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Chocolate Cake Extreme

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3.67 from 3 votes

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Who’s listening to Christmas music?

What do you mean it’s September?

If it makes you feel any better, last year I started listening to Christmas music in July, sooooo baby steps.

This one is amazing. This one is also amazing. And this one is a ridiculous family classic that never seems to get old no matter what time of year.

I love Thanksgiving and Fall and all the pumpkin recipes, but CHRISTMAS!!!! It’s my very favorite holiday.

Speaking of holidays, Labor Day!! Yay for a day off…except I’m self employed and it just means my kids are home to keep me from getting any work done. So, I guess it IS a holiday. A perfect day to bake a thing or two, right 😉

This recipe I’m sharing today is based off of my perfect chocolate cake recipe and my best and easiest chocolate frosting recipe. So, I basically smashed those two together, but used specialty dark chocolate cocoa powder in place of the regular cocoa powder. That stuff is SO good and it’s what gives this cake such a dark and rich appearance. {Got mine from Fred Meyer, which is a Kroger store.}

This cake is not for the faint of heart. It is very rich. BUT, I like it so much because the super sweet frosting balances out the not so sweet cake. Don’t get me wrong, the cake is plenty sweet, just compared to the frosting {and subsequent chocolate chips and chocolate syrup}, it seems not-so-sweet.

Now, if you have an amazing chocolate cake recipe you’d like to use in place of mine, feel free! Just be sure to use that dark cocoa powder. You can sub it in 1:1 for regular cocoa powder.

But if not, use the recipe below! And as usual, click the print icon below to get this recipe immediately. Yum yum!

Have a great day off, friends!

3.67 from 3 votes
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Chocolate Cake Extreme

This Chocolate Cake Extreme is for the ultimate Chocolate Lovers!! Three layers of dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting and topped with chocolate sauce and mini chocolate chips!

Course Dessert
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 15 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Author Lauren Brennan

Ingredients

for the cake:

For the frosting:

  • 1/2 cup softened butter
  • 1/2 cup DARK cocoa powder sifted
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3-4 tablespoons milk

For garnish:

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 6-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Spray with non stick cooking spray and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, whip oil and sugar together. Stir in vanilla. In a measuring cup, stir almond milk and vinegar together. Set aside to curdle. In a different bowl, stir all dry ingredients together until evenly mixed. Alternate mixing in wet and dry ingredients to the batter starting and ending with dry.
  3. Pour evenly into prepared pans and bake 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs after being inserted. Cool 15 minutes, then remove cakes from warm pans to cooling rack. Cool completely.
  4. After cakes are cooled, make a batch of chocolate frosting.
  5. Whip butter and cocoa together until smooth in large bowl. Stir in vanilla and powdered sugar. Slowly stream in milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Scrape sides and whip again until fluffy and smooth, 20-30 seconds. {Be sure to whip it well, scrape the sides well and use room temperature butter.}
  6. To assemble, stack baked cakes one on top of the other, filling with frosting. Using remaining frosting, cover the entire outside and top of the cake.
  7. Drizzle chocolate syrup down the sides of the cake and top with mini chocolate chips.Recipe NOTES: the cake might seem to be not vert sweet. Don't get me wrong, the cake is plenty sweet, just compared to the frosting {and subsequent chocolate chips and chocolate syrup}, it seems not-so-sweet.This cake is not supposed to have any eggs in it, so I did not forget to add that in! NO EGGS IN THE RECIPE!Please use room temperature butter for best results when making frosting.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. Bev says

    September 26, 2016 at 8:15 pm

    I don’t have 6-inch pans. So I’m wondering if 2 8-inch or 9-inch pans will work. If so would frosting recipe need to be adjusted?

    Reply

  5. Donna Cress says

    December 19, 2016 at 3:20 am

    I have been wanting a new chocolate cake recipe to try for Christmas this year, and this one looks AMAZING! Thanks

    Reply

  9. Debbie Donahue says

    December 19, 2016 at 5:02 am

    Ok, I’ll admit that I love Christmas and I start listening to Christmas music in October! (But just don’t tell my Husband!????) This cake looks amazing!! I’m going to make it for Christmas this year????????????????????❤

    Reply

  12. Laurelyn says

    December 19, 2016 at 8:23 am

    Wow, that looks amazing! I discovered your blog a few weeks ago and I love it! I hope to become a chef someday or at least start my own food blog after I finish high school. (I’m 16) Your blog is a pretty good example of what I hope to accomplish. Thank you for making such an awesome website!

    Reply

  16. Cindy B says

    December 19, 2016 at 11:12 am

    I would love to make this, I’m thinking of doubling the recipe for a bigger cake, I also love that you use dark cocoa powder, adding this to pin, thanks.

    Reply

  19. Crystal says

    December 19, 2016 at 7:05 pm

    What a super delicious recipe!! You can never go wrong with chocolate…it’s my favorite!! Can’t wait to make this! Thanks for the recipe 🙂

    Reply

  22. Gemma Parenti says

    December 22, 2016 at 11:59 pm

    This looks amazing!! Two of my four kids have birthdays this week (right before Christmas!) and I am going to make this for sure! Thanks for all of your amazing recipes. You have never let me down!!

    Reply

  24. Shirley Noah says

    February 28, 2017 at 6:53 am

    I am interested in making your chocolate Cake Extreme but need to know if you think adding bananas would help or ruin the cake?

    Reply

    • Lauren says

      February 28, 2017 at 11:26 am

      If I were to substitute some banana in this recipe, I would mash 1 very ripe banana and add it in in place of half of the canola oil. SO, the variation for you would be: add in 1 mashed banana + 1/4 cup canola oil (instead of 1/2 cup canola oil as the recipe states). Hope that helps!

      Reply

  30. Jen says

    December 24, 2018 at 8:55 am


    Made this for my sons 16th birthday. So disappointed. Doesn’t make enough batter for 3 layers, especially with no eggs in the recipe. Layers were very thin.

    Reply

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