The Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake is a scrumptious chocolate cake. It’s chocolately, rich, moist, and delicious. Perfect for beginners. It’s nearly as easy to make as a box cake and it tastes so much better than a cake mix cake. You’ll wonder why you haven’t made it before. I know I did.
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Some of the best recipes are on the back of boxes. Quaker has a great oatmeal cookie recipe on the back of their box. Libby’s has their famous pumpkin pie recipe on the back of their can. So of course you’d expect Hershey’s to have a fabulous chocolate cake recipe on the back of their box and they do.
In my Queso Bacon Burger post, I mentioned I was hosting a BBQ/birthday party, and every birthday party needs a perfect birthday cake. I needed two cakes for our crowd. I made a Tropical Carrot Cake, and for those who don’t like veggies in their cake, I decided to make chocolate cake. But not just any chocolate cake, the Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake that I’ve seen posted dozens of times with rave reviews.
How to Make the Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake
I was a bit surprised when I read the instructions. After the batter is mixed, you add 1 cup of boiling water, which creates a really runny batter. After baking though, it has a perfect texture—not too heavy and not too light. The layers bake up flat and even, so it’s an easy cake to layer.
If you haven’t baked very many layers cakes before, be sure and check out my Baking Tips For Layer Cakes post.
I made a couple of high altitude changes to the recipe because cakes can be temperamental at my altitude (5,000 ft). Generally, I use this great guide from Bonnie, City Home / Country Home, to modify recipes for high altitude. Just a few simple tweaks can make a big difference when baking cakes at altitude.
Easy Cake Decoration
After baking and frosting, the cake is decorated simply with chocolate curls. The chocolate curls are easy to make. You just use a vegetable peeler and a chocolate bar. You could also decorate the cake with sprinkles if you prefer.
The cake got great reviews from my crowd at the party! I’ve made this back-of-the-box cake many times since that party. In fact, this Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake has become my go-to chocolate cake whenever I want to make a quick homemade cake. I hope you’ll give it a try too!
Do you have a favorite recipe you got from the back of a box?
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Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake and Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons sugar*
- 1-¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup Hershey’s cocoa
- 1-¼ teaspoons baking powder*
- 1-¼ teaspoons baking soda*
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk*
- ½ cup canola oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting:
- ½ cup 1 stick butter or margarine
- ⅔ cup Hershey’s Cocoa
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Set aside.
- Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; With a mixer, beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Carefully, stir in boiling water. The batter will be very thin. Pour batter into prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with chocolate frosting.
- *Before high altitude changes: 2 cups sugar, 1-½ teaspoons baking powder, 1-½ teaspoons baking soda, 1 cup milk
- Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate FrostingMelt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.
Notes
Nutrition
More Chocolate Cake Recipes You Might Like:
If you love chocolate and caramel, you’ll want to make my Chocolate Dulce De Leche Triple Layer Cake. If you prefer a cake with a chocolate ganache (a thick, rich chocolate frosting), you’ll want to make my Triple Chocolate Layer Cake. If you’re following a keto diet, check out this Keto Sugar-Free Mini German Chocolate Cake from All Day I Dream About Food. Or, perhaps you’re looking for an easy one bowl chocolate cake recipe or a Chocolate Mug Cake for Two.
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mimi
We love this chocolate cake too. It always bakes up perfect. What fun to be a grandmother!
Mimi
natalie (the sweets life)
Like you, I’ve seen this recipe all over the place and have never tried. Yours looks gorgeous!
Can’t wait for that carrot cake recipe!
Becky at VintageMixer
It loks like everyone is laughing and enjoying the party and I’m sure they loved your food!! The cake is gorgeous!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
What a beautiful birthday cake mum! The birthday girl is very lucky indeed 😀 And you know what a great idea for a blog-one based on the back of boxes recipes! xxx
patsy
You are so right about recipes on the back of the box! My favorite fudge that my mom used to make was on the Hershey’s cocoa container… they don’t print it there anymore, but I’ve got it and have made sure that it’s in a safe place.
This chocolate cake looks so decadent and delicious… but, then I’m a sucker for anything chocolate!
Kitchen Belleicious
It looks perfect, it sounds perfect and I wish I could eat it to make my day perfect! Seriously, AMAZING and Beautiful. You have been hooked so next cake I will be making is this one. Your daughter is gorgeous and so exciting you will be a grandmother! yeah
Linda
Thanks for the reminder about this excellent cake – your photo looks scrumptious. Sometimes in my constant blog-hopping quest for the next new recipe, I forget about the tried-and-true ones! I’ve tried others, and liked some, but I haven’t found a pumpkin pie yet that equals Libby’s back of the can recipe, and that is my go-to for Thanksgiving.
Congratulations on future grandmother-hood. There is nothing quite as grand! 🙂 Your daughter is beautiful.
Sasha @ The Procrastobaker
Well your cake does look simply perfect 🙂 Ive been wanting to try this recipe for a while, have yet to read a bad review, and you have definitely given me the final push needed to go for it. Great post that has me craving choccy something awful! 🙂
Renata
I can’t recall exactly the recipe quantities, but I remember I loved the chocolate cake recipe from the cocoa powder (Nestlé, Brazil) box, and it was very similar to this one and I loved it! Oh my God, I’ll have to do it, I suddenly craved for this chocolate cake that I haven’t made in ages!
alana
moist cake is the most delicious cake – and this look fantastic! hershey’s cocoa is a little hard to come by here in australia but i’m sure i’ll manage giving this a try.
Maris (in Good Taste)
This looks like the perfect chocolate cake! Your photos are so gorgeous
Esther
I’ve made the cake too and my family loved it. It was unbelievably easy to make and also very, very delicious. In fact, my family requested that I make it again the next day. 🙂 (We ran out because I brought it to a birthday party.)
Sue
Barbara, I’ve made this frosting a coupke of times, but never the cake~I see that I need to! Looks perfectly beautiful.
You’re going to love being a grandma:)
Kathy - Cooking On the Side
I’ve got quite a few back of the box favorites! 🙂 I made this cake last month and I absolutely agree that it’s fabulous. It’s really amazing to me to see how incredibly runny that batter is and how it transforms into a terrifically moist cake.
Rosa
That cake looks perfect indeed! Lovely texture and frosting. I’m drooling, although it is only 6.30am… ;-P
Cheers,
Rosa
Kathleen
This is Gorgeous!!!
Brooke
Looks GREAT! The Texas Sheet Cake I make has a cup of boiling water also, and it is currently my favorite cake so I gotta try this one! BTW, your daughter is so darling and Congrats on the grandson! 🙂
Deborah
i have always wanted to try this recipe – and I love that you have high-altitude directions! I don’t usually make any changes, although I know I need to. Definitely going to try this!
Memoria
This recipe (with a few changes) is without a doubt my go-to recipe for chocolate cake and has been for a very long time. In fact, I used it in my Chocolate Overload Cake (or chocolate mousse cake). Instead of milk I use buttermilk, and instead of boiling water I use coffee or espresso. The cake comes out even more moist with a stronger chocolate flavor. It’s so good!!!!!! Your daughter looks so lovely!
Lisa
I’ve heard rave reviews about this cake, and as a matter of fact, there’s a fancy shmancy restaurant in the city (NYC) that makes it, but changes one ingredient amount ever so slightly, and uses Guittard vanilla chocolate for the frosting. It’s THIS cake, period, with fancier frosting!
Your cake(s) look beautiful, as does your daughter and the ‘B-Day Girl’ sitting together in celebration! Congrats on becoming a new Grandma! You certainly do not look the part!
Finally, first lasagna I ever made – back of a Ronzoni lasagna box. Still make it..just use my homemade meat sauce in lieu of the jarred called for in the recipe 🙂