Ok folks, this cake will put you in chocolate heaven. Have tried many recipes from this site and this one wins by a landslide. To be objective, I made this to the T the first time. It was fantastic. Moist, dark, rich. But after that, I've been using buttermilk in place of regular milk and used cake flour instead of regular flour (same amount) and the cake was super moist. I've learned when it comes to baking, using buttermilk where a recipe calls for milk makes everything more moist and fluffy. If Cake Flour is available, use. Be sure to add 2 extra tablespoons of cake flour for every cup of regular flour. The cake flour made it extra light and tender. No need for vinegar if using buttermilk. The 'sour' in buttermilk reacts with the leavening agents - baking powder/soda - which makes the cake rise and moist. I've also increased cocoa to 1 full cup & added 2 extra tablespoon sugar when I do, for a devils food style cake. And forget all the 'multi-bowl cake recipes'. This is so easy in prep and clean-up. Too good to be true, but it is. I usually bake mine in a 10" bundt (cooking time appx. 38-40 min.) or two 9" cake pans (25 min.). When making a layer cake, try frosting it with German Chocolate Frosting II (from this site) for ultimate decadence. You will get raves for this - even you first time bakers can't get this wrong. Update - Drizzle this with Chocolate Ganache - superb.

This cake is absolutely to die for. I have gotten rave reviews. I used some of the suggestions of others. I used buttermilk instead of vinegar and milk. I added a cup of chocolate chips last thing to the batter. I cooked it for 45 minutes at 325 degrees.Oh and for those of you who have had troubles with it falling in the middle....your cake was not done befor you moved it. Just open the oven (DO NOT MOVE THE WIRE RACKS AT ALL)when it looks done and lightly press the top side of the cake (not right in the middle) with your finger. If it feels like anything other than firm cake quickly close the oven again and let it bake for at least another 10 to 15 min., especially if you are cooking it at the lower temp. Mine fell slightly the first time due to this issue. The second time I tested it first and it came out beautiful. I also made it in two foil lined round spring form pans. I lined it with reynolds non stick heavy duty foil and it just peeled right off even though this was a really sticky cake. I made this with dark chocolate cocoa. It was fabulous. For those who like to make this all in one bowl...just start with all the wet ingredients, mixing after each addition, and work your way backwards through the recipe with the flour and chocolate chips being the last ingredients. This way you know that your soda and powder are completely disoved and there will be no bitter spots.

Woohoo! This cake is the best and I never rate anything 5 stars! Even better than Hersheys' recipe. You can't taste the vinegar at all and a hint of coffee flavor will only show up depending on the frosting. Because I love chocolate so much I made a few adjustments; dusted the pan with cocoa powder instead of flour and added 1/4 c more cocoa to the recipe. Though I'm sure it would come out just as good as is! It was a snap to mix up in one bowl, a snap to rinse off the bowl and utensils, and a snap to bake (even though my stove has issues). I only had a glass pyrex dish and despite that it still came out moist. You know, the kind of moist where if you touch the top some fine crumbs will sticks to your fingertip. Yummy. It was very much like Starbauchs black out cake if you have had it. Only without the ganache. I frosted it with Chocolate Cheese Frosting found here on Allrecipes by Carol. I will definately be using this recipe when I want a quick and fool proof moist cake. I had heard that the best chocolate cake recipes called for vinegar but this was the first that proved it. Thank you Kelly!

This cake was delicious! I made it exactly as specified. When I saw how runny the batter was I was a bit concerned but it turned out spongy and moist. I took a reviewer's advice and made the cream cheese chocolate frosting and it was perfect.

This is THE BEST chocolate cake I have ever tasted! Wow, and so easy. I didn't even have to get the mixer out; did fine by hand. As suggested by others, I replaced milk and vinegar with buttermilk. I used this recipe to make cupcakes, baked at 350 degrees for 24 minutes. Perfection.

I was looking for a devil's food cake recipe similar to the flavor of store bought cake mixes for ages. This one is it! It is better than the commercial mixes too as the cake does not fall apart getting it out of the pan. Also, I was able to cut down the amount of sugar by half without any loss of flavor or texture.

I have used this recipe for many cakes and have gotten rave reviews from everyone. I find it moist enough, chocolatey enough, everything enough. I haven't and won't change a thing. If it is worth 5 stars, it doesn't need changing. If it needs changing, it isn't worth 5 stars!

Oh my goodness, so good! I was a little hesitant to try it because I had never made a cake that called for coffee and vinegar, but it turned out awesome! I did add a little more cocoa and sugar because I was after a rich cake, and that it was. It was also very moist. A definite winner. Thank you for sharing!

Very easy and very tasty. Also works with soy milk. Try bittersweet cocoa and milk chocolate frosting!

This cake is a lifesaver! We were stranded by a snowstorm on my daughter's birthday -- I had planned to make an easy box cake...but couldn't get to the store so I searched for a quick chocolate cake..ended up here. LOVED THIS CAKE! I used a whole cup of cocoa (Ghiradelli) and a little extra sugar and I also added a couple of pinches of cardomom. After it cooled I whipped up some heavy cream with vanilla and confectioners sugar and spread it on 1 layer and put 3/4 of a can of cherry pie filling on top (after straining off most of the cherry juice), covered the rest of the cake with the whipped cream, put the remaining cherries in the middle of the cake and then covered the whole thing with finely grated chocolate. THIS was excellent -- my version of Black Forest Cherry Cake. Excellent.