Chocolate Brooklyn Blackout Cake

This decadent dessert is known for its moist chocolate layers, filled with chocolate pudding, and covered in a smooth chocolate frosting.

It gets its name from the blackout drills that took place during World War II when the lights were turned off in Brooklyn to protect against potential bombings.

This cake became popular during that time as a sweet treat to enjoy during these dark periods.

Today, Brooklyn blackout cake continues to be a beloved dessert for chocolate lovers everywhere.

For more delicious chocolate cake recipes, check out my chocolate caramel cake, Matildas chocolate cake, chocolate coffee cake, small chocolate cake, dark chocolate sheet cake.

How to make even cake layers

My biggest tip to make even cake layers is to use a scale and cake strips. Weigh the chocolate cake batter and divide it into two even pans.

Then use cake strips to make sure your cake layers bake evenly and don’t develop a dome on top. Cake strips give you an evenly baked cake with a flat top.

Ingredients

Before you start to make this chocolate blackout cake recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.

Full measurements are in the recipe card below.

Flour– we used all-purpose flour for this recipe, self-rising flour, and cake flour will work great as well.

Dutch cocoa powder– we like to use Dutch-process cocoa powder for our chocolate cake because we like the deep and rich chocolate taste, but the natural cocoa powder will work great as well!

Baking powder and baking soda – to help the cake rise.

Granulated sugar– we like to use granulated sugar, also the most common sugar used in baking. Caster sugar will work great as well.

Vegetable oil – we used vegetable oil for this recipe. canola oil will work great for this recipe.

Eggs- To give the cake a good structure. Make sure you’re using room-temperature eggs.

Buttermilk- gives the cake extra moisture. You can make your own buttermilk if you don’t have one on hand. Simply mix a cup of milk with a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice and let it sit for at least 10 minutes.

Hot coffee- make a strong hot coffee, you can use espresso or instant coffee, both will work.

Vanilla extract- Vanilla extract Is an essential ingredient for chocolate cake.

Salt- We used kosher salt for this recipe. Salt doesn’t give the cake a salty taste, it helps to enhance the chocolate flavor.

For the chocolate pudding filling

Cornstarch- you will need to make an easy cornstarch slurry by mixing cornstarch and a little bit of water in a small mixing bowl and adding it to the mixture.

Milk- you will need to use unflavored whole milk for this.

For the frosting

Butter- we used unsalted butter for the frosting but you can use salted butter and skip the salt.

Dark chocolate- use the best quality dark chocolate that you can find.

Powder sugar- you will need powdered sugar for this recipe. you don’t have to buy powdered sugar, you can simply make it at home by blending granulated sugar in a blender or food processor.

Preheat the oven to 180 (350f) and prep two 8-inch baking pans with cooking spray and parchment paper.

Into a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sift the cocoa powder, add the baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, and granulated sugar, and mix with a whisk.

Divide the mixture into two 8-inch baking pans, I suggest using cake strips for even baking. (weight the batter for better results) and bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (You can also use a 9-inch cake pan)

Let the cake cool completely before frosting so the frosting won't melt off the cake.

Once the cakes have cooled completely, take them out of the pan, and slice off the tops to create a flat surface. Crumble the tops to make tiny crumbs that we will use later in the recipe.

Make the chocolate frosting: in a medium mixing bowl, add the powdered sugar, and room temperature butter, sift the cocoa powder, add the vanilla extract and salt, and whip with an electric hand mixer for 1-2 minutes.

Then, add the melted and cooled dark chocolate. Mix on high until the frosting is whipped and smooth.

Into a saucepan, add the milk, vanilla extract, kosher salt, granulated sugar, and dark chocolate, sift the cocoa powder, and add the cornstarch slushy (in a small mixing bowl mix the cornstarch and a little bit of water).

Cook the mixture over medium heat mixing constantly with a whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture thickens up. This can take about 10 minutes so be patient.

When the mixture thickens, add the butter, and mix until the butter is completely melted. Remove from heat and strain the mixture into a large bowl or baking pan to speed up the cooling process.

Cover the top with plastic wrap so that the plastic wrap is directly touching the top of the frosting. This will prevent skin from forming.

Let it cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, and then transfer it to the fridge to cool for another 1-2 hours. (depending on the thickness you are looking for)

Or to make the process even quicker, place it in the freezer for 30 minutes to allow it to cool quickly.

Lay the first cake layer on the surface you frost on. Use the chocolate frosting to create a border around the edges of the first cake layer.

Then fill the middle with the chocolate pudding and smooth it out with a spoon or a spatula.

Freezing

You can freeze this cake after it cooled completely in an airtight freezer-friendly container for up to 3 months, some people find the cake tastes better after freezing it.

You can freeze the whole cake or slice it into slices and then freeze it.

If you are freezing individual slices of the cake, I would recommend storing them in a ziplock bag and then transferring them to an airtight freezer-friendly container.

Make it ahead of time

You can make this cake ahead by freezing the cake layers ahead of time. Wrap each cake layer with a few layers of plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 months.

Thaw at room temperature for 1-2 hours or in the fridge overnight.

When you are ready to frost and assemble the cake, make the frosting, and pudding filling, and assemble the cake as written in the instructions!

Dairy-free- to make this cake dairy-free, replace the buttermilk and milk with almond milk. Also, replace the heavy cream with coconut cream, and butter with vegan butter.

Egg-free- to make this cake egg-free, replace the eggs with ⅔ cup of applesauce.

Gluten-free - if you want to make this recipe gluten-free, simply replace the flour with gluten-free flour.

Variations

Frosting- Use your favorite chocolate frosting like dark chocolate frosting, chocolate fudge frosting, chocolate whipped cream frosting, stabilized chocolate whipped cream frosting, chocolate cream cheese frosting, etc.

Chocolate ganache filling- you can swap the chocolate pudding filling with chocolate ganache. Make a chocolate ganache from 100 grams of dark chocolate and 100 grams of heavy cream.

More layer cake recipes

Vanilla Cake With Strawberry Filling- This incredible vanilla cake with strawberry filling is moist, tender, and full of strawberry flavor and is made with fresh strawberries!

Pistachio Cake- This pistachio cake is made with real pistachios and pistachio paste, full of pistachio flavor, topped and covered with pistachio buttercream frosting, and topped with chopped pistachios.

Butterscotch Cake- This butterscotch cake is made with moist and tender brown sugar cake layers, homemade butterscotch sauce, and topped and filled with butterscotch buttercream.

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