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Slice of a small chocolate cake with a fork in it.

Small Chocolate Cake (Small Batch)

Rich and delish
This small chocolate cake is perfect when you're craving a chocolate cake but don't want to make a big chocolate cake. We made this chocolate cake in an 8x8 inch baking pan.
5 from 59 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 29 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 9 slices
Calories 489 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1 ¾ cups Flour
  • cup Dutch cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 ½ teaspoon Baking powder
  • 1 ¼ cup Granulated sugar
  • cup Vegetable oil
  • 2 Eggs
  • ½ cup Buttermilk
  • cup Hot coffee
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
  • teaspoon Salt

For the chocolate frosting:

  • 200 g Butter
  • 60 g Dark chocolate melted and cooled
  • 1 ¼ cup Powder sugar
  • cup Cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
  • 2-4 tablespoon Milk

Instructions
 

  • Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prepare an 8×8 inch cake pan with parchment paper.
  • Into a big mixing bowl, add the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, salt, buttermilk, sugar, and sift the cocoa powder. Mix with a whisk until well combined.
  • Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, hot coffee, and mix with a whisk until well combined.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Make the chocolate buttercream:

  • Into a big mixing bowl, add the soft butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, cooled dark chocolate, kosher salt, and vanilla extract, and sift in the cocoa powder. Mix on low speed until the frosting comes together.
  • Increase the speed to medium to high speed and mix for about 3 minutes until the frosting is silky and smooth.
  • Top the room-temperature cake with the frosting and make a wave pattern with a spatula.

Notes

Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have moist cake and not dense and dry cake.
Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making this cake, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the frosting.
Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to eat and frost this cake as its pulled out of the oven, but let the cake cool for at least and hour so it will be more firm and won’t crumble up. This step ensures that the frosting won’t melt off the cake. You never want to frost warm cupcakes or cakes.

Nutrition

Calories: 489kcalCarbohydrates: 71gProtein: 6gFat: 30gSaturated Fat: 15gPolyunsaturated Fat: 6gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 86mgSodium: 458mgPotassium: 183mgFiber: 3gSugar: 31gVitamin A: 636IUCalcium: 86mgIron: 2mg
Keyword chocolate cake for two, mini chocolate cake, mini chocolate cake recipe, small chocolate cake, small chocolate cake recipe
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