Melissa's Chocolate Cake

Melissa's Chocolate Cake is an excellent chocolate cake recipe from my friend, Melissa. I can't remember exactly when she gave me this recipe, but it's a good one to try if you're looking for an easy double chocolate layer cake that fits two 8-inch pans.

8-Inch Chocolate Layer Cake

Melissa's Chocolate Cake is a combination adapted from one in a book called The Best Recipe. As mentioned, it is designed to fit two 8x2 inch round cake pans. It's also very sticky so you'll need to grease and flour those pans well.

Pound Plus Bar Frosting

I've since used this frosting on a lot of different cakes and it's quite good, but a little pricey since it calls for a pound of chocolate. You can use good quality chocolate chips as a substitute, but actual chopped chocolate gives it a better texture. My go-to for large amounts of chocolate is the Trader Joe's Pound Plus Bar.

Recipe

Melissa's Chocolate Cake

Anna

An easy chocolate cake with a very rich and creamy ganache frosting.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Ingredients

 

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (8 ½ oz or about 240 grams)
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ¾ cup unsalted butter at room temp. (170 grams)
• ⅔ cup granulated sugar (130 grams)
• ⅔ cup light brown sugar (135 grams)
• 2 extra-large eggs at room temp
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk at room temp
• ½ cup sour cream at room temp OR full fat yogurt
• 2 tablespoons brewed coffee

Chocolate Cream Frosting

• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 16 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped fine
• ⅓ cup corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8 inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with wax paper or parchment circles. Grease the paper and dust the pans with flour.
• In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
• With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars on high speed until light, approx. 5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well, scraping bowl often.
• Combine the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee in a small bowl or large Pyrex mixing cup. On low speed, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture alternately in thirds, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix the batter only until blended.
• Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a spatula.
• Bake on the middle rack for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a rack, remove from the pans, and allow to finish cooling.
• Place cake on a serving plate, flat side up. Frost the top of that layer with the butter cream (I use the frosting below). Place the second layer on top, also flat side up, and front the top and sides.
• To make the frosting, place chocolate in heatproof bowl. Bring cream to boil in small saucepan over medium-high heat; pour over chocolate. Add corn syrup and let stand 3 minutes. Whisk gently until smooth; stir in vanilla. Refrigerate 1 to 1 ½ hours, stirring every 15 minutes, until mixture reaches spreadable consistency.

Keyword Chocolate Cake

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!