaver. Imagine mixing all of the ingredients with a hand mixer before dinner, whipping up some frosting after dinner, and serving up the most delicious chocolate layer cake shortly thereafter…nothing complicated, nothing fancy, just a cake that screams perfection.
Wooden spoons and hand mixers are perfect here. Just make sure your bowls are deep enough so that the flour doesn’t go flying; the same goes for the confectioners’ sugar in the frosting. Too bad there are only two of us, and one of us watches our weight!
It’s a perfect cake for a celebration or just because you love chocolate. The espresso powder adds a nice undertone and cuts the chocolate just a bit.
This moist chocolate cake recipe is delicious and very simple to make. The cake has a rich chocolate flavor. Indeed, the addition of espresso powder enhances and enriches the chocolate flavor. I do this whenever I make a chocolate dessert, and it never fails to pay off.
I suggest using cocoa powder instead of flour to dust the baking pans. This will eliminate the white powdery “crust” that will appear on a chocolate cake after it’s baked. The frosting is an excellent everyday type of frosting with a rich chocolate flavor resulting from the addition of espresso powder. For a more special occasion, I’d make a nice Swiss meringue buttercream, a whipped ganache, or even a whipped cream frosting. I loved using my electric hand mixer rather than dragging out the big 7-quart mixer!
“Pure bliss,” “perfection,” and “supreme” are a few words that come to mind after a bite of this cake. If a food could bring about international peace, then this must be the one.
It was supremely easy to put together. The addition of espresso powder deepened the chocolate flavor, and the icing recipe was easy to work with and wasn’t overpowering. I would skip all three meals and just have cake for a day. With a nice glass of Prosecco, it’s sublime.
This is a decadent chocolate cake. The ingredients are probably in your pantry and easy to whip up for some chocolate love. The batter is thin when done mixing but cooks up to a lovely, moist cake. Espresso powder deepens the perfect rich chocolate flavor of the cake. We felt the frosting was a little overwhelming and would tone it down in the future.
Valentine’s Day is nice and seeing your beautiful chocolate cake makes me feel like I just got a Valentine’s Day card. Thanks, David.
PS…I need to Bake 10 Sweet Potato Pies for a Black History Month Event on Tuesday. Any suggestions to make it easier, val.
Thanks, val. Vappy Valentine’s Day to you, too.
When I need to make multiples of the same dessert (say this cake), I multiply the recipe by three. (I use three because I know that my 7-quart KitchenAid mixer can handle that much.) So say I’m baking nine cakes, I set out three sets of ingredients, each set for three cakes (3 x 3 = 9). I then make one tripled batch, divide the batter into the pans and bake it off. When those come out of the oven, I mix the next tripled batch and bake it off, and so forth. What you really have to watch out for is that you’re being precise in measuring each multiplied ingredient. The reason is some recipes don’t do well when tripled or quadrupled. They can be doubled at the most. IK hope this helps.
A year has gone by. No more GLEE for me – after Cory’s death I couldn’t watch. You guys are still in love & are off oogling gauchos. I’m dreaming of chocolate cake. Life is good.
Oh, Dottie, you always have a way of getting right to the point, don’t you? “Oogling gauchos.” How did you ever know?
AS usual a wonderful blog/story – you have a perfect way with words. I had my ‘The One’ read it and of course the recipe for the cake. WELLLLL he’s been talking about wanting to make a chocolate cake for several months now. Today we are going out to get a few of the ingredients that we don’t have on hand. I don’t believe I’ve seen Hershey’s coca in Canada so we’re going to use Fry’s Cocoa instead, if we can’t find the Hershey’s brand. I’m hoping everything will turn out just as scrumptious as it sounds – we do have a wooden spoon but no hand mixer – just a nice cherry red stand mixer. All in all I’m sure we’ll muddle through. Thanks once again for the wonderful recipe and baring your soul as only you can. All our best to you and The One.
Ivan, I’m so glad that you and your The One enjoyed the piece. And about substituting ingredients, I’ve used different cocoas at different times and the cakes have all been successful. So I think you’ll have no problem. I wish you both a wonderful Valentine’s Day.
Welllllllllllll, everything turned out JUST YUMMY. Used the stand mixer with the whisk attachment, since we don’t have a hand mixer. Both the cake and the frosting have just the right hint of coffee to them–absolutely delicious. NOT going to get on the scales for awhile though I don’t think!
Bravo, Ivan. Glad to know it turned out well. And while I may promise you a lovely dessert, I don’t promise 32-inch jeans….
LOL, trust me – my days and my TO’s days of 32 inch waist jeans are long past – that is unless you’re talking leg length, then yes 32 for him and 33 for me.
Well, Ivan, I was trying to be demure….