We Have A Winner! A Review of Hershey's Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

I searched for the best, homemade chocolate cake recipe I could find.

I'm happy to report we have a winner!

Throughout my life, I have had a love/hate relationship with cakes: I have either loved the frosting and hated the cake, or loved the cake and hated the frosting. Rarely has either extreme occurred simultaneously and I'm often (embarrassingly) left with a plateful of one or the other to scoop into the trash bin. Definitely not the type of behavior I am proud to admit.

Enter my mother-in-law: The singular source of more delightful dessert recipes than I can possibly divine from my vast collection of cookbooks, she has become a tried and trusted source for all things yummy, as this recipe for Deep Dark Chocolate Cake will prove. But before we go any further, there are two things about this cake you absolutely must know...

1. It's entirely homemade, and
2. It's easier to make and far more delicious than you can possibly imagine.

Thank goodness for mother-in-laws, Hershey's & cocoa, because this cake is a winner!

Made on the recommendation of my mother-in-law, I expected this cake to be good (it is chocolate after all,) but I didn't expect it to be the kind of good that makes you wonder why all chocolate cakes and icings can't taste this delightful. Not only did it receive rave reviews from my panel of lucky taste-testers (who selflessly sampled a slice, or two, or even three in some cases), but all proclaimed its chocolatey goodness, "The best I've ever had!"

Since I haven't (unfortunately) sampled all the chocolate cakes in the world, I won't go as far as claiming it's the best you'll ever taste, but I can assure you it is reliably good and surprisingly simple to make. And if you bake, no matter how infrequently or reluctantly, I'll bet you already have all the necessary ingredients to make this cake and its fantastic frosting on hand.

So go ahead. Check your pantry, your cupboards and refrigerator too...by dessert time, you can be having your cake and eating it too!

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

(recipe courtesy Hershey's, uncompensated review courtesy A Bloggable Life. Enjoy!)

(FYI: Hershey's has since renamed this recipe Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake)

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa (I used and recommend Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa)
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour two 9-inch cake rounds or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the first six ingredients (sugar through salt); add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin); pour into prepared pan(s) and bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes our clean. If baking cake rounds, allow rounds to cool slightly before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely. If using rectangular baking pan, allow cake to cool completely before icing.

One Bowl Chocolate Frosting

• 6 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
• 2 & 2/3 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa (again, I used and recommend Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa)
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a medium-sized bowl, mix and beat all ingredients using an electric mixer. If icing seems too thick, add a touch more heavy cream until desired consistency is reached, taking care not to over-thin the icing. I have found these amounts enough to frost the top and center layer of two, stacked, 9-inch cake rounds (but not the sides) or the top of a 13x9x2-inch rectangular cake. If you are looking to frost the sides of the stacked cake rounds as well, consider doubling these amounts.

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Comments

[Lana @ Never Enough Thyme]

I have made this same recipe from Hershey's before and I have to agree with you that it is one of the very best chocolate cakes on the planet! Especially good with a tall glass of cold milk. Yum.

[Pat]

I'm giving this one a try. I'm trying to find a dark choc.cake that is not too sweet! I just had a taste of heaven in the office and the "baker" is "unavailable." Cake was dense, very dark and definitely not awfully sweet. The best! The icing was shiny and very dark. I want to find both recipes --- Hershey's Dark Chocolate, Chocolate may be the one. Will try.

[Sandie {A Bloggable Life}]

Lana - Isn't it great?! Hershey's may have changed the name, but that marketing tactic was pointless. This cake is so good, you could simply call it "cake," and it would still be one of the best recipes out there!

Pat - Oh, I hope you like it! I really think you will. This cake is so chocolatey without being too rich, too sweet or totally over the top. If you ever get the other recipe, I'd love to have you share as well!

[Amanda]

That looks totally amazing. Found it through Pinterest! :)

[Melanie]

Yes the cake recipe on the back of Hershey's Cocoa is definitely the best chocolate cake. I love to make and eat it.

I've never tried it with the Special Dark Cocoa though. I'm going to try it!

[Dawn Farias]

I use that recipe for our birthday party cake. You're right - it is so very easy and definitely the best tasting cake.

[Linda Harris]

I have made this many times and it is the most wonderful cake I have ever had. The icing is fab!! but I would like to know how to make my icing shiny. What do I need to add to get this effect?

[Sandie {A Bloggable Life}]

Hi, Linda, thanks for asking, but honestly... I did not add anything extra to the icing to make it shiny---just made it EXACTLY like the recipe states. Mine did come out glossy, but I just followed the directions to a "T." Good luck!

[Kellee]

Has anyone tried using strong coffee instead of boiling water?

[Sandie {A Bloggable Life}]

Kellee - I have not substituted strong coffee for water in this particular recipe, but I have with other chocolate recipes and I think it would be okay to try it here. If you do, please let me know whether it was successful or not. Thanks!

[Kassie]

I just made this cake today for my birthday! (I wanted to do it myself, wouldn't let others take the credit for what I figured was going to be an awesome cake!! lol) Anyways It was really really great!! The cake was a great texture, it was nice and thick and melt in your mouth! I baked it for 34 mins at 350 in my electric over, next time I will bake it for about 31-32 mins because the edges got a little too done for my liking and made the cake around the edge a tiny bit more done/dry then I would have liked. The icing is awesome!!

I added my own little touch and frosted the entire cake, edges included and put mini chocolate chips on the outside.

Even though the edges got a tad bit too done, it was by far the best chocolate cake ever made in this house and we have made plenty trying to find a recipe that simulates a nearby restaurants amazing chocolate cake. This one came really super close!! Thanks for sharing!

[Gigi]

Thank for the recipe: It has become The Hedelsky's Chocolate Cake. My husband used homemade blackberry preserves instead of frosting between layers; it gave the cake a nice contrast and more interesting flavor. Thanks for sharing!