10 Inch Chocolate Cake

Sometimes life calls for a big chocolate cake. When it does, this is the recipe for you! This 10-inch chocolate cake is enough to feed about 40 people. It is super moist and pairs well with the chocolate buttercream. Add the optional raspberry filling to make an extra special treat.

This might just be the most moist chocolate cake you have ever tried. It is rich, soft, and full of flavor.

The best part is, it is also huge. It is three layers of 10-inch cake, making it one beast of a dessert.

I made it as the groom’s cake for my cousin’s wedding, but it would also work great for birthday parties and other special occasions.

The Cake Batter

This recipe pulls out all of the tricks for making an excellent chocolate cake. Blooming cocoa powder in a hot liquid helps bring out a deeper color and richer chocolate flavor.

Adding a bit of coffee also enhances the chocolate without giving a coffee flavor. To make this batter, you use both tricks by blooming the cocoa powder in hot coffee.

The rest of the batter is pretty simple to put together. Because it uses oil instead of butter, there is no waiting for anything to soften.

I still use my mixer, but really, you could make this cake in a large mixing bowl with a whisk if you prefer. The batter is really loose and liquid-y, so it is easy to stir by hand.

Start by combining the dry ingredients in the mixer. Add the eggs, oil, and water and beat on medium for two minutes.

Then, you add the bloomed cocoa powder and coffee mixture. It will likely feel like you did something wrong because the batter is so thin, but it’s supposed to be that way.

Ladle about 3 cups of batter into each prepared 10-inch pan and bake it until the top springs back when lightly touched with a finger.

This cake is super moist, so using parchment rounds is recommended to keep it from sticking to the pan.

Because the cakes are so soft and moist, they are easiest to decorate from frozen. So go ahead and wrap the cooled cakes in plastic wrap and stick them in the freezer for a few hour or even a couple of weeks before proceeding.

The Chocolate Buttercream

A giant chocolate cake calls for plenty of chocolate buttercream. You need a fair amount to be able to coat all of those layers and make a frosting dam for the filling.

This recipe includes plenty more cocoa powder for yummy chocolate flavor. It also helps to cut the sweetness of the powdered sugar, so it makes a nice balance.

The coffee extract is optional, but it does boost the chocolate flavor even more.

You could probably get away with a little less frosting, but I find it is best to have plenty. You can always use any extra on graham crackers or freeze it for later.

Making more frosting in the middle of decorating a cake is not a hassle I want to mess with. So erring on the side of extra is my preference.

Assembling the Cake

Start by putting just a little bit of frosting on the cake plate or cake drum. Then, add a layer of frozen chocolate cake.

About ⅔ cup of frosting is enough to give you a good layer of frosting on the cake. Then, use roughly a ½ cup for the dam if you are using filling.

If you are skipping the raspberry filling, I would go ahead and use that extra buttercream between the cake layers. That way, you have a nice separation between cakes.

Spread some raspberry filling or raspberry preserves on the cake, then add the next cake layer. Repeat the process on the second layer before adding your final layer of cake.

I used about one and a half cups of frosting for the crumb coat. Because the cakes are cold, it won’t take more than a couple of minutes in the refrigerator to set the frosting.

Then, use the rest to do your final coat. My cousin wanted her wedding cake to have the birch bark look, so we mimicked that on the groom’s cake as well.

How do you cut a 10-inch cake?

Of course you can cut the cake however you would like. But a wedge of 10-inch cake is a lot for one person to take on.

You can use the slab method, but there are a few pieces that are almost all frosting using that method. So I prefer to do more of a wheel and spoke method.

To get maximum servings out of the cake without getting pieces that are all frosting, you will want to start by cutting a 6-inch circle in the center of the cake. Then, cut the outer ring into quarters.

Cut each of those quarters into three or four pieces depending on how many servings you are planning to get out of the cake. Finally, cut the 6-inch cake into wedges.

You can get the idea in the diagram. You can easily get 40 small pieces from the cake or 30 larger ones.

For another nice big cake recipe, check out my recipe for 10-inch vanilla cake. It is also moist and delicious and made for a really yummy wedding cake.