Enjoy a slice of classic Buttermilk Chocolate Cake which is made with simple ingredients like buttermilk, cocoa powder and oil, all topped with ganache. This simple cake is full of chocolate flavor!
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With a moist texture and a deliciously indulgent chocolate flavor, this cake is perfect for satisfying your sweet tooth and adding a touch of comfort to any occasion. Try out this recipe today and discover the perfect blend of rich chocolate and buttermilk in every bite!
The beauty of this cake is that you can eat it as is or…heat it up ever so slightly so the ganache becomes a chocolate sauce. Yep, that’s another reason why this cake is grand!
Ingredients and substitutions for Buttermilk Chocolate Cake
- Eggs: The egg binds and adds structure to our cake resulting in that soft interior.
- Sugar: The best sugar here is a mix of light brown sugar which results in a depth of flavor alongside the coffee and the superfine or caster sugar which adds the sweetness to the cake resulting in our cake having a balanced flavor.
- Coffee and Hot Water: The coffee gives depth to the overall flavors within the cake and the hot water creates a nice light texture alongside the sunflower oil.
- Sunflower Oil: Sunflower oil instead of butter is better here because this makes for a light texture and lends more beautifully to the cake. You could substitute with olive oil for a more earthy flavor.
- Baking soda: This is the key to the cake rising thanks to the brown sugar and cocoa powder (the acid that baking soda needs to work with to rise) so don't leave out, unless you are using self raising flour.
- Baking powder: Alongside the baking soda, this helps our cake rise so it is not stodgy, but a nice light crumb inside.
- Plain flour: Plain flour or all purpose is best because it helps give the cake it’s light texture and nice crumb. You also don’t want to overwork the batter so you don’t end up with a firm cake texture.
- Cocoa Powder: The star ingredient here so you’ll want a nice high quality cocoa powder for a truly chocolate packed flavor. I do not recommend substituting melted chocolate in equal measure here as this can be quite dense, however, chocolate chips or chunks would work well as an addition.
- Salt: Without salt the chocolate flavors will be dull so it is essential to adding dimension to the cake. Sea salt is best, but rock salt also works well.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Buttermilk Chocolate Cake:
Step 1: Wet base: Whisk the eggs, sugars, buttermilk and sunflower oil before adding the coffee, boiling water and cocoa powder until smooth.
Step 2: Dry ingredients: Stir together with a fork (this will help remove large lumps) and toss into the wet mixture.
Step 3: Cake tin: Pour and smooth out and bake until a skewer comes out clean.
Step 4: Cool completely: Set aside to cool completely.
Step 5: Ganache frosting: Heat the heavy cream in a heatproof bowl alongside the sugar in a double boiler.
Step 6: Thick like Nutella: Stir in the chocolate until smooth then cool to a thick consistency, spread on top of the cake swooshing. Allow to set.
Step 7: Serve up and slice: Dig in!
FAQ’s for the best Buttermilk Chocolate Cake
Homemade buttermilk is usually more curdled thanks to the acidity from vinegar or lemon juice as opposed to smooth and tangy so it will likely result in a different texture or flavor in your cake. Homemade buttermilk is best in non baked goods because it will also affect the leavening ingredients (baking soda etc) in baked goods.
More easy chocolate cakes you’ll love
Buttermilk Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Layer Cake
- 110 grams / 2 large eggs room temperature
- 100 grams / ½ cup superfine/caster sugar
- 175 grams / ¾ cup light brown sugar
- 160 grams / ⅔ cup buttermilk
- 111 grams / ½ cup brewed coffee
- 59 grams / ¼ cup boiling water
- 114 grams / ½ cup sunflower oil
- 83 grams / ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 214 grams / 1 ⅓ cups plain flour sifted
- 6 grams / 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 3 grams / ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea or kosher salt
Chocolate Ganache
- 151 grams / ⅔ cups heavy cream
- 28 grams / 2 tablespoons superfine/caster sugar
- 100 grams / 3.5 ounces dark chocolate finely chopped
Instructions
Chocolate cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line the base of a baking tin with greaseproof paper.
- Place the eggs, sugars, buttermilk and sunflower oil into a bowl and combine with a whisk until the eggs are broken up and smooth.
- In a small separate bowl, place the coffee, boiling water and cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.
- Pour into the buttermilk mixture and whisk to combine.
- In a separate bowl, place the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir to combine with a fork (this will help remove large lumps).
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and combine until your batter is smooth.
- Pour into your cake tin and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Remove and allow to cool before removing from the tin.
- Turn onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Chocolate ganache
- For the ganache frosting, place the heavy cream into a heatproof bowl alongside the sugar on medium heat until simmering at the edges.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until the mixture is smooth (if the chocolate doesn’t melt, simply return the bowl to the hot water in the saucepan to warm it up.
- Trim the tops of your cakes to ensure they are level and spoon 2 tablespoons of the loose ganache on top of each cake and spread across the entire top, to coat your cakes.
- Set the ganache aside or chill for 30 minutes until it is thick (like Nutella).
- Remove the ganache and spread a ¼-inch layer of ganache onto the bottom layer evenly.
- Place the next cake layer on top and spoon approximately ½ cup of ganache on top and spread out evenly in a thin layer over the entire cake, scraping the spatula clean on a different bowl so any crumbs do not get mixed into your remaining ganache.
- Smooth out and ensure you do not mix the crumb coating portion into the remaining buttercream.
- Place the cake into the fridge to set for 30 minutes or set at a cool room temperature for 1 hour.
- Serve up and slice.
- Dig in!
Notes
- Cocoa Powder: A nice high quality cocoa powder for a truly chocolate packed flavor. Whilst replacing with melted chocolate is not recommended, chocolate chips or chunks would work well as an addition.
- Chocolate: Finely chopped chocolate with 50% cocoa solids helps to avoid making our ganache too sweet. If you use a chocolate that has cocoa solids above 70%, it is best to increase the sugar in your ganache to help balance the bitterness.
- Coffee and Hot Water: The coffee gives depth to the overall flavors within the cake and the hot water creates a nice light texture alongside the sunflower oil.
- Sugar: The best sugar here is a mix of light brown sugar which results in a depth of flavor alongside the coffee and the superfine or caster sugar which adds the sweetness resulting in our cake having a balanced flavor.
- Best not to use homemade buttermilk here: Homemade buttermilk is usually more curdled thanks to the acidity from vinegar or lemon juice as opposed to smooth and tangy so it will likely result in a different texture or flavor in your cake. Homemade buttermilk is best in non baked goods (pancakes, for example) because it will also affect the leavening ingredients (baking soda, etc) in baked goods.
- Cake tin: A spring form tin that is 20 cm or 8 inches was used to get the cake out of the tin easily, however, a standard cake tin of similar size would also work well.
Nutrition
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Made it and loved it?
If you have made this recipe, it would mean so much to leave a review below to help more people find this.
Rebecca
Made this for a friend's potluck and baked it in a brownie tin which means the cake didn't turn out as high as yours, but it disappeared so fast! Love how it didn't need much time to make, none of that whipping for a long time; oh and the ganache was perfect, not too sweet! I'm putting that ganache alone in my back pocket for other recipes!!!
Sylvie Taylor
Thanks so much Rebecca!