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Buttermilk chocolate cake made with my mama’s amazing fudgy frosting! This chocolate cake recipe is so simple, so moist, and bursting with chocolate goodness.
I have a confession to make: I’m a terrible cake decorator.
I mean, TERRIBLE.
I tend to avoid layer cakes unless my daughter is around to do the decorating for me.
I think it’s a lack of patience more than a lack of decorating skill, but either way it’s a terrible sight to see.
Which is why you’ll generally only see me serving up a cake in a 9×13 pan. This buttermilk chocolate cake is one of those cakes – so easy to prepare, no need to go crazy decorating it, and it’s perfect for a birthday cake or any other cake-like situation.
This cake is so moist thanks to the buttermilk! It has a nice depth of flavor thanks to the buttermilk too!
This easy chocolate cake recipe is my go to these days. I think you’re going to love it!
Moist chocolate cake recipe:
This buttermilk chocolate cake recipe actually starts out on the stove top! You’ll want to add some butter to a sauce pan and let it melt, along with some cocoa powder, espresso powder, and water.
Don’t worry about the espresso powder – it won’t give this cake a coffee flavor. It just deepens the chocolate flavor. If you don’t have any, I highly recommend grabbing some, but you can also leave it out if you prefer.
Add all that to a large mixing bowl and then whisk together some eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla until well combined.
Stir the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture and then add in your flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Stir together to get your moist chocolate cake batter. So good.
Pop this into a greased 9×13 baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes.
This cake comes out SO moist.
Chocolate Fudge Frosting:
This recipe makes the best chocolate frosting and it’s so easy. It’ll make a thin layer of frosting that gets a bit crackly on top. The texture and flavor is very much like fudge, but it’s just a thin layer so it’s not overwhelmingly sweet or rich. It’s basically perfect.
This is my mama’s recipe and it goes like this:
Add butter, sugar, and milk to a sauce pan and stir until the butter has melted.
Bring to a boil over medium heat and let boil for 1 minute exactly.
Remove from the heat and stir in chocolate chips. I pretty much always use semi-sweet chips for this, but you can experiment and try this out with milk or dark chocolate too.
The chocolate chips will melt quickly as you stir.
Pour the hot frosting over the cooled cake. The frosting sets fairly quickly in just about 20 minutes.
That’s it! Your chocolate fudge frosting and buttermilk chocolate cake are ready to devour! I think you’re going to love this easy cake recipe.
More cake recipes to try:
Pumpkin Crunch Cake: This starts with a cake mix and it couldn’t be tastier.
Eclair Cake: Pudding, graham crackers, and chocolate frosting!
Applesauce Cake: I can’t get enough of this bundt cake.
Chocolate Dump Cake: There’s pudding mix, so you know it’s good.
Peanut Butter Sheet Cake: I put peanut butter in everything. 😉
Buttermilk Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 cup butter
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the frosting
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 6 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray.
- Add the butter, cocoa powder, water, and espresso powder to a sauce pan and bring to a boil, stirring often.
- Remove from the heat and carefully pour cocoa mixture into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the flour, sugar, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and salt to the bowl. Use an electric mix to beat together the ingredients until well combined.
- Pour batter into prepared dish and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Allow cake to cool before frosting.
For the frosting
- Add the sugar, butter, and milk to a small sauce pan over medium heat and stir often until the butter has fully melted and the mixture come to a boil.
- Boil for 60 seconds exactly and remove from the heat.
- Add the chocolate chips to the pan and stir until the chocolate has melted and the frosting is smooth.
- Pour the frosting over the chocolate cake evenly and allow to set for at least 20 minutes before slicing and serving.
Luchia says
I had some left over buttermilk and just searched for a recipe to save it from going to waste. This was a lucky find! The cake turned out perfectly. The frosting gives it a fudgey goodness. If you’re trying to cut back on the sweet factor or sugar; the cake itself is moist and is yummy without. I frosted 1/2 of the cake and the other i left “naked” and served it with a side of Peanut butter swirl ice cream. I’m thinking of experimenting with roasted walnuts the next time. Has anyone tried a sugar substitute like stevia in place of the sugar?
Karly says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! I haven’t tried this with Stevia, but we do often bake with Swerve or Lakanto and things turn out wonderfully.
June says
I’ve tried 3 times. This cake is too moist and gooey, should I reduce the liquid or increase the cooking temperature. I prefer a fluffy soft cake texture.
Karly says
Hi June! This cake is meant to be moist. It may just be that this isn’t the type of recipe for you.
Marlene says
I have made this frosting forever! My girlfriend just loves it.
I beat it till it is fluffy and it spreads beautifully on cakes and brownies.
Karly says
Love to hear that!
Dee says
Oh Emmmm Geee! This cake was soooo easy to make! So moist and chocolatey!
I made Russian Buttercream instead of the frosting… and WOW!
A scoop of vanilla ice cream would cut the sweetness ?
So good. This is my go to from now on!
Karly says
So glad you enjoyed it, Dee! Thanks for the review!
Can you substitute for buttermilk instead of using milk says
Can you substitute for buttermilk instead of using regular milk for the frosting?
Karly says
Hmm, I’ve never tried! I’m not sure I’ve ever had a buttermilk frosting, but if you give it a shot, report back!
Karenda Botelho says
Quick question for you….I’m putting together the cake at this very moment and would like to save on washing up. So, is there any reason why I can’t continue to use the very large saucepan from the first step to complete the recipe? Once i take it off the heat, would there be a problem with continuing the steps/ingredients in the saucepan? I really hope you see this and can respond quickly (pretty, pretty please??!) as my butter mixture is nearly to the boil!
Cheers and will let you knowhow I get on!
Karenda
Karly says
Hi Karenda! I think it would be fine to have mixed in the pot. How’d it work for you?
Anna says
Is the better descriptions like for the butter unsalted or salted and the flour all purpose, unbleached, etc?
Karly says
Hi Anna! If the recipe just calls for butter, we always mean salted. If it’s flour, we always mean all-purpose. Those tend to be the standards, so we’ll specify if it’s something different. 🙂
Linda Heniadis says
This is a great chocolate cake! Made it for my family and they all really enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Karly says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Linda!
Tod Files says
What went wrong! Followed the receipt to the letter. It was very thin. Just boiled. We added flour, still same. Pulled a full cup of liquid butter off the surface. Finally we ended up with a hard sticky candied glop.
Don’t do this one. Waste of time and ingredients!!!
Karly says
I wish you would have just went with it and baked it up. You can see from the video that the batter is very thin. Most cake batters are. 🙂
Doreen Chartrand says
You did something wrong, I’ve been using this recipe for years and years, best chocolate cake ever.
Amy says
Just made it and it is great! Thank you for this great recipe!
Karly says
Thanks, Amy!
soma says
yesterday i prepared this cake the taste was super….wants some more easy recipe like this …thank you very much
Susan Orkansi says
Amazing moist chocolate cake! I made it for my daughters 25th Birthday with cream cheese frosting and chocolate shavingoo
Jaci says
Oh my goodness, my husband just made this cake and it is the absolute best chocolate cake ever!!! I’m going to send the link to everyone I know. Thank you for this amazing confection!!
Karly says
Thanks so much, Jaci! Glad it was such a hit!
Stephanie says
Have you ever frozen the cake? This is so much my family may go into a sugar coma if I don’t stash some away!
Karly says
Hi Stephanie! I haven’t tried freezing this one, but I think it would do fine. 🙂
Traci says
This cake is so delicious! Everyone who tries it jus loves it. It’s super moist and has an amazing chocolate flavor!!
Karly says
Thanks, Traci!
L. Denise says
I get a lot of requests from my family for this cake, they love it. For me, I do not like chocolate cakes with chocolate icing, however I love this one. It is so moist. It takes chocolate cake to another level.
Karly says
I’m so glad you and the family enjoy this one! 🙂
Taniya says
Hi Karly, I am really excited to try this cake out. I do have a question, after the first step of boiling butter, cocoa powder, coffee granules and water, do I let it cool down or directly add in the other ingredients?
Karly says
Hi Taniya! I don’t. The addition of the flour and buttermilk cool it down enough to where the eggs don’t scramble, if that’s what you’re worried about. ?