This is a one-bowl chocolate cake with a gorgeous autumnal burgundy buttercream. No stand mixer, no electric whisk, no sifting three things into three separate bowls. You mix the batter with a whisk in about ten minutes, bake it, and then cover it in Swiss meringue buttercream tinted to that lovely deep wine shade.
Every autumn, burgundy is on the high street, in every autumn edit, on the cushions in the café near my office. I kept seeing it and thinking it would make a very good cake. So here it is.
The chocolate sponge is dark, soft and stays moist for days. The buttercream is silky and not too sweet, which matters when you are colouring it this deeply. Together they look like something you ordered from a bakery and I promise, people will ask you for a second slice.
Why This Chocolate Cake Works
I have made a lot of chocolate cakes over the years, and the ones I come back to are always the simple ones. This one earns its place for three reasons.
It is a one-bowl cake. The wet ingredients go in, the dry ingredients go in, you whisk, you pour. There is no creaming butter and sugar, which means no waiting for butter to soften and no mixer to wash up. It is the kind of recipe you can start at 8pm on a Tuesday and still be in bed at a reasonable hour.
The crumb stays soft. Oil-based chocolate cakes hold their moisture far better than butter-based ones, particularly once they have been in the fridge under buttercream. This cake is better on day two than on day one, and still good on day four.
The colour does the work. You do not need elaborate decoration when the buttercream is this shade. Smooth sides, some vintage-style piping around the edge, and it is done. The burgundy is the statement.
How to Get That Burgundy Buttercream Colour
This is the part people ask about most, so I am putting it before the method.
Use oil-based colour, not liquid. Liquid food colouring will thin your buttercream and give you a pink that never quite deepens. Oil-based colour is concentrated enough to reach a true burgundy without changing the texture ad it works so beautifully with Swiss meringue buttercream.
The perfect shade. Using Colour Mill for colouring my buttercream is a hill I’m going to die on and their shade of Burgundy is exactly want you want for this cake. I use this brand for years and it never disappoints. I get my colours from The Cake Decorating Company.
Let it rest. Coloured buttercream deepens as it sits. If you colour it in the evening and frost the next morning, you will find the shade has settled a full tone darker. I now colour it slightly lighter than I want the finished cake to be.
Vintage Piping and a Burgundy Bow
I kept the decoration classic on this one. Vintage-style piping suits a colour like burgundy far better than anything modern or minimal, and it is easier than it looks. I used a smooth final coat as the base, then piped a shell border around the bottom edge and a row of small rosettes and ruffles around the top with a star nozzle. The trick is to keep the buttercream slightly cool so the piping holds its shape, and to work steadily rather than quickly. It does not need to be perfect. Vintage cakes are meant to look handmade. I’ve helped create a blog post for The Cake Decorating Company on creating a vintage style cake and you can find all my favourite piping tips in the post.
To finish, I tied a bow using food-safe ribbon in burgundy from The Cake Decorating Company. They stock it in a good range of widths and the colour matched the buttercream almost exactly, which I was not expecting. Because it is food safe you can wrap it directly around the cake without worrying about it touching the buttercream.
Tips for Success
Weigh your batter. If you are making multiple layers, weigh the bowl and divide the batter evenly by weight. It is the difference between a level cake and one that leans.
Do not overmix. Once the dry ingredients are in, whisk only until you cannot see flour. Overmixing a chocolate cake gives you a tough, dense crumb.
Bake the layers the day before. Wrapped well once cool, they keep beautifully overnight and are easier to frost when they have firmed up slightly. Colour the buttercream the night before too, for the reason above.
Chill between coats. Fifteen to twenty minutes in the fridge after the crumb coat makes the final burgundy layer go on far more smoothly.
Keep the decoration simple. A smooth finish and some vintage piping around the base and top edge is plenty. Serve it on a cream or white cake stand and the colour will do the rest.
Burgundy Chocolate Cake Questions, Answered
Do I really not need a mixer for this cake? No. The batter comes together with a whisk and a spatula. The buttercream is a different story – Swiss meringue buttercream does need a mixer. If you do not have one, use a simple chocolate ganache or a cream cheese frosting instead and colour that.
Can I make this cake ahead? Yes. Bake the layers up to two days ahead and keep them wrapped at room temperature, or freeze them for up to a month. The assembled cake keeps for 3-4 days in the fridge. Bring it to room temperature for at least an hour before serving.
Can I use a different frosting? Yes. American buttercream will take the colour well but is sweeter. Cream cheese frosting works and pairs well with dark chocolate, though it will give a slightly softer, more muted burgundy. Chocolate ganache will work a dream too!
The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe (One Bowl, No Mixer)
Recipe by Sarah Arnold
This delicious chocolate cake is made in one bowl with ingredients you definitely have in your cupboard and topped with the most indulgent buttercream. It's rich, fudgy and deeply chocolatey - the only chocolate cake recipe you'll ever need.
12
servings10
minutes30
minutesIngredients
- For the cake
365 g 1 3/4 cup caster sugar
85 g 3/4 cup dark baking cocoa powder
260 g 2 cup plain flour
2 tsp 2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp 1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp 1 tsp fine sea salt
105 ml 1/2 cup neutral oil (sunflower, vegetable or light rapeseed)
2 tsp 2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large 2 large eggs, room temperature
227 g 1 cup buttermilk (or 150ml milk plus 2 tsp lemon juice, left to stand for 5 minutes)
180 ml 3/4 cup strongly brewed coffee, cooled
- For the burgundy buttercream:
my signature Swiss Meringue buttercream (linked above)
Colour Mill oil-based food colouring in the shade Burgundy (linked above)
Directions
- The Cake Layers
- Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan. Grease and line three 6 inch round cake tins with baking parchment.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt. Make a well in the centre and add the oil, vanilla, eggs, and buttermilk.
- Whisk from the centre outward until no lumps remain. The batter will be thick.
- Pour in the cooled coffee and whisk until smooth.
- Divide evenly between the prepared tins and bake for 25–30 minutes, until a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely.
- Frost the cooled cake layers, stacking as you go. Cover the sides and decorate as described above or as desired.
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