This rich, chocolaty Black Magic Cake gets its flavor from buttermilk, high-quality cocoa, and a bit of espresso. Perfect for the chocolate lover in your life!
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe: This cake is easy to make with kitchen staple ingredients, but the result is always impressive. Dense, moist, rich, and coated in a silky smooth fudge frosting. What’s not to love?
Update: I always make this cake for my twin’s birthday. Now I’ve updated the recipe with new tips and photos to help you perfect it at home, too!
What is Black Magic Cake?
The Black Magic Cake has been posted about many times on many blogs with rave reviews, so I knew it was a great one. It’s a recipe on the Hershey’s website, and it’s often on the back of their cocoa package as well.
Coffee enhances the chocolate flavor in this cake, but since I’m not a coffee drinker, I opted to use just a bit of King Arthur espresso powder and hot water in place of the coffee. I also adapted the cake for high-altitude baking.
How to Make Black Magic Cake
This cake is fun and easy to make.
To start, if you have parchment paper, line the bottoms of your pans with it. It’s not a must, but it’s always a nice extra bit of insurance to ensure your cakes come out of the pan cleanly.
All of the cake ingredients should be at room temperature for even baking.
You will start making the cake batter by combining all of the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Then, add the wet ingredients.
You have to be careful here because you are adding boiling water and eggs in the same step. If you’re not careful, the boiling water will cook/curdle your eggs. I recommend the following order of steps to avoid this:
- Whisk your eggs and stir them into your buttermilk, then set them aside for a moment.
- Add the hot water, espresso powder, oil, and vanilla to the dry goods. Combine them with a mixer on low.
- Then with the mixer still on low, stream in the buttermilk and egg mixture. Bring the mixer up to medium speed as the liquid is absorbed into the batter.
- Mix until all ingredients are incorporated and the batter is fully formed.
The batter for this cake is very thin, that’s normal.
Once you pour batter into the prepared pans, give the pans a few taps on the counter to release any air bubbles from the batter.
Ingredient Notes
Here are a few important notes about the ingredients in the Black Magic Cake:
- Use a good quality cocoa powder. Hershey’s is good, we also like the King Arthur cocoa powder. It works for all types of recipes, whether the recipe calls for Dutch-process or regular cocoa. It includes black cocoa for a dark rich color
- Make sure not to use low-fat buttermilk. Alternatively, if you are making your own sour milk, do not use skim milk. Whole or 2% will work just fine.
Fudge Frosting
This frosting is luxurious and soft. It is not a stiff buttercream. In fact, it doesn’t pipe all that well, so go ahead and use a simple butter knife to decorate your cake.
Tip: For the frosting, the melted butter should be warm but NOT hot.
Because it’s made with melted butter, this frosting will be soft. If it’s too soft at first, let it cool a bit so the fats (in the butter) can stiffen. You can do this by leaving it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or so. If you are worried that it will crust lay a wet paper towel over the bowl.
Assembling the Cake
If the cakes have small humps on the tops, you can either leave them or cut these off horizontally with a serrated bread knife.
When it comes time to frost your cakes, use a large spatula and spread frosting onto the first cake layer.
Next, add the second layer and frost the top and the sides. This frosting is easy to work with and spreads beautifully.
Storage Suggestions
Leftovers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for 1-2 days. If you choose to store in the refrigerator bring to room temperature before eating.
More Chocolate Dessert Recipes
- Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake is another dense, chocolate cake for the chocolate-lover in your life.
- Easy Brownie Cake Pops are delightful treats for a kid’s birthday party!
- Chocolate Cake with an Oreo Cheesecake Filling has the best of both worlds: spongey cake and tangy, creamy cheesecake.
Black Magic Cake adapted for High Altitude
Ingredients
Cake
- 1-¾ cups sugar
- 1-¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup Hershey’s Cocoa I used King Arthur All-Purpose Baking Cocoa
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 ¼ cup buttermilk or sour milk *
- ¼ teaspoon King Arthur Flour Espresso powder
- 1 cup boiling water
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Fudge Frosting
- ¾ cup 1-½ sticks butter or margarine, melted
- 1 cup Hershey’s Cocoa I used King Arthur All-Purpose Baking Cocoa
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
- Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk (or sour milk), espresso powder, boiling water, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes (Batter will be thin). Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost as desired.
- * To sour milk: Use 1 tablespoon white vinegar plus milk to equal 1 cup.
- Chocolate Fudge Frosting
- Place melted butter in large mixer bowl. Add cocoa, stirring until smooth.
- Gradually beat in powdered sugar, milk and vanilla, beating until smooth. If necessary add additional milk, ½ teaspoon at a time, beating until spreading consistency. About 3 cups frosting.
Kate | Food Babbles
This cake sounds amazing! Magic indeed. I love adding coffee when there’s chocolate involved. I think it always deepens the flavor. Lovely pick!
Loretta | A Finn In The Kitchen
It’s so hard to find anything wrong with a basic chocolate-on-chocolate cake! I love adding a little splash of coffee, even if the recipe doesn’t call for it.
I adore how dark and moist this looks 🙂
Tracey
I have a very odd confession…I don’t like coffee or mocha or espresso. “Everyone” always says that I won’t be able to taste the coffee but I always can. Can I make this most awesome of cakes without coffee/espresso??
Thanks! 🙂
Tracey
Oh and I LOVE your blog!! 🙂
Barbara Schieving
I don’t like coffee or espresso either, but I really couldn’t taste the little bit I used in this cake. Of course you can make this cake without the espresso. Just leave it out. It will still be fantastic. I’ve also added chocolate extract in place of the espresso too if you want to try that. Thanks for the blog love!
AmandaE
OMGoodness this cake looks insanely indulgent and amazing!!! Have a feeling my husband would love having this on his next birthday. Perfect SRC pick
Claire @ Claire K Creations
I’m so glad you liked it Barbara and what an honor to have it made for the twins Birthday! I hope they had a Happy Birthday.
teresa
aw, i don’t think i knew you had twin boys, and they look so sweet!
speaking of sweet, love this cake, it looks like chocolate heaven!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
This is gorgeous mum! And you and Claire are two of my favourite bloggers so I feel especially excited to see this post 😀 xxx
Nancy P
Barbara,
LOVE the sound and look of this chocolate recipe! I am a baker, through and through. What i really love is the picture of your boys and their dates- too cute! My daughter is a junior, and is going to her first prom, in 4 days! Her dress is a dream of red, with lace, some sequins, and tulle, layers of it! It has been so fun to plan and shop. She went out with the boy who asked her, just a couple nights ago. Oh, how time flies! My son is in his second year of college. Glad to have found your blog!
Barbara Schieving
Hi Nancy – glad you found my blog too. I hope your daughter has a wonderful prom. That first one is always so memorable.
kelley {mountain mama cooks}
This looks amazing. You’re always making the most beautiful cakes. Your boys are adorable! It’s hard for me to imagine that mine will ever be that old!
Rachel @ Baked by Rachel
What a beautiful picture of your kids and their dates! PS I totally want to shove my face in a slice of that cake. Looks heavenly.
Emily
Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting is my most absolute favorite! YUM!
Katrina
I love that you have adapted it for high altitude! And it certainly looks delicious! I’ve eyed this cake before but haven’t made it yet. Didn’t realize you have twins. Fun times!
melissa@IWasBornToCook
Happy birthday to the twins! What a gorgeous, delicious cake!
Deborah
The cake looks amazing!! And happy birthday to the twins!
carrian
your baking skills are unreal. I need so much help with cake making. Please can we make one together?!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks!!! You know I’d love to get in the kitchen and bake with you any time.
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
This cake looks soooo good! Yum!
dhiraj kumar
Oh! how sweet is this Black magic cake .The butter milk cake and its flavoure will relly create amagical effect on those who Thanks for suggesting such ataste it. Surely i would love to present it as a B’day gift to my friend.nice butter cake.
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef
Twin 17 year olds must eat a lot 🙂
Claire lives not far from me and we’ve met on a few occasions. She’s as lovely in person as she is online. That smile of hers goes from ear to ear and everyone just lights up when she arrives. I’m so glad you got her!
This cake is beautiful!
Barbara Schieving
How fun that you’re so close. Maybe I should come visit you both one day. It would be so nice to meet you lovely ladies. 🙂
Rosa
Happy Birthday to your boys!
This cake looks lovely and so delicious.
Cheers,
Rosa
Averie @ Averie Cooks
The fact that you settled on this cake, of all the cakes in the whole world to make for their bday, is a pretty strong statement to how good it must be! I just had a panic attack that my 6 yr old will be 16 and going to prom in the blink of an eye. Thanks for this sweet post, Barbara. Pinning!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Averie – it really does seem to happen over night.