Chocolate Cake Recipes

Staff Picks

Chocolate Sprinkle Sheet Cake

A light chocolate cake is not a contradiction in terms; it's a splendid anytime snack. Here, some of the flour in our basic recipe is replaced with a half-cup of cocoa powder for a deep chocolate flavor. Sour cream creates a tender crumb, and buttercream frosting gets whipped until airy with an electric mixer. Last but by no means least: Sprinkles make everything joyous.

Chocolate-Raspberry Cake

This beauty is baked with a splash of Chambord and layered with a sweet raspberry filling, both of which offer bright counterpoints to the thick layer of chocolate-cream cheese frosting and whole berries scattered on top. You won't be able to have just one slice.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Sheet Cake

This sweet and simple sheet cake marries two great flavors that just plain belong together: rich and tender chocolate cake, and creamy peanut-butter frosting. For maximum fluff, go for a classic smooth variety of peanut butter, and plug in your mixer—manpower alone won't be enough. Scatter chopped peanuts along the edges for any crunchy fans in the house.

Martha's Warm Chocolate Pudding Cakes

There's something extra-special about an individually sized dessert -- especially when it's a molten chocolate cake served warm out of the oven. You can prepare these rich chocolate pudding cakes up to a day ahead and refrigerate them, then just pop them in the oven when you sit down to dinner. They'll be done by the time you're ready for dessert. And they reheat easily, so you can have two one night and two the next. This recipe appears in our cookbook "Martha Stewart's Newlywed Kitchen" (Clarkson Potter).

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake

This stunner is a naturally gluten-free cake that has a smooth, ultra-rich texture. Packed with decadent dark chocolate and espresso, it's like the mocha latte of your dreams in dessert form. And we haven't even gotten to its best selling point: this cake is super easy to pull together, with only eight basic pantry ingredients and three simple steps.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

Birthday? Anniversary? Going-away party? This super-easy, one-bowl layer cake is the perfect dessert for any gathering of chocolate buffs.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Chocolate lovers will adore this dessert. The edges and top develop a delicately crisp crust while the center remains moist and fudgy.

Chocolate Cake

Baking an easy dessert like this chocolate cake can be almost as thrilling for a birthday girl or boy as blowing out the candles.

Salted-Caramel Six-Layer Chocolate Cake

If you don't own a candy thermometer, this cake offers a good excuse to buy one. It sounds a little nitpicky, but the caramel should reach exactly 238 degrees. (Any less and the cake layers won't hold together properly; any more and the caramel will turn hard.) Precision will also pay off with the chocolate frosting—it achieves its ideal spreading texture after standing for 30 minutes.

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Who says vegan desserts can't be decadent? The bottom layer of this two-tier chocolate cake is covered with mocha icing, while the top is blanketed with ganache.

Texas Sheet Cake

This crowd-pleaser is moist, dense, and ultra-chocolaty. Lift it out of the pan with its parchment-paper liner, so the shiny chocolate glaze is free to drizzle down the sides.

Mini Heart-Shaped Cake

This recipe for mini heart-shaped cakes, courtesy of Matt Lewis from Baked, makes the perfect treat for your special someone on Valentine's Day.

Inspiration and Ideas

26 Chocolate Wedding Cake Ideas That Will Blow Your Guests' Minds

From mini chocolate cupcakes to show-stopping chocolate cake masterpieces, these recipes bring the beloved flavor to any wedding event.

Truly, Madly, Deeply: 12 Chocolate Cake Recipes to Fall in Love With

Get your fix of rich and intense chocolate with a dozen of our top treats.

Triple-Chocolate Mousse Cakes

Fudgy Brownie Cake

Busy-Day Dump Cake

Easy Chocolate Cake

Molten Chocolate-Espresso Cakes

These little cakes are our new go-to dessert, for so many reasons. They're fast and easy (though they don't look it), and they're great for company or just whenever you need a chocolate fix (pretty much every afternoon). Serve them plain, or topped with a bit of ganache and a sprinkling of pistachios or (our favorite) flaky sea salt.

Molten Chocolate Cake

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German Chocolate Bundt Cake
Flourless Chocolate-Almond Cake
Triple-Chocolate Cheesecake

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Warm Chocolate Cakes

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All Chocolate Cake Recipes

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

This deep, rich confection topped with fudgy frosting is ideal for special occasions or simply for chocolate lovers. Martha's uses Valrhona cocoa powder; for best results, use the highest-quality ingredients you can find. For an impressive presentation, let the layers cool completely before assembling, dust off any loose crumbs, and use the better layer for the top.

Chocolate Beet Cake

You won't taste the pureed beets, but they make this cake extra moist and play up its deep chocolate flavor.

Chocolate-Coconut Sheet Cake

Everyone needs an unintimidating, foolproof cake like this one. A generous amount of coconut topping, poured over the moist cake while it's still warm, provides richness and a deliciously gooey texture. The 12 generous slices can be cut smaller to feed a larger crowd.

Devil's Food Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting

This devilishly delicious, light and airy, all-occasion cake recipe was adapted from "Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook," and the frosting recipe is courtesy of Matt Lewis of Baked.

Moist Devil's Food Cake

Great swoops of glossy frosting make this a wonderfully exuberant cake with a dark backdrop for birthday candles. But this cake is just as suitable for afternoon snacks or a Sunday supper.

Fudgy Chocolate Beet Cake

You won't taste the pureed beets, but they make this cake extra-moist and fudgy, even with the addition of whole-grain spelt flour. They also play up the cake's full-bodied, not-too-sweet flavor. This recipe appears in our cookbook, "A New Way to Bake" (Clarkson Potter).

Devil's Food Cake with Fluffy Frosting

The devil is in the details -- it's also in this sinfully chocolatey cake with fluffy frosting that is sure to be a hit.

Chocolate Angel Food Cake with Double-Chocolate Frosting

Four types of chocolate are called for in this decadent dessert: cocoa powder for the cake batter, bittersweet chocolate and milk chocolate for the frosting, and semisweet chocolate for the garnish.

Chocolate-Flecked Layer Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting

It's our new go-to special-occasion cake: a tall, tender beauty that's sophisticated yet easy to make. What saves the lush milk chocolate frosting from being cloying is the addition of tangy sour cream.

Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake

The decorative nuts are dipped in caramelized sugar and hung in bat fashion—upside down—so the sugar streams and hardens into the best candy on the block.

Belgian Chocolate Birthday Cake

This luscious chocolate-hazelnut cake is coated with a ganache made from chocolate and cream. It's topped with a mountain of bittersweet chocolate curls, and surrounded by crunchy praline hazelnuts coated in tempered chocolate and rolled in cocoa powder.

Luscious Chocolate Cake

There are few desserts that provoke so many comments about "decadence" as a truffle cake. Serve it slightly chilled, with a glass of cold milk as an innocent accompaniment.

Milk-Chocolate-Mousse Cake with Cashew Brittle

This towering cake melds rich bittersweet ganache, creamy milk-chocolate mousse, and multiple layers of chocolate sponge cake. Adorned with buttery brittle, it can't help but set hearts aflutter.

Fudgy Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

For the ultimate chocolate lover, make this rich, dense chocolate cake with an equally intense, chocolatey frosting.

Chocolate Cakes with Ganache Glaze

Refrigerating the glazed cakes will help them set more quickly, but they will lose some of their shine. If there's time and you prefer a shiny glaze, let the cakes set at room temperature.

Double-Chocolate Pound Cake

This luscious loaf packs double the dose of chocolatey goodness thanks to cocoa powder and chocolate chips.

Dairy-Free Chocolate-Raspberry Cake

A showstopping holiday dessert that's a piece of cake? Meet this four-layer chocolate confection, which comes together from a one-bowl batter and three-ingredient frosting. Coconut oil gives it an especially tender crumb and keeps it so moist, you can bake it days in advance. A tangy raspberry jam between each layer makes it even more extraordinary. Not to mention it's dairy-free, too, with almond milk in the batter and coconut milk in the frosting, so it's a fabulous final act for a kosher meal.

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