Strawberry Chocolate Cake

Ingredients To make this cake, you'll need: all-purpose flour, dutch processed cocoa powder, granulated sugar, espresso powder, baking powder and soda, kosher salt, canola oil, 3 eggs, light brown sugar, buttermilk, Greek yogurt or sour cream, vanilla extract, and hot water

Preheat your oven to 350°F, and prepare two 8" round cake pans.

I use damp cake strips on my pans for more evenly baked layers.

Tip: Unlike some recipes for vanilla or light-colored cakes, we don’t flour the pans for this chocolate strawberry cake recipe. The white flour would contrast with the dark brown color of the layers. Use cocoa powder instead if you're not using a non-stick release spray.

To a large bowl, add and whisk together all-purpose flour, brown and granulated sugar, dutch processed cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, espresso powder, and kosher salt. Set flour mixture aside.

In a large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together your vanilla extract, eggs, greek yogurt or sour cream, buttermilk, and oil.

Pour your hot water into the bowl of dry ingredients so your cocoa powder can bloom. Mix until fully combined. Then pour bowl of wet ingredients into your main bowl and mix again until everything is fully incorporated.

Pour and evenly divide cake batter into your prepared cake pans (about 515 grams in each pan). Bake for 35-40 minutes or until layers bounce back at the touch of your finger.

For best results, let cake cool in pans for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Swipe up for the full recipe, which includes steps for making the chocolate frosting and strawberry filling, too!