13 Celebrity Chef Tips For Baking The Most Decadent Chocolate Cake

Along with being deliciously rich and moist, chocolate cake is a versatile dessert that pairs well with sweet, savory, and spicy flavors. Once mastered, it can be the gateway to other chocolate-flavored cake varieties like old-fashioned German-style and dreamy mousse cake. 

Baking a classic chocolate layer cake is harder than it looks, though. The slightest mis-measurement can change it from decadent to disastrous. Confuse a tablespoon for a teaspoon and your cake's consistency may come out dense, spongy, or grainy when it should be tender and crumby. However, with the right tips in your baking arsenal, you can enjoy the most indulgent chocolate cake every time. From sifting ingredients thoroughly to properly preparing baking pans, each step counts. 

Fortunately, saccharine satisfaction is just a scroll away. We put together a list of tips from celebrity chefs known for making incredible chocolate cakes. With this culinary cheat sheet, you'll be opening your oven door with confidence.

Home bakers aren't strangers to missing ingredients. Luckily, there are clever ways to create substitutes on the spot. Cooking with buttermilk helps produce moist and flaky baked goods. When combined with baking soda, buttermilk's acidity causes a chemical reaction that creates carbon dioxide, which is how bread rises. It also imparts a tangy flavor that pairs perfectly with chocolate cake. If you happen to run out of buttermilk, though, Ree Drummond, celebrity chef and self-proclaimed pioneer woman, has an easy tip.

According to her website, one of many tricks Drummond had to learn while living out in the country is that milk and vinegar can be used as a buttermilk replacement. Like traditional buttermilk, vinegar has an acidity that reacts to baking soda, making cakes rise while the milk adds moisture and tender texture. Using a measuring cup, Drummond suggests pouring a little less than ½ cup of regular milk, then adding vinegar until it reaches the actual ½ cup mark. It only takes a few seconds for it to transform into buttery, milky goodness; and with plant-based milk, you can make vegan buttermilk too.

Accurately measuring your ingredients can be the difference between a fluffy sweet and a flattened slice. There is tons of room for improvisation with cooking, but baking is a science that requires a steadier hand and a keener eye. Measuring cups are less accurate because consistency varies from flour type to flour type. Sifting can break apart clumps, which can impact the visible amount too. Weighing is more precise because it accounts for the full contents, whether they've been sifted or not.

In a YouTube video, pressure cooker-slash-chef Gordon Ramsay recommends weighing each ingredient down to the tiniest gram. Baking with a digital scale doesn't cost much, and it measures ingredients more accurately than measuring cups. Trying to eyeball the amount is a mistake everyone makes with cake. If you want to reproduce an identical copy of this death by chocolate cake recipe, a digital scale is your best bet. 

"Moist" is the best word to describe the ideal consistency of a decadent chocolate cake. After removing your apron and patiently waiting for the oven to ding, the last thing you want to slice into is a dry, dense dessert. Thankfully, you can avoid dessert disasters by following Martha Stewart's moisture tip. In her chocolate sprinkle sheet cake recipe, Stewart adds sour cream to her batter for a tender texture. The suggestion may seem odd, as sour cream is typically used in savory recipes, but it's a surprisingly versatile ingredient.

Sour cream is loaded with more fat than milk and buttermilk, which gives the cake the perfect soft and crumby consistency. It even adds moisture without watering down the baking mix. Plus, you can't forget that tangy kick, otherwise known as lactic acid bacteria. It serves several purposes, acting as a leavener, a tenderizer, and more. Stewart says to use just ½ cup of sour cream in your mix. Add it to your wet mix at the same time that you add in the dry ones, alternating between both, rather than all at once. Then blend it all together.

The butter type isn't the only thing that can affect how your baked goods turn out; the temperature of the butter matters as well. In most cases, you should use room-temperature butter when baking. In this video, celebrity chef Emily Luchetti says it helps butter and sugar blend easier and more evenly, resulting in extra creaminess. Butter absorbs air better at room temperature, which helps with the creaming process. That's how you get delectably fluffy cake.

A common mistake many bakers make, however, is thinking room temperature butter means silky soft texture. On the contrary, room temperature butter is between 65 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit — still a bit cold to the touch. Refrigerated butter isn't ideal because it doesn't emulsify well when blending ingredients for chocolate cake. If you're looking for a dairy-free alternative, try an oil-based vegan chocolate cake or something truly unexpected, like a chocolate beetroot cake made with pickled beets. 

It's important to follow each step of the preparation process when baking a chocolate cake. Timing is key and skipping steps can bite you in the buns down the line. In the New York Times, chef and YouTube personality Claire Saffitz, points out a simple yet easy-to-overlook step that every burgeoning baker should be mindful of: Always prep your pans before your ingredients. After you've blended your batter and the oven is preheated and ready, nothing throws a wrench in the momentum like having to stop midway and prep pans.

It's generally recommended that batter goes into the oven as soon as it's ready. Though not a rule of thumb, many say your batter shouldn't sit out longer than an hour, because as time passes, so does the chance of the rise being affected. Saffitz uses three 8-inch-by-2-inch cake pans for her recipe and says pans with at least 2-inch sides are ideal because they provide enough room for rise. Prepare your pans by lightly slathering the bottom and sides with butter, then use parchment paper to line the bottom, and make sure to remove all air bubbles. A hack to resize parchment paper for your pan is to trace its shape on the parchment with a pen, then cut it out. 

Country music queen Dolly Parton has a famous birthday cake tradition. The now-iconic chocolate cake recipe was passed down by her mother. Not only does it have devilishly decadent layers of icing, but it also includes crunchy, nutritious walnuts. Parton, sister to 11 siblings, told Southern Living that her family's birthday tradition began at a young age. She grew up with a walnut tree in the backyard, which presumably inspired her mother to include them in her recipe.

When crunch-ifying cake, the amount you add depends on how much you enjoy walnuts. Chocolate and walnuts are a crave-worthy combo, marrying toasty nuttiness with indulgently sweet cocoa. They not only add taste and texture, but walnuts are an awesome source of protein, energy-dense fat, vitamin B6, folic acid, and much more. In other words, you won't feel as guilty satisfying your chocolate cravings. 

If you're short on time but still have chocolate on the brain, Parton and Duncan Hines have a line of cake mix and frosting flavors called "Dolly Parton's Favorites," which includes a Dutch chocolate cake mix with natural espresso flavor. They are fairly easy to find at major local retailers.

If you don't have sour cream on hand, fret not, Italian-cuisine trailblazer Giada de Laurentis has another tip for achieving gooey deliciousness. In a recipe shared on Giadzy, she infuses chocolate cake with the essence of her homeland: olive oil. Flavorful and nutritious, olive oil is the unexpected moisture booster you've been waiting for; it even adds moisture better than butter. One might think that olive oil's earthy flavor would clash with chocolate's sweetness, but it pairs surprisingly well. The distinctive taste of extra virgin olive oil melds into the chocolate, subtly popping through with a fruity flare.

Giada's chocolate hazelnut cake recipe calls for a ¼ cup of olive oil blended with hazelnut oil. Traditional olive oil works by itself too, though. To substitute butter for olive oil use 2 ¼ teaspoons of olive oil for every tablespoon of butter; a ¼ cup and 2 tablespoons of oil for ½ cup of butter; and for ¾ cup, it's 1 cup of butter. 

Olive oil is great for heart health, may help reduce the risk of cancer, and fortifies your brain. You can get extra nutrients without compromising on your cake fix.

Your cake layers are ready to come out of the oven, and as you begin removing one from the pan, it sticks to the sides and ruins a perfect rise. One solution is to use butter and parchment paper, as chef Claire Saffitz suggests. Martha Stewart's cocoa powder tip, however, is an inventive way to prevent sticking, as well as amp up flavor. When making her famous ultimate chocolate cake recipe, she dusts the pan with cocoa powder before filling it. It not only acts as a non-stick agent, but the dust coating makes the cake even more chocolatey.

Unlike regular flour, which can leave powdery patches on the cake and harden its exterior, cocoa powder blends in and enhances chocolate cake. Stewart takes the reverse approach to Claire Saffitz and typically lines the pan with parchment paper first, smears it with butter, then dusts it evenly with cocoa powder.

In the same YouTube video we linked before, pastry mastermind Emily Luchetti shares another important step: Take the time to thoroughly sift dry ingredients. Flour sifters break apart clumps so you don't unintentionally bite into a baking soda bomb. Trust us, baking soda, or any bundled powdery mass, is not fun to chew. Sifting also aerates dry ingredients, making them lighter, easier to blend evenly, and measure accurately in a measuring cup. 

Though many flours are sold pre-sifted, you're bound to come across clumpy nuggets on your baking adventures. Almond flour, gluten-free flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder can chunk up, so they should be sifted. If you don't have a flour sifter, you can use a fine mesh sieve, a whisk, or a fork. Each will require a little adjustment, but they can get the job done. Blenders and food processors can be used to sift as well. Follow this celebrity chef tip for a fluffy, flavorful chocolate cake.

Ina Garten's iconic Beatty's Chocolate Cake is no ordinary chocolate cake; it's enhanced with freshly brewed coffee. Believe it or not, adding coffee to chocolate cake can make it taste more pronounced, instead of coffee-flavored. Coffee's roasted nutty notes are a perfect match for chocolate's delectable sweetness. The two share similar profiles — both subtly blend bitter, fruity, and spicy.

According to The Barefoot Contessa, Garten pours 1 cup of freshly brewed coffee into the mixer on a low setting after adding traditional wet ingredients to her dry mix. She stirs thoroughly until everything emulsifies and then pours it into her cake pans. To top it off, Garten uses coffee to make chocolate buttercream frosting, too. Though in that case, she starts with one tablespoon of instant coffee grounds instead of freshly brewed. If you're concerned about caffeine, you can swap it for decaf and still enjoy this tasty chocolate cake tip.

Chocolate and peanut butter is a legendary duo that needs no introduction. Celebrity chef Paul Hollywood of "The Great British Bake Off" is no stranger to crafting tasty desserts. On the show's website, he shared the recipe for his popular molten puddings, which have a creamy dose of peanut butter. If you love baking traditional lava cake, just picture gooey chocolate and peanut butter slowly gushing out after you cut it open — it's the epitome of sweet satisfaction!

Hollywood typically drops a creamy teaspoon of peanut butter in the center of his mixture molds, then covers them with the remaining chocolate blend. The inventive approach is a gateway to new flavorful possibilities. Along with peanut butter, nut butters of all varieties work as lava cake fillings. Macadamia has a buttery taste similar to coconut, and pistachios will add a crave-tastic earthiness. It's worth experimenting with different nuts until you find your favorite lava cake filling. Or better yet, upgrade your lava cake with chocolate ice cream.

If you want the most decadent chocolate cake, you need top-quality cocoa powder and vanilla extract. High-quality pantry ingredients may be pricier, but they are worth the moolah. It's another ingredient Ina Garten uses in her Beaty's Chocolate Cake. Her go-to cocoa powder is Valrhona, which is Dutch-processed and has a refined woodsy yet smooth cocoa profile. Along with a full-bodied flavor and rich color, Dutch-processed cocoa is distinctive because it includes potassium carbonate, an alkali salt that reduces its acidity to neutral. As a result, it doesn't react to baking soda and is mostly used in recipes that require baking powder. Take a page from Garten's cookbook and try Valrhona. You can purchase it on Amazon, its own official website, and other online retailers.

Don't skimp on the vanilla extract you use either. Lots of brands sell artificial vanilla extract, which is considerably cheaper in every way. Pure is pricy because globally, vanilla beans are limited in quantity and happen to be the second most expensive spice in the world. However, a premium price gets you a premium chocolate cake experience. Pure vanilla extract provides an authentic bean taste and aroma. Ina Garten appears to enjoy Nielsen-Massey's Madagascar Bourbon brand but there is also Penzeys Spices, Simply Organic, and others. With high-quality cocoa powder and vanilla extract at your disposal, we have no doubt you'll be making the best chocolate cake around.

Baking soda is an essential baking ingredient, but using too much in your batter will lead to inedible chocolate cake. It's tricky, because the more baking soda you use, the fluffier the results. But you can easily go overboard and unintentionally transform a crave-tastic dessert into a metallic-tasting slice. Put your chocolate obsession to the test with devil's food cake; a deeper, darker, and more delectable type of chocolate cake. It's the favorite chocolate-flavored dessert of "Chopped" alum Alex Guarnaschelli, per the Food Network.

The main differences between devil's food cake and traditional chocolate cake are extra baking soda and oil in place of butter. The former is noticeably lighter and more full-bodied. Simply put, devil's food cake is for true chocoholics. It's a recipe that requires you to pay closer attention to how much baking soda is used, though. Master your measurements to enjoy chocolatey bliss. Then, take a note from Guarnaschelli's book and elevate the sweet-sperience with a dollop of whipped cream.