Chocolate Cake Lab357 recipes
← Chocolate Cake Lab

What goes into chocolate cake

The main ingredient list of all 357 recipes, with names merged so one choice counts once: unsalted and salted butter are butter, light and dark brown sugar are brown sugar, kosher and table salt are salt. Different flours stay apart. Frosting, glaze and other extras are counted on their own at the end.

In short

  • Most chocolate cake recipes use oil (65%); 55% use butter, and 21% use both.
  • For sugar, 74% use white sugar alone, 12% white and brown sugar together, and 8% brown sugar alone.
  • For leavening, 49% use baking powder and baking soda together, 25% baking powder alone, and 23% baking soda alone.
  • For the liquid, 19% use milk alone, 12% water alone, and 12% milk and water together.
  • 5% add fruit, 3% spice and 3% nuts; 88% add none of these.

The main choices

Each block sorts every recipe into one group by a single decision. Amounts are the median among recipes in that group, scaled to 250 g of flour, the size of a typical cake. The recipe named under each group is the one in it closest to the typical cake on every ingredient.

Butter, oil or both

Each recipe counted once, by the fats in its main ingredient list.

Margarine and vegan butter count as butter (1%). Oil includes coconut oil (1%) and olive oil (1%).

White, brown or a syrup

Each recipe counted once, by the sweeteners in its main ingredient list.

  • White sugar only

    median 356 g sugar · closest to typical: Easy Chocolate Cake Recipe (shugarysweets.com)

    74%265 recipes

  • White and brown sugar

    median 400 g sugar · closest to typical: Classic Chocolate Cake (countryliving.com)

    12%43 recipes

  • Brown sugar only

    median 264 g sugar · closest to typical: Chocolate Layer Cake (inlaurasbakery.com)

    8%31 recipes

  • With sweetened condensed milk or honey

    median 400 g sugar · closest to typical: Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Glaze (12tomatoes.com)

    4%17 recipes

  • Everything else

    <1%1 recipe

White sugar includes powdered sugar, in 7% of recipes. Coconut sugar counts as brown (1 recipe). "With sweetened condensed milk or honey" means any liquid sweetener (sweetened condensed milk, honey, corn syrup and maple syrup), with or without dry sugar. Coarse and cinnamon sugar are usually sprinkled on top, so they do not count here.

Baking soda, baking powder or both

Each recipe counted once, by what it relies on to rise.

  • Baking powder and baking soda

    median 15 g baking soda and powder · closest to typical: Easy Chocolate Cake Recipe (shugarysweets.com)

    49%176 recipes

  • Baking powder only

    median 12 g baking soda and powder · closest to typical: One Bowl Chocolate Cake (12tomatoes.com)

    25%90 recipes

  • Baking soda only

    median 8 g baking soda and powder · closest to typical: Oatmeal Chocolate Cake (tasteofhome.com)

    23%83 recipes

  • Everything else

    2%8 recipes

Water, milk or something richer

Each recipe counted once, by the liquids in its main ingredient list.

Evaporated milk counts as milk.

Whole eggs, yolks or whites

Each recipe counted once, by the parts of the egg it uses.

A large egg is about 50 g out of the shell, a yolk about 18 g, a white about 32 g.

Cocoa, chocolate or both

Each recipe counted once: cocoa powder, bar chocolate or chips, or both.

Chocolate includes chips and chunks as well as melted bar chocolate; white chocolate does not count.

Natural or Dutch-process cocoa

Among the 307 recipes with cocoa powder, by the type the ingredient list names.

Natural cocoa is acidic and reacts with baking soda; Dutch-process cocoa is not, and usually pairs with baking powder.

Add-ins

Share of recipes that add at least one of each. A recipe can add several, so the shares do not sum to 100%. 88% add none of these. Chocolate is one of the dish's own ratios on the overview rather than an add-in, so it is left out here.

  • Fruit5%

    raspberries 1% · raisins 1%

  • Spice3%

    cinnamon 3%

  • Nuts3%

    hazelnuts 1%

How often each ingredient appears

Share of the 357 recipes that list it at least once, for every ingredient in 5% or more of them. The median amount is among recipes that use it and give a weighable amount, scaled to 250 g of flour; for a flour, it is that flour's share of all the flour in the recipe.

  1. All-purpose flour90%

    323 recipes · median: all of the flour

  2. Granulated sugar87%

    314 recipes · median 313 g

  3. Cocoa powder85%

    307 recipes · median 65 g

  4. Eggs83%

    297 recipes · median 125 g (about 2.5 large eggs)

  5. Baking powder74%

    266 recipes · median 7 g

  6. Vanilla73%

    262 recipes · median 8 g

  7. Baking soda72%

    259 recipes · median 8 g

  8. Salt70%

    252 recipes · median 4 g

  9. Vegetable oil62%

    223 recipes · median 116 g

  10. Butter53%

    191 recipes · median 162 g

  11. Water42%

    153 recipes · median 237 g

  12. Milk42%

    152 recipes · median 244 g

  13. Bar chocolate31%

    112 recipes · median 156 g

  14. Buttermilk23%

    84 recipes · median 244 g

  15. Brown sugar21%

    78 recipes · median 202 g

  16. Coffee18%

    65 recipes · median 237 g

  17. Sour cream15%

    57 recipes · median 153 g

  18. Espresso powder14%

    50 recipes · median 4.9 g

  19. Vinegar9%

    33 recipes · median 10 g

  20. Powdered sugar7%

    28 recipes · median 146 g

  21. Spirits, wine or beer5%

    19 recipes · median 119 g

  22. Cream5%

    18 recipes · median 208 g

Toppings and extras

66% of recipes (237 of 357) list something beyond the main recipe: a frosting, glaze, filling, crumb topping, a boiling bath or a sprinkle on top. None of it is counted above. The most common extra ingredients, as a share of all recipes:

  • Powdered sugar36% (129)
  • Butter31% (113)
  • Cream25% (92)
  • Bar chocolate22% (82)
  • Vanilla21% (76)
  • Cocoa powder19% (68)
  • Salt15% (56)
  • Milk9% (35)
  • Chocolate chips or chunks9% (34)
  • Water5% (20)

How the ingredients are counted

A recipe uses an ingredient when any line of its main ingredient list names it. Names are merged by the words in them, so “1 cup unsalted butter, softened” and “salted butter” are both butter, and a line that offers a choice (“walnuts or pecans”) counts as the first one named. Canola, vegetable and other neutral oils are one oil; coconut and olive oil are listed on their own.

Lines only for greasing the pan are left out. Lines for brushing, sprinkling or serving, and lines that belong to a frosting, glaze, filling or topping, count as extras.

Amounts come from the grams on each recipe page: printed by the source, or converted from cups and spoons with standard densities. Scaling them to 250 g of flour lets a small recipe and a double batch line up. Percentages are rounded down.