Simple moist chocolate cake

Ingredients

What you need.

• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 and a half cups sugar
• Half a cup of cocoa powder
• 1 and a half teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• Half a teaspoon of salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup fresh milk
• Half a cup of vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 1 cup hot water, or hot coffee

Method

How to bake it.

1. Step 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line your cake tins.
2. Step 2. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
3. Step 3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, milk, oil and vanilla until well combined.
4. Step 4. Add the dry ingredients and mix gently until they are just combined.
5. Step 5. Add the hot water or coffee slowly and mix. The batter will be quite thin. That is normal, and it is what keeps the cake moist.
6. Step 6. Pour the batter into your prepared tins.
7. Step 7. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a skewer in the centre comes out clean.
8. Step 8. Let the cake cool completely before you frost it.

Tips

Why the coffee matters.

• Use hot coffee instead of hot water. It deepens the chocolate flavour and you will not taste the coffee.
• The thin batter is the point. Do not add flour to thicken it, or you lose the moisture.
• Cake flour gives a softer crumb than plain flour. If you only have plain flour, take out two tablespoons per cup and replace them with cornflour.
• Harare sits at altitude. If the middle sinks, drop the bicarbonate of soda to three quarters of a teaspoon next time.

Prefer to weigh your ingredients? Our easy chocolate cake is the same idea in grams, with buttermilk in place of plain milk. For the frosted version we bake for you, see our chocolate cakes.

Want to learn it in person?

Take a baking lesson at the studio.

Cake basics, buttercream finishing, fondant, sugar flowers. Small group lessons in the studio. Beginners welcome.

See lessons →