This Chocolate Velvet Cake has the ideal balance of moistness while maintaining a light textured crumb structure. A perfect go-to chocolate cake recipe.

Chocolate Velvet Cake
I just love the perfect texture of this chocolate velvet cake which comes to Rock Recipes after requests from several followers. They have loved other versions of this recipe in our Velvet Cake Collection.
However, this time many have specifically asked for a chocolate version of this popular cake recipe.
Other versions like our Lemon Velvet Cake and White Velvet Cake have been incredibly popular on Pinterest in particular. They’ve received hundreds of thousands of re-pins over the last several months.
Velvet Cake recipes have seen even more views on this website! Those recipes get consistently rave reviews too, making them among our most popular recipes from the last seven years on Rock Recipes.
Developing a chocolate version was a bit trickier however. Using melted chocolate was problematic because it affected the incredibly light texture of the cake.

Use the best quality cocoa powder you can find for this recipe.
Simply adding good quality cocoa could potentially make the moist cake drier. I opted for the cocoa route and experimented with using it to replace some of the flour in the recipe.
After a couple of attempts it worked like a charm.

Chocolate Velvet Cake
The latest in a line of velvet cakes.
It makes a great addition to this collection of cakes and I’ve already started experimenting with dessert recipes using it, including a Chocolate Fudge Poke Cake that was a big hit at Sunday dinner this week.
Like this Chocolate Velvet Cake recipe?
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Chocolate Velvet Cake
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Chocolate Velvet Cake
This chocolate velvet cake has the ideal balance of moistness while maintaining a light textured crumb structure. A perfect go-to chocolate cake recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sifted all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
For the Simple Vanilla Frosting
- 4 cups icing sugar, powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Sift together both flours, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. Set aside.
- Grease and flour 2 nine inch round cake pans and line the bottom with 2 circles of parchment paper.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the vegetable oil, shortening and vanilla. Beat well at high speed with whisk attachment until light and fluffy
- Beat the eggs in one at a time.
- Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.
- I always add dry ingredients in three divisions and liquid ingredients in 2 divisions. It is very important to begin and end the additions with the dry ingredients. Do not over mix the batter. As soon as it has no lumps in the batter, pour into the two prepared 9 inch cake pans.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely before frosting.
To make the Simple Vanilla Frosting
- Mix together the icing sugar and butter until crumbly, then beat in the milk and vanilla extract until the frosting reaches a light spreadable consistency.
- If you want to frost the sides of the cake as well, I'd recommend increasing the frosting recipe by half or even doubling it if you want to pipe on borders or decorations for a celebration cake.
Recommended Products
Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
12 -16 servingsAmount Per Serving Calories 507Total Fat 24gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 14gCholesterol 61mgSodium 345mgCarbohydrates 71gFiber 1gSugar 54gProtein 4g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Ann
Monday 4th of October 2021
Hi, I’m in uk a d never seen cake flour. Is there an alternative I can use and do you have the recipe in grams please? Thank you
Kathryn Robertson
Saturday 5th of June 2021
Hi Barry, I plan to make these today but my daughter wants them as cupcakes for her birthday. I’m just wondering how long I should bake them. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks, Kathryn
Sarah T.
Saturday 24th of October 2020
Hi Barry,i had a quick suggestion for a velvet cake, How about caramel using caramel flavoring and frosting? Or a peanut butter velvet cake?
Wadzanai
Saturday 20th of June 2020
By vegetable shortening what do you mean what's the difference with vegetable oil
Amanda
Saturday 28th of March 2020
This was a rough recipe for a beginner. I had no idea what creamed oil and shortening looks like or how long it typically takes to achieve light and fluffy status. After 15 minutes in my mixer I just added the eggs and the rest and am hoping for the best. I'm guessing for the frosting the butter is at room temp. Fingers crossed!