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The perfect decadent dessert made with 100% whole wheat flour! This chocolate cake with fresh milled flour is wonderfully moist with a fudgy yet light crumb. It’s absolutely delicious, slathered in your favorite frosting and topped with shaved chocolate!
One of my all-time favorite things to do is tinker in the kitchen with my daughter.
She’s an excellent baker and is always making a fun new dessert for our family, like cheesecake or the fresh milled twisted donuts she helped me develop.
When I decided to work on a freshly milled flour chocolate layer cake recipe, I enlisted her for help again. It was so fun working on this cake together, and the results are incredible!
The idea of a whole wheat chocolate cake might seem unusual to you, but you will be blown away by how delicious it is.
This cake is every bit as fudgy, moist, and rich as a regular chocolate cake, yet it is unmistakably fresh and flavorful with the home-milled flour!
That’s why I keep turning all of my favorite treats into a freshly milled flour recipe! From fudgy whole grain brownies to chocolate chip cookies with fresh milled flour, you will never need to go back to the bagged store-bought flour.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Moist and fudgy: In my opinion, chocolate cake should always be moist and rich. This recipe yields a wonderfully fudgy yet tender crumb — it’s perfectly balanced and never dry.
- Simple but elegant: This cake is super easy to mix up, but fancy enough for a birthday celebration or special occasion!
- Freshly milled flour: I always feel great serving my family dessert when it’s made with whole grain flour! The freshly milled wheat gives this cake a richer, nuttier flavor and wonderful freshness.
- Skillet cake: Making cake in the skillet is so much easier than pans, and you don’t have to store special supplies for cake making. It never sticks, and you get a beautifully rustic cake that feels cozy and nostalgic. That’s how I make most of my cakes, like peach upside down cake and apple cider cake.
Key Ingredients
- Flour: Freshly milled soft white wheat gives this cake the perfect texture! You’d never know it’s whole wheat, but it will have that fresh, nutty flavor.
- Coconut oil: Coconut oil is the perfect fat for this moist, fudgy cake. We’ll melt it before mixing it into the batter.
- Cocoa powder: I use regular natural process cocoa powder. Don’t substitute Dutch process cocoa powder — they are not typically interchangeable.
Find the full list of ingredients and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of this post!
How to Make Chocolate Cake with Fresh Milled Flour
Step 1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease 2 12″ cast-iron skillets with butter or oil.
Step 2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Step 3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), beat the eggs on high for 30 seconds. With the mixer still running, slowly pour in the sugar. Continue beating for 3–5 minutes, until the mixture is pale, thick, and nearly tripled in volume.
Step 4. While the eggs are mixing, add the water to a medium saucepan with the melted coconut oil and milk. Warm over low heat until lukewarm, then remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
Step 5. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the flour mixture, mixing just until combined. Be careful not to overmix.
Step 6. Pour in the warm milk mixture and gently mix until the batter is smooth and well combined.
Step 7. Evenly distribute the batter between the two pans, smoothing the tops. Pop any air bubbles with a spoon or toothpick.
Step 8. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Step 9. Allow the cakes to cool completely, then remove them from the skillets. Place one cake on a platter, spread half of the frosting on top, and place the other cake on top. Spread icing over the cake and enjoy!
Tips + Notes
- Be careful not to overbake your cake! You don’t want a dry, crumbly texture. I recommend performing a toothpick test regularly after the first 18-20 minutes so you can take it out as soon as it’s finished.
- If you don’t have 2 12-inch cast iron skillets, you can use cake pans instead. Just be sure to line the bottoms with parchment paper and grease the sides so the cake doesn’t stick.
- You can use whatever type of frosting you prefer for a chocolate cake. I’ve made this recipe with chocolate frosting and a basic vanilla frosting, and both were fantastic!
- I just spread extra frosting between the two layers of cake, but you can also add a different layer if desired. Fruit jam, caramel sauce, or chocolate ganache would be delicious.
- Allow your cake to cool completely before icing it — you don’t want the frosting to melt.
Recipe FAQs
Absolutely! Cake freezes very well, frosted or unfrosted. Just let it thaw at room temperature before serving.
You can certainly use a smaller skillet, but I wouldn’t go too much smaller than 10-inch so it doesn’t overflow in the oven. Keep in mind, with a smaller skillet you’ll need to bake the cake longer because it will be thicker.
I like soft white wheat for cakes, cookies, and other non-yeasted, soft pastries. It provides a delicate crumb and has less gluten structure than hard wheat varieties (which are better for yeasted bread, like freshly milled artisan bread).
No! I never sift my freshly milled flour. As long as you use the right wheat berry and mill it on a very fine setting, you won’t have a grainy or bran-y cake.
I buy all of my whole grains, as well as most of my pantry staples, in bulk from Azure Standard. I talk more about why they’re my favorite source in my post on the best places to buy milling grains.
You’re seriously going to love this moist chocolate cake with freshly milled flour! I love how easy it is to make — we can whip up a whole cake for a casual weeknight meal, but it tastes like an elegant bakery cake, perfect for birthdays and special occasions.
If you’re new to freshly milled flour, be sure to check out my beginner tutorials before you get started! You can learn how to mill your own flour and learn the basics of baking with whole grains right here on my blog. Happy baking!
Related Recipes
- Freshly Milled Strawberry Crumble Bars
- Fresh Milled Strawberry Sweet Rolls
- Gingerbread With Fresh Milled Flour
- The Best Dutch Oven Dump Cake
- Independence Day Cake
If you tried this Chocolate Cake with Freshly Milled Flour or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Chocolate Cake with Freshly Milled Flour
Equipment
- 2 12-inch cast iron skillets (cake pans will work too)
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups whole wheat flour, I use soft white (300g)
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (64g)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cups granulated sugar (350g)
- 1 ¾ cup milk
- ½ cup coconut oil, melted (113g)
- ¼ cup water
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- chocolate frosting or frosting of choice
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease 2 12″ cast-iron skillets with butter or oil.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), beat the eggs on high for 30 seconds. With the mixer still running, slowly pour in the sugar. Continue beating for 3–5 minutes, until the mixture is pale, thick, and nearly tripled in volume.
- While the eggs are mixing, add the water to a medium saucepan with the melted coconut oil and milk. Warm over low heat until lukewarm, then remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the flour mixture, mixing just until combined. Be careful not to overmix.
- Pour in the warm milk mixture and gently mix until the batter is smooth and well combined.
- Evenly distribute the batter between the two pans, smoothing the tops. Pop any air bubbles with a spoon or toothpick.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool completely, then remove from the skillets.
- Place one cake on a platter, spread half of the frosting on top, and place the other cake on top. Spread frosting over the cake and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Be careful not to overbake your cake! You don’t want a dry, crumbly texture. I recommend performing a toothpick test regularly after the first 18-20 minutes so you can take it out as soon as it’s finished.
- If you don’t have 2 12-inch cast iron skillets, you can use cake pans instead. Just be sure to line the bottoms with parchment paper and grease the sides so the cake doesn’t stick.
- You can use whatever type of frosting you prefer for a chocolate cake. I’ve made this recipe with chocolate frosting and a basic vanilla frosting, and both were fantastic!
- I just spread extra frosting between the two layers of cake, but you can also add a different layer if desired. Fruit jam, caramel sauce, or chocolate ganache would be delicious.
- Allow your cake to cool completely before icing it — you don’t want the frosting to melt.
