Black Magic Cake

It’s been around for ages and wows everyone, every time.

By
Sara Bir
Sara Bir
Sara Bir
Sara is a chef, culinary educator, and author of three cookbooks, The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook, Tasting Ohio and The Fruit Forager's Companion. The latter won a 2019 IACP Cookbook Award.
Learn about Simply Recipes' Editorial Process
Updated May 06, 2024
Sara Bir
black magic cake on a platter with a slice cut out and in the background, two plates with some cake slices

Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm

Claiming that a cake is magical is wishful thinking, but it’s true that the right cake at the right time can work wonders. When I was coming up in the food media industry and the internet was just a babe in diapers, baking my favorite cake recipe got me a job that made a lot of difference in my life. That job was at Martha Stewart Living.

Before the whole Martha thing, I first encountered this cake during my first restaurant job in the mid-1990s at the Levee House Cafe in Marietta, Ohio. It was their signature dessert; customers lost it if we ran out. 

Gordon Ramsay would have had a field day there. The kitchen was tiny, like a ship’s galley, and the cooks constantly had to announce their whereabouts for everyone’s safety. “Hot pan behind you!” was a common refrain, as was “Oven door down!”

I was a prep cook, which meant I got to do the baking as well. In the sticky, grime-smudged binder of recipes was a recipe for black magic cake, which I’d eventually come to memorize. I’d also cut myself thick slabs of it to savor after my shift while everyone else dug into their family meal. It became my go-to cake for birthdays and gatherings, the little black dress of cake recipes.

black magic cake on a platter with a slice cut out and in the background, two plates with some cake slices

Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm

A Chocolate Cake for the Ages

Black magic cake didn’t originate at the Levee House. Originally a Hershey’s recipe, it’s a moist chocolate cake that relies on a ton of cocoa powder for its oomph and the tang of buttermilk for its dense, homestyle crumb. A cup of hot coffee stirred into the almost-finished batter only deepens its intensity. Its hue is indeed dark, its flavor supremely chocolatey. 

It’s a simple stir-together batter with no creaming or delicate folding in of dry ingredients, yet the payoff is grand. I’ve primarily seen black magic cake made as a two-layer cake with chocolate buttercream, the pièce de résistance of a casual home baker.

Baking for Martha Stewart Living

For my cooking school internship, which came on the heels of my initiation into the restaurant world, I badly wanted a stint testing recipes for a glossy food magazine in New York. I called around and was offered an interview at Martha Stewart Living. Despite being visibly nervous, I still managed to make a good enough impression that the test kitchen manager who interviewed me asked me back for a cooking audition.

Like a lot of aspiring young chefs, I wanted to dazzle with a complex and original creation. I planned to make some convoluted shrimp thing, but my instinct told me otherwise. After all, Martha Stewart Living was about elevated home cooking, not cheffy fabulations. Once I arrived at the test kitchen, I made a last-minute switch. Luckily they had all of the ingredients for a black magic cake on hand, which I baked from memory.   

The test kitchen director loved this cake. You know how people pause a bit and then roll their eyes back in a wave of pleasure when they take a bite of something divine? That’s the magic the cake worked on her. She asked me for the recipe and offered me the internship.

I can’t tell you how many ways I’ve since baked this cake, in all sorts of forms: sheet cake, cupcakes, cut-up cake, a Bundt. It’s the easiest chocolate cake recipe I know of, yet it remains the best as well. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.

Black magic cake on a plate, and in the background, a bowl of icing

Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm

Chocolate Cake Recipes

Black Magic Cake

Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 35 mins
Total Time 50 mins
Servings 12 servings
Yield 1 (9-inch) 2 layer cake

This recipe below is the one I’ve made consistently for over twenty years. It’s based on Hershey’s Black Magic Cake, which appeared at least as early as the 1980s. In community cookbooks and on food blogs, you’ll see many subtle variations.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups (400g) sugar

  • 1 3/4 cups (253g) all-purpose flour

  • 3/4 cup (74g) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy

  • 2 teaspoons baking soda

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 2 large eggs

  • 1 cup buttermilk

  • 1/2 cup oil (a neutral oil like canola will do, but olive oil is nice, too)

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  • 1 cup fresh strong black coffee (hot, but not boiling)

  • 2 batches Easy Chocolate Buttercream, for frosting

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

    Grease two 9-inch round pans and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment.

  2. Combine the dry and the wet ingredients:

    Get a large bowl and measure the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into it. Use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients well and set aside. 

    Lightly beat the eggs in a medium bowl just to break them up. Add the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla and stir to combine. 

  3. Make the batter:

    Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together with a silicone spatula until combined, forming a dense, thick mixture (you can use a hand mixer on low instead).

    Add the coffee and mix to form a smooth, thin batter. Your finished batter will be notably thinner than typical cake batter, so don’t worry; it’s supposed to be that way.

  4. Bake:

    Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake until the center springs back when you press it lightly, about 35 minutes. This is a moist, dense cake and a few crumbs may still cling to a cake tester even when it’s fully baked. 

    Cool the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto the rack and peel the paper from the bottoms. 

    Cool the layers completely before frosting. Well wrapped, this cake freezes well for up to 3 months. Covered and kept at room temperature, the cake will be good for about 3 days before it dries out. 

    Love the recipe? Leave us stars and a comment below

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
334 Calories
11g Fat
54g Carbs
5g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories 334
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 11g 14%
Saturated Fat 1g 5%
Cholesterol 32mg 11%
Sodium 390mg 17%
Total Carbohydrate 54g 20%
Dietary Fiber 2g 6%
Total Sugars 34g
Protein 5g
Vitamin C 0mg 1%
Calcium 55mg 4%
Iron 3mg 19%
Potassium 76mg 2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.