By Lisa Donovan
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus cooling
- Rating
- 4(1,831)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Layer cakes are formative for Southerners: They grace wedding tables, shiva gatherings, quinceañeras, baptisms and funerals. Because of this — and because layer cakes may be as close as some will ever get to a holy experience — they’re often called church cakes. This chocolate one is a perfectly moist and stacked rendition of a pudding cake, with just the right amount of richness from the frosting. This formula needs no alterations, but there’s no sense in breaking the tradition of Southern bakers, who personalize recipes as a point of pride. Add pulverized praline to the center, or cinnamon or instant-coffee granules to the batter. Don’t be afraid to make it your own. To make it a true church cake, serve it to those you hold in the highest regard, for celebrations or to simply indulge in the good glory of company.
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Ingredients
Yield:One 9-inch layer cake
- 1½cups/350 grams granulated sugar
- 1½cups/325 grams heavy cream
- 8ounces/225 grams unsweetened chocolate
- 6ounces/170 grams unsalted butter
- 1teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 1cup/120 grams unsweetened cocoa powder, dark (Dutch-processed) if available, plus more for pans
- 3½cups/700 grams granulated sugar
- 2¾cups/365 grams all-purpose flour (see Tip)
- 2teaspoons baking powder
- 2teaspoons baking soda
- 1½teaspoons fine salt
- 3large eggs, beaten
- 1½cups/350 grams buttermilk, preferably cultured whole buttermilk
- ¾cup/145 grams canola or other neutral oil
- 2teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the Frosting
For the Cake
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Make the frosting: In a large saucepan, bring sugar and cream to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 6 minutes. Meanwhile, chop chocolate and cube butter. After the sugar mixture has simmered for 6 minutes, turn the heat off and add chocolate and butter to the saucepan. Stir until everything is melted. Stir in the vanilla. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature while you make the cake. Do not stir until it has cooled almost entirely, likely for as long as it will take you to mix and bake the cake.
Step
2
Make the cake: Heat oven to 325 degrees. Coat three 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Cut three rounds of parchment paper to fit the bottom of each pan and line each pan with one. Spray the parchment. Sprinkle the pans with cocoa powder to coat, tapping each pan over the sink or trash can to shake loose any excess.
Step
3
Meanwhile, in a very large bowl, whisk the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center. Bring 1½ cups water to a boil while you prepare your wet ingredients.
Step
4
Whisk the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla in a medium bowl. Pour into the dry mixture and whisk gently until incorporated. It will be a bit clumpy but gently work it in. Pour in the boiling water to loosen the batter and gently whisk to combine, being careful not to splash.
Step
5
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans. Each pan should hold about 700 grams of batter. (Weighing your batter ensures even cooking and beautiful cake building.) Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs, 32 to 35 minutes. Set the pans on a wire rack to cool.
Step
6
When cakes are cooled, revisit your frosting, whisking to thicken and making sure not to overbeat or add any air or fluff to the frosting. Turn the cakes out of their pans and discard the parchment. Trim any rounded top off of each as evenly as possible.
Step
7
Assemble the cake: Scoop about ¾ cup of frosting on one layer set on a cake plate, then repeat with the second and third layers. You can refrigerate the cake in between frosting each layer to ensure that your frosting is set and firm so that your next layer will be propped up properly. If the frosting is too soft, the next layer will just flatten the filling. Frost the outside of the cake with the remaining frosting, letting it chill as you go if needed. Use an offset spatula or butter knife dipped in hot water and wiped clean to smooth and shine the finished cake. This cake keeps and is best served at room temperature for up to 2 days. It holds remarkably well in the refrigerator for up to one week and can be served cold.
Tip
- You can substitute an equal amount of a gluten-free baking blend.
Ratings
4
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1,831
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Cooking Notes
Golem18
There are no health concerns. Nobody eats this kind of cake, or probably any cake, every day. Bringing up health concerns every time there's a recipe for something sweet is pretentious. Every doctor I've ever been to has advised "all things in moderation" and that goes for cake as well. If one doesn't like cake then eat pie. In moderation. Unlike your remote, life doesn't come with a rerun button. Enjoy it.
William Wroblicka
Note to the food police: You can't arbitrarily reduce the amount of sugar in a cake recipe without adversely affecting flavor and texture. This is a "high ratio" cake in which the amount of sugar exceeds the amount of flour. The sugar's needed to offset the bitterness of the cocoa, which gives the cake its rich chocolate flavor. If the cake offends your sensibilities, have a piece of fruit for dessert instead.
CBR
A kind note to those with health concerns. I participate in a wild game cooking FB group with a few simple rules. The most important rule is you never criticize what someone else eats. Everyone is different. Some want a cake with all the sugar and all the butter. It's cake! There is nothing inherently wrong with that. If it appeals to you, make it and tell us how it was. If it doesn't, just move on to something else. Why shame others for liking what they like? Me? I'm making the cake
Scott
My mother never baked cake for me; there wasn't time with our family business. The only times I would get cake were when she helped serve at a funeral at church and she would bring me a piece of cake home. I always called these funeral cakes. I'm going to make one in her memory; today would have been her birthday! I will use 700g of sugar too!
Jane Eyrehead
In response to the health concerns—one slice, once in a while, won’t hurt the average person. Obviously, this is a special occasion cake. I like any cake with buttermilk in it.
LeslieT
I can p.r.o.m.I.s.e you this cake has been tested. Tested through years of church socials and birthdays and new babies and celebrations and “just because you are my friend” occasions. I have personally been given a slice from a neighbor who made it from the primary source and it is delicious, but, more than that, it is love. The simple act of baking and sharing is love. Lisa Donovan’s recipes are so full of love they make me weep with pleasure in the knowledge I am so well cared for.
PF
Back in the days when I had reasons to bake cakes, I found that baking the layers in advance led to the best results. Bake them, cool completely (out of the pan) and refrigerate wrapped in plastic. You get one messy process out of the way (and cleaned up!) plus ensuring the layers are fully cooled and ready to frost. As for making this recipe my own, I'd use strong hot coffee instead of the water and raspberry preserves between the layers.
Annie
This is Annie’s sister. Superb cake. Tender. Pan of cupcakes plus a 2 layer cake if your cake tins don’t match.
Jane Eyrehead
I agree. After the last few years, I say: Life can be hard. Enjoy your cake.
DPNC
Lovely cake. I’ve lived in the south my entire life and never heard anyone describe any cake as a church cake, but where I grew up in Eastern NC, ladies did compete to see how many layers tall they could bake cakes for funeral wakes and church homecomings. Very thin yellow layers and a fudgy cooked icing. I never had the knack for making it, but I’d crash a stranger’s wake or a homecoming at a chute didn’t know for a slice of that cake!
Anne
This frosting recipe is EXACTLY like the one in the Frog Commissary Cookbook from Philadelphia except for the last sentence of the directions. It is a wonderful recipe, I’ve used it for frosting or fudge sauce since the middle ‘80’s, nothing else. But please NYT, don’t rip it off without giving credit to the Frog Commissary. Also I highly recommend the cookbook if you can get your hands on one as I think it might be out of print. My cookbook opens automatically to the Killer Cake recipe page!
Randy Richter
Made this cake and now it is our official chocolate cake recipe for all time. Wonderfully fudgy cake with intense luscious icing. Due to kitchen turmoil, I made the three layers the day before assembly and cooled them overnight on wire racks. Just pressing a piece of wax paper on top to await assembly the following day. The icing is just barely enough so plan to use something else in between the layers or else be sparing in the use of it for the between layers. I did refrigerate after each layer
Ann M
I halved the recipe and made 2 8” layers. The batter was thin and didn’t look like enough but it rose beautifully and came out delicious and moist! Next time I’ll use hot coffee instead of boiling water.
Echo35
Would it be sacriligious to bloom the cocoa in the boiling water before adding to the wet mix? Also, would I tempt eternal damnation if I whipped the frosting? I like a fluffy whipped frosting!
Finn
On the DelMarVa peninsula, this kind of many-layered cake is known as Smith Island cake.
Kate Riley SF CA
Terrible waste of time and ingredients. I made this cake a second time today. First time total disaster. too watery wouldn't cook, sunk into itself. Second time I used only 1/2 cup boiling water instead of 1 and 1/2 cups as called for. Same goopy messy sunken waste of time and ingredients. I can't serve this.
Kate R SF CA
why too much liquid! it sank into the middle after 45 minutes of baking. I decreased the boiling water to 1/2 cup second time and it still was too much liquid. what the heck???
katie b.
this is the only cake I ever want to make. I started making it for employee birthdays last and now everyone asks for it. thanks Lisa, also enjoyed your book very much xo
Rebecca T.
This a marvelously chocolatey cake. It’s simple to make, no mixer required. I used leftover boiling coffee instead of boiling water. I omitted the vanilla. (Why is it even there? Habit leftover from when it was much less expensive, I suspect.) I decreased the sugar by 100 grams, or so, and nobody complained. Nay, they couldn’t stop talking about how good it was.
msvic
This is a fantastic cake.I halved it so I could make a small 6" birthday layer for 2 with 10 cupcakes. My intention was toto give away the cupcakes. Umm - I do not think that will happen. Delicious. Perfect. My next piece I might have with a side of whipped cream!
Sara Parks
The most delicious cake- huge! Make cake day ahead. Frosting next day.
Randy S.
Excellent cake. I had some trouble with the frosting. It took 4+ hours to get to a spreadable consistency. If I make it again I will reduce the heavy cream.
Hope
Greatest chocolate cake ever!!
elaine m.
I made this cake yesterday for Father’s Day and my family loved it! My daughter even commented on how it looked like a cake from a local bakery! A few notes, my frosting was definitely thin, I added about a half cup of heavy cream, a little confectionery sugar and used a hand beater. I frosted most of it, chilled the cake and the remaining frosting I made and iced the rest of it afterwards. Next time I’ll chill the frosting after it reaches room temp. I used hot coffee as well in the batter.
CG14
This cake was amazing! I only have 8 inch pans, but 2/3 of the recipe into 2 pans made for a tall 2 layer cake, so I will likely split it into 3 8 inch pans next time, and just bake for less time. The frosting was rich and delicious. I did orange marmalade in between the layers with the chocolate frosting, and my family loved it! Thanks you Ms. Donovan for the new family favorite chocolate cake!
Sharona
Although my frosting didn't look anything like this cake both in texture and color, I am still receiving calls 3 days later from people telling me how much they liked it. When I ask if they liked it better refrigerated or room temp every single person answered "both".
Rachel
For one chocoholic 8-year-old, this cake was a smash hit as her birthday cake. I added pink sprinkles on top to add festive pizzazz but otherwise baked exactly as directed. Thank you Lisa Donovan and NYT, on behalf of a very happy girl :)
ALB
Great recipe, we enjoyed the cake very much. I did have to use a hand mixer on the frosting and beat instead of the gentle whisking that the recipe called for. I used hot coffee instead of hot water when I made the cake. Kept beautifully for over 10 days in the refrigerator.
Tony
Came out great! More like a “blackout” cake than I was expecting though. The frosting ended up darker than the photo, more closely matching the color of the cake itself, so maybe reducing the chocolate would give it more contrast.Cake was very moist, almost too much so. Maybe next time I’ll cook a little longer and/or reduce the water added to the batter.
Lau
Made these into cupcakes and were a big hit. Baked at 325F for 20ish minutes. Otherwise followed the recipe.
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