Chocolate Ganache Cake (a.k.a Lazy Chocolate Cake)

May 28, 2024

For those days you want to sink your teeth into something delicious, rich, and decadent but don’t have all day to prep and bake, my Chocolate Ganache Cake is just for you! This ultra-moist chocolate cake is so easy to make, we can also call it the Lazy Chocolate Cake. We’re topping it with a simple chocolate ganache and digging in in less than two hours of pulling out ingredients!

Slice of chocolate cake on a white plate.

Chocolate Ganache Cake

Friends, you are going to LOVE how easy and equally delicious this chocolate cake recipe is. If you’ve been around here a while, you know this chocolate cake is my absolute favorite and a favorite among readers too! We’re topping this incredibly rich and moist chocolate cake with a decadent, two-ingredient ganache. You’ll be sitting down and digging into this cake in less than two hours from starting. In fact, it’s so easy, we could also call it the Lazy Chocolate Cake!

A slice of chocolate cake taken out of a full cake.

The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe

This chocolate cake truly is the best chocolate cake! It’s incredibly moist thanks to a combination of buttermilk, oil, water (or coffee – you pick), eggs, and high fat cocoa powder. It’s also incredibly flavorful thanks to the dark chocolate we’re using (read more about the cocoa below).

For this recipe, I’m using half of my normal chocolate cake recipe. We’ll fill one 8-inch pan with batter, bake, top with ganache, and THAT’S IT! No layers. No decorating. And no waiting around for the cake to cool completely. You can serve this one warm with a slather of chocolate ganache and fresh berries.

Chocolate cake on a plate with a bite taken out of it.

How to Make Chocolate Ganache

If you’re new to baking, a ganache is made by heating whipping cream and then pouring it over chocolate and stirring until the chips are melted and you’ve created a silky smooth chocolate ganache.

To make chocolate ganache, you can heat the cream in the microwave (in a microwave safe bowl), or over the stove in a double boiler. I like to keep it simple and just use my microwave.

Top view of a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache on it.

Frequently Asked Questions

While this cake is SUPER SIMPLE to make, there are a few questions I want to answer to make sure it’s truly as easy as possibly for you.

What Type of Chocolate Should Be Used in Chocolate Ganache Cake?

When it comes to chocolate and baking, I think it’s incredibly important to use good quality chocolate. Chocolate is a flavor that we want to stand out and make an impact. Regular store brand or no-brand chocolates really won’t cut it if you want the best chocolate cake.

What are we looking for? For this chocolate cake and the chocolate ganache, we want to use DARK chocolate. Don’t let that scare you off if you’re not typically a dark chocolate fan. When we use dark chocolate in baking, we’re adding other ingredients that tone down the bitter flavor of dark chocolate, while also allowing the chocolate flavor to stand out. If you start with a milk chocolate or regular cocoa powder, you’ll lose so much of the chocolate flavor once you add the other ingredients.

When choosing your chocolate, you also want to look for the fat content. Higher fat chocolate (higher fat anything, actually) helps create and retain moisture in our cakes.

Brands of Chocolate I Recommend

I also think Guittard and Valrhona make excellent dark chocolate.

Chocolate cake on a plate.
Can I substitute the dark chocolate for regular chocolate?

I would highly advise against it. As I mentioned above, you’ll lose a lot of the chocolate flavor. Try the dark chocolate first, and then if it’s just too strong for you, compare it to a regular cocoa.

Can I double the recipe?

Absolutely! If you do, you’ll want to bake the cake in two 8-inch pans for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Can I bake this recipe in a square pan?

For sure! If you use an 8″ x 8″ square baking pan, use the same bake time as recommended below. If you use a 9″ x 9″ square baking pan, reduce the bake time by 5-ish minutes.

Remember: your cake is done when you insert a toothpick in the center and it comes out with a few moist crumbs on it.

Chocolate cake on a plate with a fork and cake crumbs.

Video Tutorial

Let’s make my Lazy Chocolate Cake together. Grab the recipe below and watch this video for a step-by-step tutorial.

More Favorite Chocolate Cake Recipes

https://cakebycourtney.com/cakedecorating101/
A slice of chocolate cake taken out of a full cake.

Chocolate Ganache Cake

4.93 from 76 votes
Tender and moist chocolate cake with chocolate ganache

Ingredients
  

FOR THE CAKE

  • 1 cups (120 g) all-purpose flour
  • 7/8 cup (175 g) granulated sugar
  • 6 tablespoons (44 g) dark cocoa powder, see notes above for brand
  • 1 teaspoon (4 g)  baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) baking powder 
  • 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) salt
  • 1/2 cup (120 g)  buttermilk at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (118 g) hot water or coffee
  • 1/4 cup (55 g)  vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2.1 g) pure vanilla extract

FOR THE GANACHE

  • 1/2 cup (115.5 g) heavy whipping cream, more if needed to thin mixture
  • 5 oz. dark chocolate chips

Instructions
 

FOR THE CAKE

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spray one 8-inch round cake pan with non-stick spray, line with parchment paper, and spray again. Set aside.
  • Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
  • In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, water (or coffee), oil, eggs, and vanilla.
  • With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
  • Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumsb on it.
  • Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely or serve warm with ganache.

FOR THE GANACHE

  • In a microwave safe bowl, heat the cream for about one minute. Pour over the chocolate chips and stir until mixture is smooth. Allow to cool slightly.
    Mixture will thicken slightly as it cools.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Cake
Keyword: Beginner, chocolate, Chocolate Cake, chocolate ganache, chocolate ganache cake, ganache

Join the Conversation

  1. 5 stars
    Made this cake yesterday and it is moist and delicious and will definitely make again. I used the dark chocolate in cake recipe, and the ganache, but even though it was Ghirardelli chocolate in the ganache I didn’t care for the taste of the ganache. Before pouring on the cake I made some ganache with semi sweet chocolate chips and it was yummy. Still gave it 5 stars. I also did not use the mixer, after seeing that comment in another review and it came out great. Always a win when not having to clean extra bowls and utensils.

    1. So happy to hear it was a hit!

  2. Hello,
    Is there any way to make this egg free?

    1. I have an egg free cake. You can try that one!

  3. Ariel Zakariasen says:

    1 star
    Way too many liquids for the amount of dry ingredients. I had to double the flour just to get a cake like batter, and it’s taken so much longer to bake than the recipe called for. Tastes good, just feel something is off…

    1. This cake purposely uses that much liquid for the dry ingredients to get a super moist, rich, chocolate cake. The batter is thin but that’s not a bad thing. Adding more flour will change the recipe significantly, resulting in it tasting off. If you try it again, go with the recipe and see what you think. I hope you love it! xx -Courtney

  4. 5 stars
    Is there a way to substitute butter.ilk for something? Say, my homemade yogurt? It’s quite liquid, almost like buttermilk.
    Can’t wait to try this recipe today for Father’s day!

    1. Yeah you can sub that.

  5. 5 stars
    Super easy and delicious! This was the perfect very dark chocolate cake for my dark chocolate-loving dad’s birthday. I didn’t have time to find the nifty dark cocoa powder listed in the recipe, but used Hershey’s extra dark cocoa powder from my local grocery store and it tasted great to me! Thanks for a yummy recipe!

  6. 5 stars
    superb cake! this is bookmarked as my go to chocolate cake recipe 🙂

  7. 5 stars
    I needed a quick, easy, deliciously moist chocolate cake and this did not disappoint!! So yummy!! My nephew tried it and said he needed it for his next birthday cake 😍 Thank you!!

    1. I’m so glad!!

  8. 5 stars
    This is the ONLY chocolate cake I make since I learned about this in 2021. I can eat it even without the ganache! I’ve made it with ganache, with buttercream, with and without fillings… so many options and always so good!

    1. Thank you so much!

  9. Hi Courtney, can this recipe be made with gluten free flour? I would love to make for my coeliac niece.

  10. 5 stars
    This is my second time making this cake and it is so good! It is the only chocolate cake we make now!

  11. Carol Dichmann says:

    5 stars
    I’ve made this cake a few times now and its absolulely delicious! I want to make it again but I’m staying at an AirBnB. There is only a 9×13 metal pan. Can I double it and use that pan? I noticed above that you can double it for two pans, but….. I was wondering.

    1. Yes you can double it for the 9×13 pan. Enjoy!

  12. 3 stars
    The batter is liquidy and was not done after 30 minutes. Is this normal? I just put it back in and I hope I can get it done as I was making for Thanksgiving.

    1. Yes that batter is very thin – lots of liquid but lots of moisture! Sometimes bake times can vary depending on our ovens and climate.

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