Chocolate Sour Cream Cake

"Found this recipe at SmittenKitchen. This cake just bowled me over! Super moist and flavorful, but really light. It's hands-down the best from-scratch cake I've ever made, so I posted here for safekeeping!"
 
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photo by Nika The Mad Baker photo by Nika The Mad Baker
photo by Nika The Mad Baker
photo by Nika The Mad Baker photo by Nika The Mad Baker
Ready In:
45mins
Ingredients:
11
Yields:
1 three layer cake
Serves:
12-16
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ingredients

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directions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cakepans.
  • Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
  • Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl, and whisk to combine them well.
  • Add the oil and sour cream and half the water, whisk to blend; then gradually beat in the remaining water.
  • Blend in the vinegar and vanilla, and whisk in eggs, beating until well blended.
  • Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed.
  • Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.
  • Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
  • Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely.
  • (Note: These cakes are very, very soft. I found them a lot easier to work with after firming them up in the freezer for 30 minutes. They’ll defrost quickly once assembled. You’ll be glad you did this, trust me.).
  • Frost with desired frosting. For the Peanut Butter Frosting and Glaze with the original recipe: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/08/chocolate-peanut-butter-cake/.

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Reviews

  1. My Mom said it's the best she's ever had! I loved it too!
     
  2. W-O-W Is all i could really say about this recipe. I used part of it to make a marble cake and used the leftover batter to make cupcakes. And they were so delicious, the texture was just like that of a cake mix from a box but 10x better, and for the flavor it was 10x better than any mix too! This is my go to chocolate cake and cupcake recipe. For the cupcakes i ended up with 12 really big topped cupcakes and used the rest to make 5 heart shaped cupcakes using my wilton silcone heart shaped pan. I baked those for 17 minutes and they came out perfectly. They're awesome without frosting, i'm sure they'd be great with frosting too. These are definitely a keeper.
     
  3. I tried this sour cream cake. It was wonderful. The texture was moist and delicious. I had no all purpose flour so I used the equivalent cake flour. I also made a butter cream frosting and added coconut flakes. That was a perfect topper. I also only had nine inch pans so I only made a two layer cake. my husband loved it. I am trying not to eat too much. Everyone should try this. I will be doing this cake often. Thanks for the recipe and thanks food.com for always giving perfect recipes.
     
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