Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake Recipe

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake is a delicious eggless layered cake made using vinegar. It is a chocolate base filled and frosted with chocolate ganache.

I made a layered cake after over a year, the last was this Coffee Chocolate Mocha Cake in April 2014 on the occasion of our anniversary and blogversary. Slowly we are moving away from too much sugar or rich food but on occasions, I think they are justified. :)

I decided to revisit another of my old recipes which was a very big hit last time I made it here. That was 3 years ago!! This time the occasion was my birthday, I have baked a few layered cakes for myself in the last 4 years including – checkerboard cake and pineapple cake.

I kept the recipe simple using only ganache to fill and frost the cake and soaked the layers in a little bit of sugar syrup. You can make a full recipe cake and then slice it into three layers but I am not very neat with slicing, hence cut down the recipe to make 3 separate layers. Alternatively, you can bake 3 layers in a big oven together but I don’t have that too.

The consistency of ganache for topping and filling is different. For filling, you need a thick consistency (which you get by leaving the ganache at room temperature for a few hours) and for pouring as a topping, you need the ganache to be pouring consistency. You can re-heat/ warm up the ganache to adjust the consistency.

The cake is moist, perfectly sweet, and rich to bite into. This is a crowd-pleaser if you are looking for a party. The flavors mature well if you allow the cake to be set overnight in the refrigerator.

How to Make Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake at Home?

Print Recipe

Old Fashion Chocolate Cake

The most decadent and moist old fashioned chocolate cake.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course: Baking, Dessert

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Keyword: Bakery, chocolate, Coffee, cupcake, eggless

Servings: 9 inch layered cake

Ingredients

for the cake:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ½ cup +1 tbsp sugar granulated
• ⅛ cup + 1 tsp cocoa powder unsweetened
• ¼ tsp baking soda heaped
• ¼ tsp salt
• ⅔ cup hot water
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp instant coffee granules
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

for the sugar syrup:

• ¼ cup sugar
• ¾ cup water
• chocolate ganache filling and covering the cake

Instructions

for the cake

• Pre-heat oven to 180 °C. Line the bottom of one 8 inch pan.
• Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda & salt in a large mixing bowl. Do not use mixer.
• Combine water, oil, vinegar, instant coffee & vanilla in a separate bowl.
• Add to the dry ingredients & whisk till just combined. A few lumps are fine.
• Pour batter into the prepared pan & bake for 20-25 mins till tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Cool the cake in the pan on the rack for 15 minutes, then invert it on the rack. Leave it upside down to cool, it helps in flattening any dome shape.
• I baked three layers by baking this recipe thrice separately. And then froze the layers wrapped in cling film.

for the sugar syrup

• Boil water & sugar together. Once it boils, lower the flame & allow it to heat for another 1 minute. Remove from heat & cool completely. It can be made in advance & stored in refrigerator.

assembling the cake

• Move the frozen layers to refrigerator few hours before assembling. Place the first layer on a platter or cake stand.
• Make some holes into the bottom layer using a form. Soak the bottom layer in sugar syrup. Then lightly spread chocolate ganache over it. Place the second layer on top of the bottom layer & repeat the process of soaking & spreading ganache. Finally place the top layer & again soak it. Lightly spread the ganche on top & sides of the cake. Refrigerate the cake for 1 hr.
• Transfer the cake to a wire rack. Place a cookie sheet under it to catch any excess dripping chocolate ganache.
• Pour the ganache in the center of the cake & tilt the rack to cover the sides of the cake as well.
• Allow the excess to run down the sides of the cake. Decorate with chocolate chips.
• Refrigerate the cake until ganache sets (about 1 hr). I refrigerated for 24 hrs prior to cutting covered in a cake dome as I wanted the flavors to really set in. Serve chilled.

Notes

1. Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake: Truffle Cake
2. Chocolate Ganache
3. You can make a full recipe cake and then slice into three layers or alternatively you can bake 3 layers in separate pans by placing them in a big oven together.
4. You can whip the ganache before spreading as filling.
5. The consistency of ganache for topping and filling is different. For filling, you need thick consistency (which you get by leaving the ganache at room temperature for few hours) and for pouring as topping, you need the ganache to be pouring consistency. You can re-heat/ warm up the ganache to adjust the consistency.