Every time I make a new chocolate cake, my goal is to always up the last one I made. Classics like a chocolate cake are here to stay forever and trying to come up with better versions of it is always fun. Today I am here to share the best eggless chocolate cake recipe ever! This cake is fully frosted and has the most airy chocolate sponge.
I know what you’re thinking. What is so special about this chocolate cake that makes it the best eggless chocolate cake? I have three words for you – chocolate fudge frosting. I mean, if you ever want to make a chocolate frosting, this is the one you need to make. It hits all the right notes and gives the word ‘’dreamy’’ a new meaning.
Components of the best eggless chocolate cake
The best eggless chocolate cake has to have all of its components be up to mark. This doesn’t mean that there needs to be multiple components and all complicated ones to make one of the best cakes. My eggless chocolate cake only has two components – devil’s food sponge cake and chocolate fudge frosting.
Devil’s food cake sponge
Devil’s food cake is an extremely famous chocolate cake all over the world. It gets it’s name from being decadent and beautifully sinful.
The characteristic feature of a devil’s food cake is that it has a light and airy cake sponge, and it always has a richer and darker color than other chocolate cakes. In all devil’s food cake recipes you will see baking soda as one of the ingredients. This is what makes the sponge airy and light and also adds more color as baking soda reacts with cocoa powder.
Another way to achieve the rich and dark chocolate color is by using a particular kind of cocoa powder. Cocoa powder is available in two forms- natural and dutch processed. Dutch processed cocoa powder is always more dense and has a definite deeper color than natural cocoa powder. A lot of locally sourced cocoa powder is actually dutch processed cocoa. But brands like hersheys, have a light colored cocoa powder and that indicates natural cocoa powder.
Chocolate fudge frosting
This is my favorite part. I made three layers of the devil’s food cake and decided to frost my layered cake with the most decadent chocolate fudge frosting. This frosting is the perfect mix of a chocolate buttercream and chocolate ganache.
It is so luscious and so shiny, I always have the best time while making this frosting and everyone in my family is a sure shot fan of it! Personally, I love making this frosting with cocoa powder, to give it a deep chocolate flavor. That is why I add 3/4 cup cocoa powder here. However, if you want to keep the chocolate flavor more on the sweeter side, then you can reduce the quantity of cocoa powder and add 1/2 cup instead.
Tips to make the perfect chocolate fudge frosting
Always use softened butter
Whenever you are making frosting, it is extremely important to use softened butter. This ensures that your butter and sugar whip up easily and nicely, resulting in a stable frosting. If you use cold butter and try to whip that with your sugar, it will take you ages to reach the desired consistency. On the other hand, if you use melted butter, your butter and sugar will never whip up to a stable consistency and you will have an extremely runny frosting.
Sift both, icing sugar and cocoa powder
Both icing sugar and cocoa powder have a high tendency to lump up. Sifting ensures that no lumps are getting added into our frosting and also adds a bit of air which can help with the structure of the final frosting
Do not use caster sugar
Please don’t try to substitute icing sugar with caster sugar for this recipe. If you do not have icing sugar, you can simple blitz your caster sugar till it reaches a powdered consistency. Also, icing sugar does have cornflour in it which helps with the stabilisation of the frosting so ideally, you’d want to go and buy a packet while making frostings.
Let your chocolate come to room temperature before adding into the mix
Once you have melted your chocolate, make sure to keep it aside to cool down before you add it to the butter and cocoa mix. If you add hot melted chocolate, it will bring down the entire structure that you have created while whipping your butter, sugar, and cocoa powder and you will eventually end up with an unstable frosting.
Warm your cream
If you add cold cream to your frosting mixture, it will be harder to mix it in. Warm temperature of the cream ensures that you can incorporate the cream evenly and smoothly. To make this frosting even more stable, you can add heavy cream instead of fresh cream, cool it in the fridge and then whip it up!
Make sure to refrigerate the frosting
Once your frosting is ready, make sure you cover it and store it in the refrigerator. This is a really important step that will make the frosting much more stable and pipeable. Refrigerating it will make sure the chocolate sets and when you are using it to top off your desserts, it will maintain its shape and consistency. Therefore, this makes a perfect frosting to layer cakes with.
I have an entire article that talks about the chocolate fudge frosting, including these tips that I have just shared with you.
Use curd for the best eggless chocolate cake
I love using homemade curd instead of egg in most of my eggless recipes. It is such a great egg substitute and the best part is that it is always readily available in our homes. While using homemade curd, you need to be careful about not adding the water content of it in your cake batter.
If you add too much of the water content, it will disturb the consistency of your batter and your cake can end up very crumbly and hard to work with when it comes to the layering stage. The thick part of the curd is what adds structure to our eggless cake. If your homemade curd doesn’t turn out thick, you can always use greek yogurt from the market instead or in fact use hung curd.
For hung curd all you need to do is put homemade curd in a muslin cloth and let it strain it away in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning you will see all the excess water has strained away and you are left with thick curd that you can now add in your cake.
Also, make sure that your curd is fresh and sweet. If you use sour curd, it will definitely add that flavor to your chocolate cake as well and no one will enjoy that taste.
Layering the best eggless chocolate cake
Like I said, my best eggless chocolate cake only has two components, the devil’s food cake sponge and the chocolate fudge frosting.
I went all out and made three 6’’ layers of the chocolate sponge. The recipe that I am sharing with you will give you two layers. If you want to make three layers, you can multiply the recipe with 1.5 and make three epic layers.
While layering the cakes, make sure:
- Your cakes are completely cooled before you frost and layer them. Frosting warm cakes will make the frosting melt and lead to an extremely unstable cake.
- Your frosting is also chilled. Chilled and smooth frosting is best for layering cakes with. It is all about maintaining a good structure of the cake so that you can cut into it beautifully and all layers stay intact.
- You are adding an adequate amount of frosting in each layer. If you add too less, cutting into the cake and eating it won’t be as decadent. If you add too much, it is possible that your cake will collapse once all layers have been stacked.
- To use an offset spatula to make spreading the frosting all over the cake a very easy process. The curve of the offset spatula makes maneuvering the frosting a smoother process.
- Once fully frosted, you can refrigerate the cake for half an hour before cutting into it. This makes sure that the frosting is set and your cake layers are stable and secure.
How to decorate the best eggless chocolate cake
This cake is absolutely stunning on its own. I wanted to let the frosting and height of the cake shine so I decided to keep the decor of this cake super simple and just add some chocolate shavings on the top. Chocolate shavings are honestly the easiest garnish one can make and they always end up looking so pretty. The process of making these shavings is also super simple and they come together in a matter of 10 minutes.
All you need are three things: silicone mat or parchment paper, melted chocolate, and chocolate or bench scraper. You start by melting some chocolate and spreading it very evenly and in a thin layer on your silicone mat. Then just let it sit and get firm. Once set, use the chocolate scraper and run it lengthwise. The chocolate will automatically start to form rolls. Repeat this process till you have the desired amount of chocolate shavings.
I know you all will absolutely love this recipe. I can’t wait to see your pictures! Tag me on Instagram using @shivesh17. Happy baking!
- 1 ½ cup (180gms) maida
- ¾ cup (90gms) cocoa powder
- ½ tsp (3gms) baking soda
- 1 tsp (4gms) baking powder
- ¾ cup (180ml) vegetable oil
- 1 ½ cup (300gms) caster sugar
- 1 cup (285gms) curd
- ½ tsp (2.5ml) vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120ml) milk + 1tsp (5ml) vinegar
- 1 cup (226gms) butter
- 2 cups (260gms) icing sugar
- ½ - ¾ cup cocoa powder (depending on how chocolaty you want it to be)
- 1 cup (175gms) melted chocolate
- 1 cup (230ml) warm cream
- Chocolate shavings
- Pre-heat the oven to 180*C. Line two 6" baking pans with parchment paper.
- Mix in milk and vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a bowl sift cocoa powder, flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder.
- Take another bowl and beat together oil and sugar until the mixture is pale and light
- Add yogurt and mix well.
- Beat in vanilla using mixer at low.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients alternating with milk and vinegar mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture. Mix only until well combined. Don't over mix.
- Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 180*C for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool down.
- In a bowl add in butter and sift in icing sugar and cocoa powder.
- Whip this mixture using a hand whisk or an electric mixer at high speed till you get a fluffy and light mixture.
- Add in vanilla and beat it in as well. Once all of this is combined, warm your cream and mix that in as well.
- Next, melt your chocolate and let it cool down slightly before you add it into the frosting mixture.
- Once cooled down, just combine everything using your whisk. Give it a good mix and you will see your frosting be thick but slightly liquidy.
- Refrigerate the frosting for 30-40 minutes.
- Use it to layer up your cakes and decorate the cake with some chocolate shavings.
- Enjoy!
Sanskriti Jaswant says
Can we use Amul fresh cream? The one which comes in the blue and white box?
Emma says
Hi Shivesh! What exactly did you use as melted chocolate for the frosting? Dark compound? Or 70% chocolate couverture (like you did use in the best brownies ever!!!!) 😀
Romila Tahseen says
I tried this cake and it turned out to be amazing!!!!! It is the best recipe I have ever come across. Thank you so much for uploading this 🙂
ARUNIMA SENGUPTA says
Hi Shivesh, you specifically mentioned not to replace icing sugar with castor sugar. My question is can I do the reverse for the sponge? I have icing sugar with me, could I use it in the cake batter or do I need to grind regular sugar in grinder?
Guru says
Hey! I tried this recipe came out really well and also want to ask you can I reduce chocolate everyone does not like bitter taste of chololate
Ashverya says
The measurements mentioned seem off. 1.5 cup maida is 185 gm while 1 cup curd is 285 gm. Please clarify?
Mansi Shah says
Everyone Loved it ? it was indeed the best chocolate cake.
Thank you!!
Sruthi says
How to get even flat layers of the sponge? They always have a dome on top.
Shaili says
A masterpiece!
I’m planning to make this cake for Christmas. I was wondering if I could prepare the frosting one day in advance (since it is to be refrigerated anyway). Will that work?
Richita says
Can I make the frosting in a mixer? A traditional stand mixer
Can I make this the night before I want it?
akshita says
in one of ur u tube video u told sundrop vegetable oil to use bt which vegetable oil of sundrop…pls clarify??
Anuja says
Is vinegar mandatory? Can we skip it? Or is there any substitute for it?
AS says
This chocolate cake is absolutely delicious and soft!!!
Jess says
You are missing the salt in your ingredients list.
Charitha says
Hiii
I love all your recipes.
Also I tried this cake for Christmas. But the top layer of the cake got burnt 🙁
Sohinj says
Hi .. I wanted to make two 8″ cake layers with this.. should I increase the ingredients to 1 1/2 times or this will suffice?
Anuja Arora says
How long would it take to bake in an 8 inch pan in an lg microwave convection oven?
Neha Talreja says
For the Frosting, Warm Cream is mentioned. Should we use Fresh Cream or Whipped Cream ? Thanks in advance 🙂
Sanjana says
What are the measurements required for making a big cake like shown in the pic
Anu says
What measure of ingredients I should take for making only one 6 inch cake?
Riddhiman Jain says
Hi Shivesh, why is it that you have added buttermilk in eggless chocolate cake but not in eggless vanilla cake? What is the difference?
Vrushali says
Superb recipe!! Loved it!
Sunil jaiswal says
Thank you for shearing all chocolate cake recipes in a blog and this is very help fully. It is a very testy and sweet chocolate cakes and any celebration, parties and birthday.
Rupy says
I made this cake it’s very yummy..can you give vanilla sponge recipe and also pineapple pastery and eggless Black Forest cake plse
Aditi says
Hi Shivesh,
Can you please clarify one doubt? You have mentioned 170 gms melted chocolate. Is this measurement for chocolate pieces that need to be melted or do we melt the chocolate and that melted portion should measure 170 gms?
pari says
Shivesh,I have tried almost every eggless chocolate cake recipe from the internet. This recipe is in my top 2 list. I have tried this recipe without the icing and still tasted delicious. My kids think it has real chocolate in it. Great job!
Thanks.
Mr brown says
Very inspiring. I really like this. You tried something new. it is fantastic too, I will add this recipe for my local baker customers. thanks for sharing such a nice post.
Nishu says
After adding curd to the beaten sugar and oil mixture , the whole mixture curdles why?
Ashish Jain says
Hi I want to prepare a 3 layered ombre chocolate cake for my wife’s bday. I am thinking of using the same recipe. Will multiply quantity of each ingredient by 1.5 and post that, will substitute 1/3rd of dark chocolate with milk chocolate and another 1/3rd with white chocolate.
Will this work?
Shweta says
Hi shivesh.. m a big fan, infact my love for baking comes from u. And this cake is the best. I just wanted to know if i can use raw cacao powder to bake cakes. Please let me know
Ranjana says
I was expecting a bitter taste but the cake turned out to be so good.The frosting was with right amount of sweetness .Thank u Shivesh for sharing this receipe.
Reenu says
Hii … I and everyone in my family are big fans of tea cakes. We don’t like any kind of frosting or cream on our cakes. So i was wondering if i can use this sponge as a tea cake? Also what kind of cocoa have u used?? Dutch or natural or a mix of both?? Also in the ingredients list it says 285 Gms of curd. So that is 285 gms of hung curd right??
Vaidehi says
I tried this and damn!!! This is the best ever chocolate cake I have ever tasted! This turned out to be a lot better better than the cake shop cakes!
Chandana says
Hey Shivesh! Will it take longer if I bake it in a single tin?
Prapti Gandhi says
Vegetable oil can be replaced with salted butter??
Nikhita :) says
Thank you so much for the amazing recipe! The cake’s come out so so well and everybody loved it! 🙂 Thank you again 😀
Deepshikha Bansal says
How to store the cake if i make it ahead a day?
Sarah says
This is a perfect eggless chocolate cake recipe. It turns out just as promised, I am so happy with this one!
Sania says
Hey shivesh, i tried this cake with exact measurements but i end up with the underbaked cake , i even did the toothpick test, toothpick came out clean. But inside batter was not properly baked and the top was perfectly baked. What’s the reason behind it.
Swati trivedi says
Can I use silicon mould in otg !?
box of cake says
I really appreciate, you written well and helpful blog for those regarding cakes. I will follow and share these cake related blogs.In this blog cakes’ pictures are looking very awesome.
deeksha says
what should be the measurements if we want to make a single layer?
Mahek says
Half it and use a 6inch pan
AmbalaCakes says
Superb recipe
Mahek says
My batter turns our very gluggy and like glue. It looks like a ganache just split.
What mistake am I making?
Tanisha says
This is THE best chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever tried. Although I messed up majorly by using a small baking tin, somehow I was able to salvage the batter and bake again! And even the half baked molten version was just SO yum. I love this recipe. Keep going.
Neel Govind says
This chocolate cake is absolutely delicious and soft!!!
Yashodhara says
Can I use this recipe to make cup cakes
Santosh Sahani says
I really appreciate, you written well and helpful blog for those regarding cakes. Looking forward for more!!