One-Bowl Chocolate Cake | Simple and Moist
on Jan 06, 2023
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This is the lushest one-bowl chocolate cake recipe I’ve tested – it’s moist, rich and SO SO chocolatey. And it keeps for days (if you can stop yourself from finishing it right away)!
If you’ve been keeping up with my Instagram stories, you’d have seen this super moist chocolate cake in Mahi’s tiffin (and our afternoon snacks too)! And let me tell you – we’re all OBSESSED.
Love chocolate? Try my Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, Fudgy Chocolate Pudding Cake (Eggless), Intense Eggless Chocolate Mousse and Eggless Chocolate Cake – So soft and moist!
This is one of those fab recipes that is ridiculously simple – everything is mixed together in one bowl and gives you a cake that stays super moist for up to FIVE DAYS – literally feels freshly baked even when it’s not. And better yet, it can be made in the Air Fryer and the Oven.
So convenient, so good! This is one of those recipes that you’ll keep coming back to. So bookmark this one for sure!
Quick Walk Through: Chocolate Cake
Ingredients you’ll need for One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
This is one of those recipes where I wouldn’t recommend any substitutes, it’s this proportion and combination of ingredients that create the moist texture that we want in a world-class chocolate cake.
- All Purpose Flour (Maida) – the base of our cake. I don’t recommend subbing this for atta or gluten free flour since that will affect the texture. Maida keeps our cake light, bouncy, and moist.
- Cocoa Powder – this is a chocolate cake, after all!
- Sugar – I use granulated white sugar but you can also use caster sugar or brown sugar here
- Oil – this ensures our cake stays moist for longer, any neutral flavored oil like canola, sunflower, rice bran works
- Curd – my secret ingredient! I find that the combination of oil, curd, and egg in a cake batter results in an extra moist texture which is what we want.
- Egg – for texture and binding. I don’t recommend subbing for a flax egg
- Hot Black Coffee – an espresso shot or just brewed instant coffee works super well here. Coffee enhances the flavour of the cocoa powder and makes this cake super chocolatey and yum. Don’t add plain coffee powder as the liquid from the brewed coffee helps bring the batter together
- Salt – just a pinch
- Baking Powder + Soda – so our cake rises!
Note: the batter will be runny – that’s what we want! Don’t worry about this. Once baked, it’ll be just perfect.
How to make One-bowl chocolate cake:
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to make the one-bowl chocolate cake:
1. Add all purpose flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt to a bowl. Whisk together until combined.
2. Add vanilla extract, egg, oil and curd. Whisk well until combined, about 1-2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
3. Pour in hot coffee.
4. Give it another mix till it’s a smooth, runny batter.
5. Pour the batter into lined and greased 6 inch cake mould.
6. Bake at 180C in a preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or till a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7. Allow it to cool for 15 minutes. Demould, remove the parchment paper and transfer to a wire rack.
8. Allow it to cool completely before serving or frosting.
I like serving mine with a quick chocolate buttercream frosting but this also works great on its own or with a layer of Nutella and chopped berries on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
The oven will have a longer preheat time, although I recommend that you preheat your airfryer for a couple minutes as well. We want to bake our cake until a knife comes out clean – the overall baking range is 30-40 mins.
Yes, these can be substituted 1:1 easily. Just use non sweetened, non flavored greek yogurt.
You can refrigerate this cake for up to 5-6 days and it will stay fresh and perfectly moist. Magic – I know right?
I think we all need our hands on a fool-proof simple chocolate cake recipe when those sweet tooth cravings come up – and trust me, this is THAT recipe! This is also the perfect activity to engage your kiddos with since the process is so simple to follow and the result is super exciting. A treat for anybody who makes it!
Watch How To Make This Easy One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
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One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour, 125 grams
- 3/4 cup Sugar, 150 grams
- 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder, 32 grams
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 cup Oil, 125 millilitres
- 1/2 cup Curd or Yogurt, 130 millilitres
- 1/2 cup Hot Black Coffee, 1 Teaspoon Coffee dissolved in 1/2 cup of hot water
Instructions
- Line and grease a 6 inch tin with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 180C
- Add all purpose flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt to a bowl. Whisk together until combined.
- Add vanilla extract, egg, oil and curd. Whisk well until combined, about 1-2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Pour in hot coffee and give it another mix till it's a smooth, runny batter. Bake at 180C for 30-40 minutes or till a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow it to cool for 15 minutes. Demould and transfer to a wire rack and allow it to cool completely before serving or frosting.
One of the easiest recipe and super moist flavourful cake
Awww, you’re most welcome, Divya! We’re super pleased the cake was a success!
hi Richa, thank you for the recipe, just a query from my side… can I replace the oil with mented butter. Please guide.
Hey Antara! the oil in the recipe makes the cake moist & soft compared to melted butter. Hope this helps.
This is perfect recipe for a moist cake 🍰
Thank you Richa!
Hey Sneha, thank you for leaving a comment
best recipe so far..absolute delish..i hav tried with whole wheat flour..texture was exactly same and v spongy melt in mouth:)
Hey Priya, That’s awesome, thank you for your comments
Hi..can we replace all purpose flour with wheat flour or oats flour? Will it still turn out to be as good as shown?
Also, please could you share the frosting recipe?
Hey Sunaina, I haven’t tried it with whole wheat or oats flour. Do leave a comment if you try it.
Here’s my chocolate butter cream frosting recipe – Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Tried this the other day and by far the easiest and quickest cake recipe ever! It got devoured within few hours. New favourite at our clan from now on!
Hey Neha, wow, that sounds great. so so glad your family loved the recipe.
I never bake and I find baking overwhelming; but this recipe was so easy! Turned out moist and delicious, a true crowd-pleaser.
Hey Pranavi, that’s great to know. so so happy to know you liked baking it.
Hi Richa ,
Thank you for the most delicious fail proof recipes 😊 I need a cake that serves for 15 people , can I double all the ingredients and how much inch cake pan do I need to use please .
Hey Anitha! Yes you can double it and probably use two 8 inch cake tins
hi Richa! since this recipe calls for coffee, is it still kid friendly? I plan on baking this for a kid’s birthday party.
thanks!
Hey Shari, you may omit the coffee & use plain hot water instead, which will work equally good. 1 teaspoon of coffee powder used in the recipe is for enhancing the flavour of chocolate cake.
Hii, Richa, I have tried this cake and it’s so so so good, recieved many complements when I baked it for gatherings and all thanks to you.
I have 1 doubt, can I turn this into cupcakes and if yes then how long should I be baking them?
Hey Amrita, yes this easily turns into cupcakes. Bake them for 15-18 minutes till a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean
Since the time you had shared this recipe via your IG story amd later in the blogpost I was dying to prepare the cake and try it. Oh the wait was worth every bit of it . It’s an amazingly easy to follow recipe and so yumm and delicious 😋 Just loved it 😄 The buttercream frosting was just the icing on top 😉 Awesome and a must try recipe 😄