Hot Water Is All You Need To Boost The Richness Of Chocolate Cake

When it comes to baking cakes, most of us tend to rely on milk as a key ingredient. After all, the fat in milk adds a flavorful depth to the dessert and usually leads to a moister cake. However, when baking a chocolate cake, it turns out that water is all you need to take it to new heights of richness and flavor.

That's right — using milk when making a chocolate cake can detract from the rich, cocoa-y goodness we crave. Chocolate, after all, is already incredibly flavorful on its own. Senior Recipe Developer Molly Marzalek-Kelly of King Arthur Baking explains, "With milk, there's a little bit of sweetness, a little bit of sourness, so there are some other contributing flavors present there. Which, in the case of chocolate cake, kind of works against it."

Instead, using hot water in your chocolate cake batter allows that rich, bloomed cocoa flavor to permeate every bite. This might sound counterintuitive, as we usually consider water as a plain, flavorless liquid that's only good for hydrating, but trust us on this one. Get ready to toss aside your preconceptions about a milk-rich chocolate cake and tap into the transformative power of hot water.

While the idea of adding hot water to cake batter may sound like a game-changing technique for all cakes, it's important to note that this trick is typically only recommended for chocolate cakes. As Molly Marzalek-Kelly notes, it's best for recipes that call for cocoa powder.

The fat content in cocoa powder makes up the base of the rich, decadent flavor we all know and love (it's the critical ingredient in Devil's Food Cake). However, not all cocoa powder is created equal. It's vital to consider the fat content, as it can significantly impact the outcome of your cake.

Kirsten Tibballs, pâtissier and director of Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School, explained how it works to SBS. "By adding cocoa powder, you get a great chocolate flavor without sugar, which you usually already have in a chocolate cake recipe."

Her top suggestion for the right kind of cocoa powder to use in your recipe? "Use a Dutch-processed cocoa powder with 22% fat ... which will tenderize your cake texture and give you a great hit of chocolate flavor."

If you want to create a more complex flavored chocolate cake and want to experiment beyond just water, adding coffee to the mix can be a great option. "Coffee is a natural chocolate enhancer ... that helps deepen the chocolate flavor," suggested Marzalek-Kelly.

Plenty of popular cake recipes rely on water instead of milk. One such recipe is Southern Living's Wacky Cake, a World War II-era moist, chocolatey cake made with only pantry staples like flour, sugar, cocoa powder, oil, and vinegar (which adds color and flavor to chocolate cake). Southern Living also echoes Molly Marzalek-Kelly's java tip with a suggestion that it's okay to swap water for cold coffee to alter the flavor and texture of your gateau.

Celebrity chef Paul Hollywood's Devil's Food cake recipe is also entirely devoid of milk. Instead, his indulgent chocolate cake calls for cocoa powder and boiling water. This combination creates a luscious chocolate cake that doesn't need any dairy to be creamy. Are you finding that you're missing the unique depth and structure that dairy does add to chocolate cakes? Taste of Home recommends adding a tablespoon of butter to every cup of water.

The good news is that you're not limited to just these recipes. In fact, you can swap out milk for water in most chocolate cake recipes and still get delicious results. So, next time you're looking to craft a concoction that feels like sliding into a velvety cocoa embrace, consider reaching for the water instead of the milk. Remember, some of the best things in life come from a bit of experimentation!