Are you looking for a small chocolate cake recipe from scratch?
This 9 inch chocolate cake recipe is absolutely amazing. It’s a very soft, moist cake that can be served with chocolate frosting or without frosting. You can decorate this small cake by simply dusting the top with powdered sugar if you want to forgo making the frosting.
With just my son and I in the the house I feel like it’s such a waste to make a 13×9 inch cake that we will only end up eating half of. The rest will go to neighbours, and that’s not a bad thing, we love sharing, but sometimes all you want is a good small chocolate cake. This cake is a small cake perfect for intimate small celebrations.
When to Use A Small Chocolate Cake Recipe:
- Small Anniversary Celebrations
- Valentines Day
- Small Birthday Parties
- Small dinner parties
- And the best reason of all: a just because cake
Let’s gather the ingredients for this 9 inch chocolate cake recipe and make it together.
Ingredients to Make a small chocolate cake recipe from scratch:
Cake Batter Ingredients:
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons cocoa
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 Teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon salt
- 1 Teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla
Chocolate Frosting Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (one stick) butter
- 2/3 cup cocoa
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
We start our Small Chocolate Cake recipe by placing the boiled water and softened butter in a large bowl, beat the two ingredients together until the butter has melted. Add the egg and vanilla to the bowl and beat until the ingredients are well combined.
Place the flour, sugar. cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium size bowl. Stir the dry ingredients together to combine them. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients in it and beat them together with an electric mixer for 2 minutes.
Pour the cake batter into a greased 9 inch baking pan. If you don’t have a 9-inch baking pan for a small chocolate cake, check out any of the ones below!
Bake the cake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven to a cooling rack to cool completely. While we’re waiting for the cake to cool, let’s make the frosting.
We start the frosting by melting 1/2 cup butter in a medium saucepan. After the butter has melted, stir the cocoa into the butter.
Alternately, add the powdered sugar and milk to the cocoa mixture in the bowl, beating the ingredients together to a spreading consistency. Add additional milk if needed to achieve the spreading consistency you desire. Stir the vanilla into the frosting.
Frost your completely cooled small chocolate cake with the homemade chocolate frosting.
Small Chocolate Cake recipe, it’s what’s for dessert for the two of you and it’s delicious!
PIN IT FOR LATER
Looking For More Delicious Recipes From Bunny’s Warm Oven, Try These!
Homemade Chocolate Pudding…Homemade Vanilla Pudding…Chocolate Bavarian Pie...Homemade Blueberry Custard Pie…Creamy Blueberry Pie
Afraid that you are missing items for the chocolate cake recipe? Check out the necessary items below!
Small Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Cake Batter:
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 Tablespoons cocoa
- 1 Teaspoon baking powder
- 1 Teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 Teaspoon salt
Chocolate Frosting
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2/3 cup cocoa
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- For The Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Place the water and butter in a medium bowl. Beat the ingredients together with an electric mixer until the butter is melted.Add the egg and vanilla to the bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg and vanilla into the ingredients in the bowl until well incorporated. Place the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in another medium bowl, stir the ingredients to combine them. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and beat for 2 minutes.Pour the batter into a greased 9 inch baking pan. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- For The Frosting
- Melt the butter in a medium size saucepan. Stir in the cocoa. Alternately add the powdered sugar and milk to the bowl, beating to a spreading consistency. Add a small amount of milk if necessary to achieve the spreading consistency you want. Stir in the vanilla.
Video
Looking for more cake recipes , try these from other bloggers…Small Red Velvet Cake...Carrot Cake for One
Hi! I’m really excited to try this recipe. Want to make this for my husbands birthday and want to make a round cake. Is it okay if I use a 9” round pan for this recipe? And for the frosting can I put in a piping back and make rosettes on top of cake?
Thanks
I don’t see why you couldn’t use a round pan Amina, it’s the same recipe just a different shape.
Made this cake for my husband and myself last night. It’s awesome!!! BEST Chocolate Cake Ever!
Wow, thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed the small chocolate cake!
Hi Bunny, I made this delicious Chocolate Cake this afternoon for my husband and I, and we both really liked it. It was a cinch to put together, the cake is very moist, and it was the perfect size for just me and my husband without having a lot of leftover cake to continually tempt us — LOL!. The only thing that I did differently was to frost the cake with my favorite Chocolate Philadelphia Cream Cheese Frosting. I’m so glad that I tried this recipe, and it will definitely go into my “MAKE AGAIN” file. Thanks again,. Bunny!
I love the MAKE AGAIN file, you made my day!
Nice easy to make tastes amazing can’t wait to have it with chocolate custard
Hi, should I set my microwave at 350°C to bake this cake?
350 Fahrenheit
No idea why, but my cake was a flop. Totally sunk in the middle. Not sure what I did wrong?
The only reason the center would rise up is that the cake needed more time in the oven for it to rise up. Check this link out about under baked cakes Teresa..https://chelsweets.com/2020/07/11/why-do-cakes-sink-in-the-middle/#:~:text=The%20most%20common%20reason%20why,center%20of%20your%20cake%20layer.
Hi,my cake doesn’t rise much as I’m using a round 9 inch tray.The cake seems to be on a dense side,not fluffy
texture.I use plain flour and I use half a cup of granulated sugar.May I knowwhat had happened?
Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.
This happened to my cake as well. But i tried it again and was fine. I’m guessing I overmixed the batter in my first try.
M
Hi! I have already reviewed this cake once before, but since that time I have baked this cake a number of times,, so I just had to come back and tell you just how sensational this cake is. Being confirmed chocoholics, my husband and I just love this cake. I baked it again for a Christmas treat, because I di, ad not have enough time (or energy) to do the Christmas cookie thing, and, as usual, it was wonderful. It goes great with a nice tall, frosty glass of milk, and a scoop of ice cream on the side wouldn’t be a bad idea either. If anyone is on the fence about making this, I must tell you to go for it, because it is truly one of the best chocolate cakes that you will ever had. The only thing that I do differently is to make a Chocolate Philadelphia Cream Cheese frosting (one of our favorites), So, thanks again, Bunny, for giving us this wonderful recipe. Best wishes to you and yours for a very Happy & Healthy New Year!!!
Now I know I have to try this cake! My husband and I are both chocoholics.
Let us know how you like the small chocolate cake!
I’ve made this twice and love the flavour. I was wondering if you could tell me which adjustments to make if I use Dutch processed cocoa powder. I have industrial amounts of the stuff here at home! I’m afraid it might not rise enough.
I tripled this recipe and made delicious cupcakes for my friends bday and granddaughter bday this was so good and lots of compliments! You get 5 stars from me❤️
Such a good recipe! I am a college student and I couldn’t finish a full cake so this was perfect for me and my roommate. I replaced the boiling water with hot coffee, and added a teaspoon of vanilla. it was fantastic!
The cake was tasty, but I think I will try using milk instead of water and decrease it to 3/4 cup. The cake batter was really runny, and maybe milk would make it richer. I will use this recipe again.
This is a fantastic recipe! Very pleased. The only change I made was cutting the frosting in half; for me, it was still plenty. Can’t wait to make this again!
Made this cake several times now, the best cake ever!! Delicious and moist, perfect size to stop you eating too much haha. Thank you x
I have made this cake several times and it is marvelous.
Thank you for this recipe. It’s a keeper. I’m going to make homemade caramel sauce topped with vanilla ice cream.
Is there a vanilla version? My husband likes chocolate but I like a vanilla cake. BTW the chocolate version is delicious!
Overall the cake was pretty good. I was slightly concerned about how watery the batter seemed so I added some extra cocoa and flour and it was perfect and fluffy. However the icing ruined the entire cake. The icing was entirely too sweet and all i tasted was powdered sugar. In addition using melted butter make it more like a liquid than an icing. I iced the cake and then scraped it all off because it ruined the cake. If your looking for a simple chocolate small cake this is good but skip the icing.
I made a cream cheese frosting and it was great
I have to say seriously every recipe I have tried of yours has been perfect. I made this cake for Mother’s Day tomorrow and it’s the perfect size. Thank you for all your good eats ☺️.