Moist Buttermilk Chocolate Cake Recipe
The moist buttermilk chocolate cake recipe is easy, decadent, and the most delicious chocolate cake recipe. The cake is topped with homemade chocolate frosting and will become your favorite go-to chocolate cake recipe.
Plenty Of Chocolate Flavor
There’s nothing better than a slice of buttermilk chocolate cake with creamy and chocolatey buttermilk icing. This buttermilk cake recipe is an easy dessert to make and always turns out moist and delicious. It’s perfect for an anytime cake or special occasions.
This recipe and post were created for #SummerDessertWeek! Sponsor companies, Dixie Crystals, Adam’s Extract, Wilton, Sweets and Treats Shop and Anolon sent me samples, but as always opinions are 100% mine.
Watch How To Make Buttermilk Chocolate Cake
For this buttermilk chocolate cake recipe, both the cake and the frosting start out in a saucepan, which is pretty typical of sheet cakes.
You most likely have most, if not all, of the ingredients at home for this delicious recipe. And you might not even have to go to the grocery store to make this.
Moist Chocolate Cake Recipe
This buttermilk cake recipe is super moist, and that has a lot to do with the ingredients.
What makes a cake moist? Well, there are quite a few ingredients that help keep the moisture in a cake. Have you ever eaten dry cake? You go to take a bite, and it dries out your mouth, and that’s not good. Not good at all. Ingredients like buttermilk, eggs, butter, sour cream, vegetable oil, and even applesauce help make a cake moist.
And let’s talk about the frosting. I love the way it cools and crackles on top. There’s a tee-tiny touch of a crunch, and that makes this cake pretty much perfect.
Buttermilk Chocolate Cake Step-By-Step Instructions
Start by adding the butter to the saucepan. Keep the heat on medium. I cube the butter because it melts faster.
Don’t skimp here and use margarine. Be sure to use the real butter because it will add so much more flavor to your cake.
Once the butter starts to melt, add the unsweetened cocoa to the saucepan.
And finally, pour the water into the saucepan.
Let the butter melt and stir the ingredients together until they blend well. Once the ingredients are melted and mixed well together, take the saucepan off of the burner and set it aside. Let the mixture cool.
Grab a large bowl and add the buttermilk.
Next, add the eggs to the bowl.
Thirdly, you’re going to add the baking soda to the bowl.
Now, add the vanilla extract. Mix everything together well. I used Adams Best Vanilla Extract for this recipe. It really added a fantastic flavor to the cake. You can use this in any recipe that calls for vanilla extract, including pound cake, ice cream, cookies, and so much more.
Once you mix the ingredients, slowly pour the butter mixture into the buttermilk mixture while mixing the ingredients together. This will help incorporate things together well.
Now, add the sugar and flour to the mixture and mix until well blended. I used the sugar that Dixie Crystals sent. It’s a great quality granulated sugar.
Pour the cake mixture into the cake pan. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool for at least half an hour before frosting it. For this recipe, I used the pan that Wilton sent. The backside is decorated with colorful circles and decor.
The pan is great for cakes, brownies, cookie bars, and more. A 9″ x 13″ pan is the perfect size to hold the cake. You can also make the cake in two 9-inch cake pans, as well.
Chocolate Frosting For Buttermilk Chocolate Cake
Grab a clean saucepan and add the butter. Set the heat on medium again.
Once the butter melts, pour in the buttermilk.
Next, add the unsweetened cocoa.
Add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and mix everything together. I used a whisk to make sure everything mixed well and to make sure I got all of the lumps out. Doesn’t take too much mixing action.
Let the frosting cool a little bit to thicken. If you’re in a hurry, you can put it in the fridge. You want it to still be pourable consistency, but not so thin that it runs off the side of the cake.
After you allow the frosting to cool for a little bit, pour it on the cake. Let it cool a little longer before cutting.
Sponsored Items Used In This Recipe:
- Dixie Crystals Pure Cane Sugar
- Adams Best Vanilla Extract
- Wilton Cake Pan
How Do You Keep A Cake Moist For Days?
Place a covering over the top of the cake, such as plastic wrap. You can also place the cake in a sealed, airtight container.
What Makes A Cake More Moist?
There are several things that can help make a cake more moist. Don’t overmix. Use ingredients such as oil or buttermilk. Don’t overbake the cake.
What Does Adding Buttermilk To Cake Do?
Adding buttermilk to cake helps add a rich flavor. Buttermilk is also instrumental in helping the cake rise and stay moist.
More Delicious Recipes
- If you love Starbucks, you will love this Copycat Lemon Loaf pound cake. It’s decadent and tastes just like the real thing.
- Pecans are a classic Southern favorite, and they bring rich, buttery flavor to every bite of this irresistible Southern Pecan Pie Cake.
- Grab that eggnog around the holidays and add it to this eggnog pound cake for a fun, sweet treat.
- If you like classic recipes, you will love this pineapple upside-down cake. It’s easy to make and brings back memories.
Moist Buttermilk Chocolate Cake Recipe
Print out the recipe below. The easy chocolate cake recipe is such a great go-to recipe that it gets rave reviews. Homemade chocolate buttermilk cake is a delicious treat any time of year.
Buttermilk Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 sticks butter 1 cup
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Buttermilk Frosting
- 2 sticks butter 1 cup
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat oven temperature 350 degrees.
Cake
- Add the cubed butter to a saucepan on medium heat.
- Next, add the unsweetened cocoa and water and mix well.
- Stir until everything is blended. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- In a large bowl, add the buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Mix well.
- Slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the buttermilk mixture.
- Next, add the sugar, flour, and salt. Mix together and pour into a greased 9" x 13" cake pan.
- Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool for at least 30 minutes.
Frosting
- Add the butter to the saucepan on medium heat and melt.
- Next, add the buttermilk and unsweetened cocoa and mix together.
- Pour the powdered sugar and vanilla extract into the pan. Mix well with a whisk until all of the lumps are gone.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes.
- Pour onto cake. Allow the cake to continue cooling for a few minutes before cutting.
Easy to make, ingredients easy to find. Moist, sweet, light but still filling
This cake looks absolutely delicious. This recipe will be in my favorite list next to angel food cake and strawberries!
Hi Mary! Thanks so much and thanks for stopping by!
Any of these prizes would be perfect for dressing up my summer. I don’t own any of them at this time.
Aren’t they fun? It makes baking a blast! Thanks for stopping, Sylvia!
Love all your recipes. From a Kentucky gal!
Hi Charmaine! Thank you so much. I am honored! Thanks for stopping by. And I love Kentucky!
Love your recipes. Love the recipes from other bloggers also. I have all your cookbooks and follow you here. Thanks for the opportunity to win some wonderful things!
Hi Diane! You’re welcome. Thanks for stopping by!
thoe sweets look and soud so good i ca’t waite to try them thank you for sharing the recipes
Hi Sandy! Thank you!
My favorite summer dessert is Cherry Yum Yum! You don’t have to bake it! Can’t wait to try this chocolate cake!
Hi Nadine! I hope you love it!
I. Like this recipe. Anything baked using buttermilk turns out so moist.. I can’t wait to bake it for my family.
Hi Nancy! Thank you and I hope you love it. 🙂
Lemon Lush is my favorite summer dessert! It’s cool and creamy and no bake! Thank you!
Hi Lisa! I love lemon in the summer, too!
The Buttermilk Chocolate Cake looks and sounds like a lonh ago cake that my mother-in-law used to make. I can’t wait to try it!
Hi Judy! I hope you love it!
Love the buttermilk recipes. Thanks ❤️
Hi Nancy! You’re welcome. Thanks for stopping by!
What size pan is used..?
Hi Francine! It’s a 9″x 13″ pan. Thanks and hope you enjoy the cake!
I think the problem with this cake is in the icing. Recipe calls for one cup of butter to 2 cups of sugar. It is runny and it is not a sweet cake at all with this icing. Perhaps using there’s more and more sugar would help this recipe and also using unsalted butter. The cake actually taste salty using four sticks of salted butter. I would not recommend this recipe at all.
Hi, I made this cake. The icing went straight to the sides and didn’t thicken up a lot. The center doesn’t have any icing now. What did I do wrong?
Hi Lauren,
Sorry to hear that! It could be a couple of things. Was the cake still hot when you poured the icing on? That could make the frosting run to the sides.
If the cake rises quite a lot in the middle, you can gently cut a little bit of the top off and it will be more level. You can see in the pictures that my cake rose a little bit in the middle. It wasn’t too high, so I didn’t cut the top off of this one. But, that can help.
Also, If the icing seems thin, you can always add more powdered sugar to help thicken it up and then it won’t slide down the sides.
And on the flip side, if your icing gets too thick, you can add a little bit of buttermilk to help thin it out.
I hope that helps!
This recipe seems to be almost exact to a cake my grandma used to make. I no longer had the exact recipe and I can’t wait to bake this! Thanks for the recipe!
Oh how fun! I always love to hear that. I hope you love it.
This looks awesome
Thank you!
This was the first time I made a cake completely from scratch and not from a box. This was the best cake I’ve ever made and the only way I’m going to bake from now. The only issue I had was with the frosting, it never got thick and hardened. Two days later and it’s still like a sauce. Good but would like to figure out what I did wrong. I’m also wondering if I could substitute the chocolate with a flavored extract to make other flavors?
Hi Jeffrey,
That’s fantastic to hear! I’m so glad you loved it. This frosting will never get that hard. It will sort of remain soft. Carlee, over at Cooking with Carlee, has some really great frosting recipes that you might like and can try on top of the cake.
I think you can try different flavors. You might have to experiment a little, but could get some great other flavors!
I just made this cake and I am not sure how it is going to turn out yet. But one thing I am confused about with the frosting is, after you add the powdered sugar, do you keep cooking it for a bit or turn off the heat at that point and stir until smooth?
Hi Charlene,
How did the cake turn out? I hope wonderful. You can turn off the heat at that point and stir until combined and then take it off the burner so it will start to thicken as it cools.
@Julie Pollitt, Thank you. That’s what I did. Cake turned out wonderful. Thank you for sharing!
That’s great to hear!!
Cake was delicious but frosting turned out too thin and watery. Hoping it will thicken up a little. Didn’t look like the picture shown.
Hi Christy, I am so glad you liked the cake. If you make the cake again, you can add a little bit more powdered sugar to the frosting and it won’t be as runny. I hope that helps!
Loved the cake. Would definitely make it again but probably make a different frosting. Mine never didn’t thicken up and was too much for the cake. It overflowed into the sides and bottom of cake.
Hi Lynn, I am glad you liked the cake, but sorry about the frosting! You can always add a little more powdered sugar to help thicken the frosting. Thanks for stopping by!
Will the frosting work if you make this into a layer cake instead of a sheet cake? Thank you!
I think it would work. But it’s not super thick, so it you would have to use a lot. Hope that helps!
Made this last week — the problem that I think most of us are running into is that, as written, the recipe doesn’t call for enough powdered sugar to hold it together. It essentiallly makes a chocolate sauce with the consistency of Hershey’s syrup — delicious, but ran everywhere and won’t stay on the cake. I cooled the cake for hours before icing it so this is definitely not a temperature issue. Most similar recipes online call for at least double the amount of powdered sugar so I’d suggest starting there.
Hi Elizabeth, thank you for sharing! I will add something about this in the recipe notes. I appreciate you pointing it out!
This cake was so moist and absolutely perfect. It is now on the top of my list for any cake. Everyone was raving on the moistness and flavor.
Great to hear! So glad you all loved it.
I’m making it right now and I had to stop and comment on the flour mixture being so thick it was like a big glob of clay, so I added more buttermilk, not much but enough that a knife could cut through the clay mixture, I mean thr flour mixture. More to come. Done and out. Highly recommend.
Glad you like it!
Just had to come back and say that my adult son said this was the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made. I agree! The numerous pictures you add to your recipes are an added bonus!
Oh wow! That’s great to hear! Thanks for letting me know about the pictures, too. I am never sure if I am adding too many.
This cake is the best chocolate cake I’ve eaten. So moist & easy to make. My husband even loves it. Will definitely make again.
So glad to hear it! Glad you both love it!
Just made this and it is delicious! Do I store it in the fridge?
Hi Paige,
I am so glad you liked it! I would keep it in the refrigerator because of the buttermilk.