Chocolate cake
Chocolate cake sits in our baking collection for weekend baking sessions and school-lunch tin fillers. We keep the voice practical — what to buy, what heat to use, and how to tell when it is done. As written it serves 8–10. Budget about 10 min to prep and 35 min to cook or bake, roughly 45 min (plus cooling and frosting) all up, across 12 ingredients and 5 method steps. Oven cue in the method is 180°C. Preheat fully; a cold start throws off the 45 min (plus cooling and frosting) timing and can leave centres underdone while edges race ahead. Good for weekend baking sessions and school-lunch tin fillers. One tray or tin as written — freeze extras in airtight bags. Keep Australian cup measures (250 ml) so the ratios match what we tested on the page. Method opens with: “Heat oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease and line two 22 cm round pans.”. Follow the order as written; jumping ahead is how pans crowd and sauces split.
Ingredients
Method
- Heat oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease and line two 22 cm round pans.
- Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
- Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in boiling water — the batter will be very thin.
- Divide between pans. Bake 35 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans, then fully on racks.
- Frost with chocolate buttercream once cold.
Tip: The batter is meant to be thin — that is the moist crumb. This is Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate cake, unchanged. Do not skip the boiling water.
Notes
- Shopping and mise en place: read the full ingredient list once before you start. For Chocolate cake, plain flour and cocoa powder are the items that decide whether the dish tastes flat or properly seasoned. Weigh where grams are given — volume cups are fine for liquids and some dry goods, but baking ratios are tighter if you use scales. Australian cups are 250 ml; a tablespoon is 20 ml and a teaspoon is 5 ml.
- From our tested tip, expanded: The batter is meant to be thin — that is the moist crumb. This is Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate cake, unchanged. Do not skip the boiling water. Treat that as the non-negotiable. If something still feels off — too wet, too pale, too tight — adjust one variable at a time (heat, liquid, or bake time) rather than changing three things at once.
- Why this page is written this way: we keep the story short and put the value in practical detail — ingredient order, heat cues, and storage — because that is what helps a home cook succeed on a Tuesday night. If a step feels unclear, email [email protected] and we will tidy the wording on the next pass.
- Putting it together for Chocolate cake: work clean, taste as you go, and do not rush browning or reduction steps if they appear in the method. If you are cooking for mixed diets, plate sauces and toppings separately where practical. Keep this page bookmarked if it becomes a household regular — we update wording when cooks report a confusing step. Metric consistency across Scoops & Dishes means once you trust the cups and scales here, breakfast through dessert behaves the same way.