Wanda Oyola, cooking with Thermomix® and loving it!
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United States recipeBasic Chocolate Cake

A dark, moist chocolate cake mixed in one bowl with oil and hot coffee. Two layers that stay soft for days.

By Wanda Oyola 2 h 10 min Easy

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Recipe in testing: I'm cooking it in my TM7™ and will update the steps and the photo with my own.

A dark, moist chocolate cake layer on a cooling rack with one slice cut and a little cocoa dusted around.

Every baker needs one chocolate cake they can make without thinking, and this is it. It is mixed in one bowl, with oil instead of butter and hot coffee poured in at the end. The result is dark, deeply chocolatey and so moist that it stays soft for days. Use it for birthdays, for cupcakes or simply for a square with a glass of cold milk.

The Thermomix® TM7™ mixes the dry ingredients first, which breaks up the cocoa lumps without sifting. The wet ingredients follow, and the hot coffee goes in last on a low speed. Hot liquid dissolves the cocoa and wakes up its flavor, and the coffee makes the chocolate taste deeper, not like coffee.

Do not be surprised when the batter looks thin, almost like heavy cream: that is exactly how it should be. All that liquid is what keeps the crumb moist and tender, so resist the urge to add more flour. Trust the toothpick test, not the look of the batter.

Made in the Thermomix® TM7™

Basic Chocolate Cake

Makes: Two 20 cm (8 in) round layers, one cake of 12 slices

  • Prep20 min
  • Cook35 min
  • Total2 h 10 min
  • Serves12

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease two 20 cm (8 in) round pans, line the bottoms with parchment, grease the paper and dust the pans with cocoa.
  2. If you are not using freshly brewed coffee, place the water in the mixing bowl and heat 4 min/100°C (212°F)/speed 1. Pour it into a heatproof measuring cup, stir in the instant coffee and set aside. Dry the mixing bowl well.
  3. Place the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in the mixing bowl and mix 10 sec/speed 4. This breaks up the cocoa lumps and spreads the leavening evenly, so there are no bitter pockets of baking soda in the cake.
  4. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and mix 20 sec/speed 4. Scrape down the sides with the spatula.
  5. Set the TM7 to mix 20 sec/speed 2 and pour the hot coffee slowly through the lid opening while it runs. Adding it last, little by little, warms the batter without cooking the eggs, and the heat melts the cocoa so it tastes richer. Scrape the bottom with the spatula and mix 5 sec/speed 2 more. The batter will be thin and pourable: that is right.
  6. Divide the batter evenly between the pans and bake in the oven 30 to 35 minutes, until the tops spring back and a toothpick in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter.
  7. Cool 15 minutes in the pans, because this cake is very tender while warm. Then turn the layers out onto a rack, peel off the parchment and let them cool completely, about 1 hour, before frosting.

Tips

  • Cupcakes: line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners and fill them a little more than half full, because this batter rises a lot. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 18 to 20 minutes. Makes about 24.
  • Without coffee: use 240 g hot water instead. The chocolate flavor is a little milder, but the cake is just as moist, and it is the better choice for kids.
  • Why it keeps moist for days: oil stays liquid at room temperature while butter turns firm, so this cake feels soft even straight from the fridge. Wrapped well, the layers keep 3 days at room temperature, 5 days in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer.
  • To frost it, try the chocolate ganache from the chocolate layer cake or the vanilla buttercream from the vanilla cupcakes.

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