Cakes are simply the best. A perfectly baked moist cake is one of life’s simple pleasures. Baking cakes at home can be just as fun as eating them as long as you have the right recipes! I am going to share The 50 Best Cake Recipes in the World, as rated by you! All of the frosting recipes can be found here.
The Best Cake Recipe
What makes one specific recipe “the best cake recipe”? It is based on a couple of key factors.
Popularity & Consistency: Year after year Chocolate Cake is rated the most popular by people all over the world. There is something magical about a perfectly moist cake that is packed with rich chocolate flavor. Not only does it taste amazing, but it often takes us back to the wonderful memories of childhood.
Now, I know that some people like a sheet cake and some like a layer cake piled high with frosting and some folks just want to enjoy a cake that reminds them of special occasions growing up but that also adheres to their current dietary needs. The recipe I am sharing below is all of that! Perfect every time and beyond delicious.
The Perfect Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup (210 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (90 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (240 g) buttermilk, room temperature
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup (112 g) vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 cup (237 g) freshly brewed coffee
Instructions
- Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl and mix until combined.
- In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Pour the batter into two 8-inch round prepared pans and bake for 30-40 minutes at 350°F, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out mostly clean (not wet).
- Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
Chocolate Cakes
- Perfect Chocolate Cake (recipe above)
- Chocolate Craving Cake (pictured above, smaller recipe)
- Best Chocolate Cake – sheet cake recipe
- Chocolate Brownie Cake
- Homemade Chocolate Cake Mix – stores in your pantry
- Skinny Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Mayo Cake
- Chocolate Espresso Cake
- One Bowl Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Avocado Cake
- Chocolate Ooey Gooey Cake
- Depression Cake (Wacky Cake)
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Ooey Gooey Cake
- Dark Chocolate Cake with Butter Pecan Frosting
- Oreo Earthquake Cake
White Cakes
- WASC Cake (pictured above)
- Perfect White Cake
- White Snack Cake
- White Zucchini Cake
- Coconut Cake
- Sprinkles Cake
- Gluten Free White Cake
Yellow Cakes
- Birthday Cake
- Homemade Yellow Cake Mix (pictured above)
- Ooey Gooey Butter Cake
- Gluten Free Yellow Cake
Pound Cakes and Bundt Cakes
I prefer to use my GOOP recipe on bundt pans, as the cakes always release so beautifully!
- Cream Cheese Pound Cake (pictured above)
- Chocolate Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
- Vanilla Pound Cake (loaf)
- Chocolate Pound Cake
- Lemon Pound Cake
- 7-Up Pound Cake
- Harvest Chocolate Bundt Cake (How to Decorate a Bundt Cake with Buttercream Flowers)
- Vanilla Poppyseed Cake
- Apple Bundt Cake
- Strawberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake
- Cinnamon Apple Moonshine Cake
- Kentucky Butter Crunch Cake
Seasonal/Carrot Cakes
- Carrot Cake (pictured above)
- Hummingbird Cake
- Easy Carrot Cake Recipe (semi-homemade)
- Gluten Free Carrot Cake
- Pumpkin Spice Snack Cake
- Maple Pecan Snack Cake
- Lemon Earthquake Cake
Sheet Cakes
- Almond Pecan Sheet Cake (pictured above)
- Chocolate Sheet Cake
- Rocky Road Sheet Cake
- Texas Turtle Sheet Cake
- Raspberry Cheesecake Sheet Cake
- Maple Sheet Cake
Seasonal/Occasion Cakes
- Countdown Cake – New Year’s Eve
- Ruffle Heart Cake – Valentine’s Day
- Shamrock Cake – St. Patrick’s Day
- Bunny Ear Cake – Easter
- Basket of Flowers Cake – May Day
- Mother’s Day Cake (pictured above)
- Patriotic Rose Cake – Memorial Day
- Father’s Day Cake
- 4th of July Cake
- No Bake Caramel Shortbread – Summer
- Pencil Cake – Back to School
- Cauldron Cake – Halloween
- Pumpkin Pie Cake – Thanksgiving
- Christmas Wreath Cake
- Lemon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Zucchini Cakes
- Chocolate Zucchini Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Zucchini Cake (pictured above)
- Zucchini Cake Recipe (9×13)
- Zucchini Double Chocolate Cake
- White Zucchini Cake
- Zucchini Brownies (cake-like)
- Zucchini Banana Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
Cheesecakes
- Perfect Cheesecake Recipe (pictured above)
- Chocolate Cheesecake
- Snickerdoodle Cheesecake
- Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
- No-Bake Cheesecake
- Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Oreo Cheesecake Cake
- Snickers Cheesecake Cake
- Neopolitan Cheesecake
- Brownie Bottom Cheesecake
Cake Basics
Most traditional cakes call for a standard mix of ingredients: sugar, butter, leavening, and gluten (flour). Keeping a few basic ingredients on hand, and using them correctly, will ensure that your cakes are perfect every time!
Sugars
Sugar is essential in cakes as it’s what makes them taste sweet. When you mix up a cake batter and beat sugar into fat or eggs the sugar crystals cut into the mixture, creating thousands of tiny air bubbles that lighten the batter. While baking, these bubbles expand and lift the batter, causing it to rise in the pan.
Altering the sugar in a recipe can have a dramatic effect. When a white cake turns out moist and tender the sugar ratio is good. But if you try changing the recipe by using more or less sugar than the recipe calls for, the result may be a dense, flat or tough cake.
The most common sugar for cakes is granulated.
Fats
The function of fat in cakes is an interesting one! There are two general methods for utilizing fats in cake baking; the creaming method and the all-in-one method. Fats are used differently in each case.
Creaming Method
The creaming method produces a soft, yet sturdy cake. The cake is usually great for stacking in layers as well for bundt cakes.
Simply put, it is mixing sugar into butter (fat) to help produce air bubbles that will expand during baking due to vaporization. This helps make the final product rise. Sugar and butter will also lighten in color and expand in volume during creaming. Eggs are beaten into the batter one at a time. Typically, the additional liquids and dry ingredients are then added alternately.
When using the creaming method, all ingredients should be at room temperature. The creaming method is best utilized with a stand mixer or hand-held mixer, as it can take anywhere from 3-8 minutes. The best speed for combining sugar and butter is medium to low as a high speed could heat up the fats too quickly.
All in One Method
If you have ever seen a recipe that says “one bowl” or “pour batter into the pan” it is probably an all-in-one method cake. They tend to be very moist and use oil instead of butter. (Such as Carrot Cake)
The all-in-one method is the easiest of all the cake baking methods. These cakes tend to have more liquid than others.
Eggs
Eggs play an important roll in cakes. They add structure, color, and flavor to our cakes and cookies.
There are two main components to an egg, the whites, and the yolks. For instance, a whipped egg white can help and Angel Food Cake rise. An egg yolk can transform a white cake into a beautiful yellow cake. Most recipes call for a whole egg.
It is important to use eggs at room temperature and to make sure you have the right size. I prefer large to extra large eggs in my cakes and will often specify for you. The difference between the two is usually 1-2 teaspoons in volume and while interchanging them won’t destroy a recipe, using the right size can help to create the perfect cake.
Leaveners
In cake recipes, the two most common leaveners are baking soda and baking powder.
Baking soda is bicarbonate of soda. It neutralizes the acidity of certain ingredients in the batter, allowing the cakes to turn golden brown in the oven.
Baking powder is a combination of bicarbonate of soda plus cream of tartar, an acidic ingredient. Baking powder alone can give cakes a lighter texture.
Flour
The main difference in flours found in the grocery store is the amount of protein they contain. A cake recipe should have the specific flour listed that is uses, but if it doesn’t, you can usually assume they mean all-purpose.
All-purpose flour, or plain flour, is an all-around good flour to use for baking. All-purpose has a protein content of 10-13% and it consistently performs well.
Cake flour is best for cakes and bakes very tender layers. It has 8-9% protein, one of the lowest in protein content.
Bleached and unbleached flours are basically interchangeable in cake recipes.
Salt
Without a doubt, this is one ingredient I use in all my baking. Salt enhances flavor and without it, the cake could just taste like a sugar overload. Without this flavor enhancer, the secondary flavors in a cake fall flat as the sweetness takes over. Salt can also act as a protein strengthener, helping to achieve the perfect cake.
Once you have all the basics covered, creating the perfect cake is easy no matter what the recipe.
My list of cake recipes is always expanding and I love being able to add tried and true recipes. If there is a cake recipe that you love that you don’t see here, please feel free to comment below! And as always, if you make any of these recipes tag @iambaker on Instagram and use the hashtag #iambaker. Happy Baking!
Love your recipes! Do you happen to know of a good king cake recipe for Mardi Gras?
Hello Amanda
What is all purpose flour? Is it cake flour or self rising flour?
I have made many of your cakes especially for our Church fish fry. I love all your posts. Thanks for sharing.
I can’t save your blog to Pinterest- only images?
very nice recipes…
I am a home baker with a small oven. I love your Choc Craving Cake recipe! It is yummy for young and old chocolate cake fans. If I bake this cake in someone’s larger oven using a 9’x 4″ round pan, can I doubke the recipe? What other “one bowl” yellow cake recipes would you recommend for a shallow 8×8 or 9×9 pan? Thank you Amanda. Until I got this recipe, I didn’t know what cakes I could bake in my small oven.
Hi Amanda, I love your recipes and have 2 questions…I recently made your perfect chocolate cake recipe and during the baking I noticed a darker ring in the middle of it, and later, when I thought it was done (toothpick came out clean), I realized afterwards it wasn’t quite done in the middle and in both pans, the cake was stuck to the bottom and when I tried to take them out of the pan, a large chunk came out of it and stayed stuck to the pan. I prefer to always grease & flour my pans, which always results in my baked goods coming out easily, but this time it was a mess! I had made this recipe a previous time for the Ding Dong cake which turned out perfectly, so I don’t understand what happened. I had baked another cake (different recipe) a few weeks ago and it was almost the same thing with it not being done properly in the middle. Could this be my oven? I’ve never had these issues before. Help! Also, do you have a recipe for a chocolate and vanilla layer cake? Thanks for any advice/ suggestions you can offer.
Thank you Amanda for your unselfish nature of wanting to share with others, I love baking too and am learning a lot from your yummy recipes. Writing all the way from Africa! Yu are appreciated
Lovely recipes
Am so grateful for this website,i believe it will improve my baking skills, congratulation for this hard work.