Triple Chocolate Cake
If you love chocolate, this triple chocolate cake recipe is for you! My cake is comprised of the best chocolate cake layers, rich chocolate frosting and covered in mini chocolate chips. I use both cocoa powder and melted chocolate in the chocolate buttercream to really make this cake a chocoholics dream! This is by far one of my favorite recipes in a while- I’m eating leftovers as I type this.
Ingredient Notes
- Chocolate Chips: I love baking with Guittard Semisweet Baking Wafers because they melt so smoothly, but you can use regular chocolate chips or whatever you have on hand. I use wafers for the cake batter but for this cake you will also need mini chocolate chips for decoration.
- Coffee – anytime you’re baking something chocolatey adding coffee doesn’t hurt. I often add espresso powder to brownies and for cakes such as this one I add freshly brewed hot coffee. The coffee just enhances the chocolate flavor, the baked cake will not have a coffee flavor. If you don’t have coffee or prefer to to use it you can substitute hot water.
- Cocoa powder – If there’s one ingredient I usually go for a higher quality on its cocoa. My favorite is Guittard Cocoa Rouge. Another good one, slightly cheaper is Ghirardelli Unsweetened cocoa.
- Buttermilk – If you don’t have store-bought buttermilk you can easily substitute with milk and lemon juice. Add one tablespoon of lemon juice to a measuring cup and then add enough milk until you have 1 cup total. Let sit for about five minutes before adding to your batter.
- Vegetable oil: I almost always go for oil over butter in chocolate layer cakes to make it super moist. You can use vegetable or canola oil.
- Salted butter: I only bake with salted butter. You’ve probably heard to use unsalted because there can be discrepancies in how much salt is in different brands but I have yet to come across a brand of butter that is too salty. I find that when I use unsalted butter I have to add a lot of salt to balance out the sweetness of most of my recipes, especially buttercream. For the chocolate frosting we want to use room temperature or softened butter. You can leave it out at room temperature about an hour before you need to use it, or microwave it for about 15 seconds to soften.
- Powdered sugar: If you are using organic powdered sugar, you will want to sift it first for best results. This will help when smoothing your cake.
My favorite dark chocolate cake
I’ve been working on and tweaking this chocolate cake recipe for awhile and finally got it just right. I use both chocolate chips and cocoa powder in the batter, which in addition to coffee really brings a strong chocolate flavor. The oil and the buttermilk make the cake extremely moist.
The majority of the cakes I make are 4-layer, 6” cakes. They’re tall, which I love when I’m decorating and you can get 10-12 servings. If you don’t have 6 inch cake pans you can use this same recipe and use three 8 inch cake pans, bake times for both sizes are in the recipe.
Step by Step
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 and grease 4 6-inch cake pans or 3 8-inch cake pans.
Step 2: Place the chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Pour the hot coffee over the chocolate and allow to sit while you prepare the rest of the batter.
Step 3: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, sugars, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Whisk the eggs, vanilla extract, vegetable oil and buttermilk into the dry ingredients. The batter will be thick. You can switch to a rubber spatula or mixing spoon at this point if it’s too thick to whisk.
Step 4: Return to your bowl of chocolate and coffee and stir until smooth. Gradually pour the chocolate mixture into the batter and mix until fully incorporated. Divide chocolate cake batter evenly between the round cake pans. Bake for 33-35 minutes for 6-inch pans or 25-30 minutes for 8-inch pans.
cake tips
- Always grease your pans. When using 6” pans I find that a non stick baking spray is enough, when I use 8” pans (or larger) I usually line the bottom with parchment paper. Alternatively if you don’t have baking spray or parchment paper you can rub the pans with butter and dust with cocoa powder.
- Don’t over mix your batter! You want to mix just until everything is combined and smooth. For this batter I often just use a whisk and mix by hand. You can use an electric mixer on low speed, just make sure to not over mix.
- Before placing your layers in the oven, tap them a few times on the counter to get the air bubbles out.
- To make your leftover cake last longer cover the exposed cake with plastic wrap to keep the moisture in (any part of the cake that has been cut into and not covered in frosting)
- I rarely bake and decorate the same day. A day or two before I need to serve the cake I bake the layers and then freeze overnight. See the instructions below for making cake layers in advance in my Peanut Butter Oreo Cake post.
Chocolate Buttercream
In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the powdered sugar a cup at a time. Add the cocoa, salt and vanilla and mix until smooth. Mix in the melted chocolate. Add the heavy cream and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
Assembly
To assemble the cake, place a dab of buttercream on your cake board or plate and then place the first layer of cake on top. Spread a layer of buttercream on top. Stack the next cake layer on top and repeat, ending with the final layer of cake, top side down.
Using an offset spatula add a layer of buttercream on the sides of the cake and top of the cake, smoothing it out with a bench scraper or icing scraper. It’s ok if it’s not perfectly smooth because we are going to cover the cake with mini chocolate chips.
Using your hand gently press the chocolate chips to the sides and top of the cake until completely covered. Chocolate shavings would also work great on this cake!
Looking for more cake recipes? Check out my Peanut Butter Oreo Cake or my German Chocolate Cake.
Triple Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup hot coffee
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
- 3 ⅓ cups powdered sugar
- ⅔ cup cocoa powder
- pinch salt
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup chocolate chips, melted and cooled
- ¼ cup heavy cream or milk
- 12 oz mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 and grease (or line with parchment rounds) four 6” cake pans or three 8” pans.
- Place the chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Pour the hot coffee over the chocolate and allow to sit while you prepare the rest of the batter.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Whisk in the eggs, vanilla, oil and buttermilk. The batter will be thick. You can switch to a rubber spatula or mixing spoon at this point if it’s too thick to whisk.
- Return to your bowl of chocolate and coffee and stir until smooth. Gradually pour the coffee mixture into the batter and mix until fully incorporated. Divide batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake for 33-35 minutes for 6" pans or 25-30 minutes for 8" pans.
- Allow to cool a few minutes in the pan and then carefully, using oven mitts if the pans are still warm, invert each layer onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap tightly and place in the freezer until you’re ready to assemble your cake. I store layers in the freezer for up to a week.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the powdered sugar a cup at a time. *See Notes Below*
- Add the cocoa, salt and vanilla and mix to combine.
- Add the melted chocolate and mix to combine.
- Add the cream and beat on medium for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Remove the cake layers from the freezer about 30 minutes before you want to assemble the cake. I take them out to thaw while I am preparing my buttercream and ganache. You want the layers to be cold, but not completely frozen to decorate.
- To assemble the cake, place a dab of buttercream on your cake board or plate and then place the first layer of cake on top. Spread a layer of buttercream on top. Stack the next cake layer on top and repeat, ending with the final layer of cake, top side down.
- Using an offset spatula add the remaining buttercream on the sides and top of the cake, smoothing it out with a scraper or icing scraper. It’s ok if it's not perfectly smooth because we are going to cover the cake with mini chocolate chips.
- Using your hand gently press the chocolate chips to the sides and top of the cake until completely covered.
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