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Rating: 5 stars As a cake decorator, I've tried a lot of different "doctored cake mix" recipes. This is one of the best I've tried. I love how it only takes 1 cup of sour cream (others take 2 cups). Don't be afraid to add the full amount of oil---it's cake! I prefer using mini chocolate chips, and they add a lot to the recipe. The little ones don't "sink" to the bottom of the cake pan AND are small enough to melt completely, leaving a small bit of pure chocolate in each bite. I will be using this recipe from now on. Thumb Up Helpful (4257)

Rating: 4 stars Cut the calories and this cake still tastes awesome. I used Sugar free pudding mix, fat free sour cream, unsweetened applesauce instead of oil, and egg whites... you'd never know it was ~200 less calories/slice. It was very moist and chocolaty which is hard to find when you use the "healthier" options. Thumb Up Helpful (2796)

Rating: 5 stars Very, very moist, rich cake. Followed recipe exactly. This is going to become a standard at our house. Perfect with a dusting of powdered sugar and a cold glass of milk. I can definitely see where this one won the award! Update 8/20/06 - have made this recipe many, many times now for parties and get-togethers. It ALWAYS receives rave reviews. I have experimented with different flavors of cake mixes/pudding/chips and had wonderful results. Fudge cake/choc pudding/choc mint chips. Carmel cake/butterscotch pudding/butterscotch chips. Cherry cake mix/vanilla pudding/cherry chips. Fudge cake/choc pudding/peanut butter chips (this one was awesome!). This is my standard cake now I make for everything. Thanks so much for sharing this with us. Thumb Up Helpful (2496)

Rating: 5 stars Delicious! I made this for my mom's birthday and it was a big hit! Slight changes: I used a dark chocolate fudge cake mix, with 1/2 cup veg. oil and 1/3 cup milk (to help with the batter consistency), and 1 cup of chocolate chips. I baked it in a bundt cake pan at 335 degrees for 55-60 min. It turned out perfectly! Very rich and moist, but not at all wet or 'crispy' on the outside edges. Let it cool for an hour in the pan, then removed and drizzled the Satiny Chocolate Glaze from this site over it, garnished with strawberries and powdered sugar. Great presentation and great rich, chocolate taste. I would bake this again! I'll have a picture up soon. Update (10/24): Was wondering if anyone had used this recipe for cupcakes? Wasn't sure how the recipe would hold up when baked in a smaller size. Thanks! Thumb Up Helpful (967)

Rating: 5 stars I was hesitant because I always cook from scratch. But I've had so much trouble lately with getting my chocolate cakes moist because of the high altitude I'm at, so I'll try anything. It turned out perfect. I cooked it in 9" cake pans for a birthday cake filled it with raspberry & frosted with chocolate buttercream. Everyone raved about it, and it was so moist. I used the mini chocolate chips and they were perfect, melted totally. My husband said it was almost like a brownie cake. Great for decorating because it holds it shape and doesn't crumble. It will be my standard chocolate cake recipe, can't wait to try it again with different fillings and frostings. Yum!!! Thumb Up Helpful (587)

Rating: 4 stars I had to make a second cake. The recipe has too much oil and would not cook completely without the outside being overdone. Cooked it again with 1/2 the oil and it was great. Thumb Up Helpful (581)

Rating: 5 stars I made this for family for Valentine's Day. I did use 3/4 C. oil as suggested. I replaced the h2o with strong coffee and used a bag (11.5 oz.) of Ghirardelli's 60% cocoa bittersweet chocolate chips. I used 1 round and 1 8x8 pan so that I could cut the round cake in half and push it against 2 of the squares sides to form a heart. These baked perfectly at 330 for 45 minutes. I topped it with whipped cream and strawberries I dipped in chocolate. This made a good sized heart cake that was devoured in 2 nights. It was so rich and chocolate-y that we could not keep our hands off of it. Thank you for the fabulous recipe! Thumb Up Helpful (541)

Rating: 5 stars Thanks for posting this recipe, Denise. It's a keeper for me. I can say that for me, it is just almost too much chocolate cake. I love that this cake is guaranteed to rise and have a fine texture due to the cake and pudding mixes yet it is lifted from being 'just a cake mix' by the addition of sour cream and the chocolate chips. I found this cake very easy to make and it was a blessing in disguise that the top of the cake rose above the rim of my tin. When the cake cooled, I was able to cut a perfectly flat base for the cake.. and thus sample the cake warm. It was bliss when eaten with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. I followed reccommendations of other reviewers by cutting the oil to 1/2 cup, adding 1/3 cup milk and cutting back the chocolate chips to about 1 1/4 cups, or a large bag of chocolate chips in Australian brands. I agree that this cake is enough without a glaze, but as I'm making this for a birthday (mine!!) - I will be topping it with the Satiny Chocolate Glaze from this website. This is a great recipe to have when you need a special cake quickly and with the minimum of fuss. Two thumbs up! I am sure the chocoholics in my family will polish this up tonight. Thumb Up Helpful (478)

Rating: 5 stars This chocolate cake is phenomenal! I have been making this for about 2 years now for many, many different occasions, and it always gets rave reviews. I usually make the cake in regular cake pans, slice the cakes in half lengthwise, and spread seedless raspberry preserves on each cut half. Then I place the layers back together and frost the cake sides, top, and between each cake with "Chocolate Fudge Buttercream Frosting" (also on this site). Chocolate doesn't get any better than this! Thanks, Denise for such a wonderful chocolate cake recipe! Thumb Up Helpful (445)