I can't make a good chocolate cake.  Tried several now and the honestly are terrible.   I have spent hours looking at new recipes .   I would like to try a chocolate mud cake.   So many different recipes to choose from.  I tend to burn chocolate cakes even with flower nails and baking strips.   Dry as dust.  Burnt edges that try to crumble away and break.  White and wasc cakes are light and moist.  I have tried mixes, doctored mixes,chocolate wasc and one old scratch recipe .  No keepers yet.  I want to find a nice scratch chocolate recipe.   Any tips or recipes would be appreciated. thanks

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Double-Chocolate-Layer-Cake-101275

The link above is for a fabulous chocolate cake covered in ganache. Have had a ton of compliments on this cake. Very moist!

Thank you so much for the link.    I think buttermilk is a great addition.  Going to try this recipe this weekend .   I will post  my result.  I am determined to conquer chocolate scratch cake.

The recipe in the link above is great and I have used it for years.  It is intensely chocolate,slightly fudgy in texture, and a very dark brown color.  I use Hershey's special dark cocoa with this recipe.  I thought I would never switch, but I have.  Jennifer Bratko's recipe (which is available on ETSY)  is now my absolute favorite chocolate cake recipe.  I make it with buttermilk, and Guittard cocoa rouge as she suggested.  It is a wonderful chocolate flavor, lighter in color and texture but very chocolately.  I have doubled it, and made all different shapes and sizes without any trouble.  It is now what I use, and will save the double chocolate cake for when a very dark, intense chocolate cake is needed.  The recipe is called a Better white cake and the chocolate is one of many variations she  also provided.  The download is full of very useful tips and information and is well worth the price.   It is also the best white cake on the planet.  I cannot give you the recipe, but I can provide a few tips after making it many times if you wish to send me a message.  BTW, it takes years, not hours (and dozens and dozens of trial cakes) to find those precious favorites    

www.etsy.com/listing/178952866/beyond-buttercreams-base-cake-recipes-by?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=Jennifer+bratko&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery

 Thanks for the advise.   I  know it will take years to improve my caking skills, but meanwhile , I am packing on the pounds with crappy trial and error  of failed recipes. lol

Depends what sort of chocolate cake you want really. 

There's devil's food cake, australian style mud cake, chocolate sponge cake, flourless chocolate cake, chocolate genoise to name just a few. All have different tastes and textures. 

What are you looking for?

AWhenever people say mud cake I always think they are not in the US, which of course is not always true! I have two favorite chocolate cakes, Ina Garten's chocolate cake made with coffee (look for the recipe on foodnetwork.com) or Martha Stewart's flourless chocolate cake (on her website). Two very different cakes! Both crowd pleasers! I add coffee or instant espresso (the actual powder not with water) to every chocolate thing I make. Sorry I can't give you the actual links - I'm on my IPad! Good luck, T

AMost of the time I use the one on the Hershey cocoa can, but I am so going to try the double chocolate layer cake recipe posted in that link.. looks and sounds delish!! :)

I really like this one:  http://www.cakepaperparty.com/2014/02/american-mud-cake/

This chocolate stout cake is insanely good, I sell a lot of it in my bakery:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/chocolate-stout-cake-recipe

Thank you Inga for the recipe link.  I did make the double chocolate cake yesterday.  It was delicious.  I used chocolate smbc instead of ganache because I had that already prepared.  The cake was very soft.   I didn't even try to torte it.  Maybe if I freeze to a day it would be a completely different texture and more firm/dense . Great moist cake,nice easy to follow directions.  Thank you

I tried the stout cake a while back, and it had a taste I did not care for.  I used good stout, and was surprised i didn't like it, because I like beer.  But it didn't work for me, and I haven't made it since. It would be appropriate with a beer bottle cake though!

I find that chocolate stout cake doesn't taste that great the day it is made.  But over the next day or two, it mellows and flavors blend, and the taste gets better and better, which is really great for decorating. You don't taste the stout after the first day. I've used chocolate stout in it before and even made a gluten free version using a gluten free stout-like beer, and you'd never have guessed it was gluten free.  Never.  

I like the flavor of the epicurious double chocolate cake recipe but I find the texture to be a bit firm and the crumb a bit big. It looks much more like a "homemade" cake than a professional cake. 

I always add less oil, than recipe calls for, so cake would not be too crumbly.

iam looking for a small 2 lier cake recipe for a babys 1st birthday its very small layers.

what size pans are you going to use and two layer chocolate cake in each tier?

3 to 4 inch their real small wilton just right for a baby first cake to make a mess

use any recipe and make cupcakes with the remaining batter -- or make half a recipe then a few cupcakes -- this is a good one:

http://www.hersheys.com/pure-recipes/details.aspx?id=184&name=HERSHEY%27S

is this for a one year old? i would stick to vanilla for a little baby myself but you can't go wrong with hershey's ppcc--

best to you

thanks so much.

I was in search of a good, from scratch, chocolate cake recipe for forever!  Once I tried the one on My Cake School, I never looked back!  Have received TONS of complements on it.  It is always moist and can handle any type of covering:  frosting, fondant, ganache, etc.  Here is the link:

http://www.mycakeschool.com/recipes/classic-chocolate-cakescratch-recipe/

Hope this helps you!

--Jean

I second this! I use this recipe and my clients like the plates!! They love it, saying that it is one of the few cakes that actually tastes like a chocolate cake! 

They LICK the plates, not like the plates. Although they might like the plates, also. :)