Chocolate Cake

This is my go-to recipe for basic chocolate cake or cupcakes. Have at it!

BASIC CHOCOLATE CAKE BATTER
Makes 16 cupcakes or just over enough batter for one 9" round cake pan. Remember that you need to double the recipe if you're making a full-sized cake.

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour*
• 3/4 tsp baking soda (err on the side of not enough)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus a little extra for added moistness
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 c chocolate chips**

* I tend to use cake flour in my cupcakes, but chocolate is an exception. You generally want a slightly denser cake, and cake flour makes cake less dense.

** Totally optional, but dang, these make it wonderfully chocolatey.

Method

If you haven't already, you should check out my basic cake baking method and my list of cake baking tips! Every cake batter recipe I post follows that same method, and my cake baking tips are great to memorize for whenever you're preparing a cake batter such as this.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.


2. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder.


3. In a larger bowl, beat together the oil and sugar. Then, beat in the eggs one at a time.


4. Now you will gradually be adding the dry mixture and the sour cream to the oil-sugar-egg mixture. To do this, alternate mixing in some of the dry mixture, followed by some sour cream, followed by some dry mixture... You get the picture. Do that until you've incorporated the dry mixture and the sour cream completely. Just don't over-mix here.


5. Finish by incorporating the vanilla.


6. Baking time. For cupcakes, fill your liners 2/3 full and bake for 17 to 22 minutes. For a cake, fill agreased 9-inch round cake pan about 2/3 full with batter and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Since this is a thick batter, do be sure to stir a little once the batter is in the cupcake wells or cake pan so that the cake will rise more evenly! Use the toothpick test for perfect doneness.