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A moist chocolate fudge cake sponge, topped & filled with THE BEST chocolate frosting you will ever make!

So let me introduce to you the only chocolate fudge cake recipe that you are ever going to need. I realise saying that this contains the BEST chocolate frosting ever is quite a statement, but I honestly think it is – its so delicious! I also realised after my Facebook requests post that I hadn’t actually posted my go-to chocolate cake recipe!

This recipe is what I’d make a bruce cake out of to make a Matilda cake, it’s the cake I would use when I am craving chocolate, it’s the recipe I would use if you want something epic and indulgent – it is epic. 

A classic bake

When I posted my recipe for my Victoria sponge – celebration cake I knew you all loved the classics, so I hope this suits well too! However, this cake is so much more indulgent. You can easily make a chocolate version of my Victoria sponge, but this is definitely more dense, and more chocolatey. It’s basically heaven in a bite.

This is the sort of cake that you want to have a slice, and then shove it all in your face. Yes its gooey, and has many more ingredients then you think it probably should have, but it is WORTH IT. Honestly, worth it. It also does seem a little faffy, but again.. its worth it!

Layering it up with the best frosting on the planet, and you will want to devour every single crumb. Because of how it bakes however, it can often take a long time in the oven, and even sometimes less. It’s all down to the mixing!

The cake mix

This recipe will sound like a lot of ingredients, but it’s worth it. Melt the chocolate and butter, and then mix everything into one big bowl… you don’t need a mixer for this bit. 

  • Chocolate – when making this, you want to use dark chocolate in the mixture for best results. I always use 70%+
  • Butter – unsalted butter, or baking spread, will work for the sponges 
  • Coffee – this is mentioned below, but trust me… 
  • Flour – I use plain flour, as your raising agents come elsewhere so you don’t need self raising flour. It’ll make the sponge too delicate 
  • Cocoa – I like my cake super chocolatey, so I add this in as well as the chocolate 
  • Raising agents – baking powder, and bicarbonate of soda for this beauty of a cake 
  • Sugar – a mixture of brown sugar and caster sugar is wonderful – all of one, or all of the other works perfectly though 
  • Eggs – I use medium eggs in my baking, but 3 large would work instead of 4 medium 
  • Buttermilk – this is an important ingredient – you can make your own though with 1tsp of lemon juice mixed into 75ml milk 

Coffee

Chocolate cake is one of those classics that you don’t want to mess with, but sometimes they can be terrible, or not chocolatey enough, or just not moist enough. I have seen over the past few months that people use coffee or instant coffee in a chocolate cake of forms to make the cake more moist and chocolatey – so I tried this!

I personally cannot taste the coffee, and neither could my family – however, If you don’t like coffee, or never buy it then no worries – you can use just water, but the depth of flavour might not be the same!! Please please PLEASE trust in using the coffee though – I really am sure that you will love it! It just makes it basically the best sponge ever!!!

The BEST EVER frosting

The magical ingredient in the chocolate frosting is the evaporated milk – I discovered this after trawling through the internet for hours on end and found a couple of mentions that it might be better – and holy smokes it was.

  • Butter – for this frosting, you MUST use a block butter. You do not want to use any form of spread 
  • Sugar – icing sugar, as always
  • Cocoa – a nice rich cocoa powder is best, I use a 100% cocoa powder 
  • Vanilla – a little bit of vanilla, as always again 
  • Evaporated milk – this is so important. Condensed milk is not a substitute, if you can’t get evaporated milk, add double cream whipped in really well, but it’s still not quite the same 

Tips & tricks 

I do NOT use an electric mixer for this cake recipe, because it will most likely over do it. I just do each bit by hand, and then fold it all together to get a thick fudge cake that bakes to perfection. However, a mixer is good for the frosting side of things! 

It is very soft, so it can be difficult if you want to spread the cake in buttercream, so I find its easier just to make layers. If you do want to cover it, you’ll need to refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes to firm it slightly first, and it’ll be easier

Chocolate Fudge Cake with the BEST Chocolate Frosting Ever!

A moist chocolate fudge cake sponge, topped & filled with THE BEST chocolate frosting you will ever make!
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Category: Cake
Type: Chocolate
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Cooling Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 14 Slices
Author: Jane's Patisserie

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

  • 225 g dark chocolate
  • 225 g unsalted butter
  • 1 tbsp instant coffee granules
  • 125 ml boiling water
  • 175 g plain flour
  • 25 g cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 200 g white/golden caster sugar
  • 200 g light brown sugar
  • 4 medium eggs
  • 75 ml buttermilk

Chocolate Frosting

  • 250 g unsalted butter (not stork)
  • 500 g icing sugar
  • 50 g cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 100-125 ml evaporated milk

Decorations

  • Sprinkles
  • Anything!

Instructions

For the Cake!

  • Preheat the oven to 160ºc/140ºc fan and grease & line two 8″/20cm cake tins – leave to the side.
  • In a heatproof bowl, microwave the dark chocolate & butter until melted
  • Pour the coffee granules into the boiling water and mix – add the coffee to the chocolate/butter mix and stir well until smooth!
  • In a separate large bowl add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarb, sugars and mix well so the ingredients are all mixed with each other well
  • Mix the eggs with the buttermilk – and then add all the ingredients together and stir
  • Pour the mixture into the two tins and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes (can take a little longer in some ovens)
  • Once baked leave to cool in the tin and remove afterwards

For the Frosting!

  • With an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until its very smooth and supple (couple of minutes)
  • Gradually add the icing sugar & cocoa powder alternatively with the evaporated milk until all is incorporated and add the vanilla essence – beat for a couple of minutes so its extra smooth & creamy.
  • The more evaporated milk you add the more runny it’ll be, and I have found about 100ml-125ml is perfect for me! If it's a little hotter weather however, you may find you need less!

For the Decoration!

  • Decorate your cake how you like and ENJOY! I spread half my buttercream on the first cake, add the second sponge and repeat!
  • And then I sprinkle on all sorts of sprinkles!

Notes

ENJOY!

Find my other Cake Recipes on my Recipes Page!

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J x

© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.

607 Comments

  1. Amanda on October 30, 2020 at 12:34 pm

    Hi!
    I’m planning on making this for my sisters birthday but I’ve only got 9” round tins. Would I need to change the recipe amounts by much?
    Thank you!

    • Jane's Patisserie on October 30, 2020 at 1:33 pm

      I usually say increase the recipe by about 1/3! X



    • Amanda on October 30, 2020 at 3:24 pm

      Thank you! X



  2. Kerry Littler on October 25, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    5 stars
    I made a 3 tier , should have been 4 but one broke ooops ! Decided it was easier to put the cream in and put the next layer on upside down and remove the baking paper for the next layer in situ, no breakages !! Topped it with Ferraro Rocher and Choc covered strawberries, soooo indulgent !!

  3. amy cheau on October 25, 2020 at 8:55 am

    Hi Jane. I made this cake over the weekend and it was superb! However I baked in 3 x 6 inch tins and was surprised it took me 50 mins at fan 140 deg. Should it take this long and I am wondering if I should up the temperature next time ? I did have a tin filled with water at bottom of oven to help keep cake moist and wondering if this affected the bake ? Thanks

    • Jane's Patisserie on October 25, 2020 at 8:45 pm

      It is a fudge cake so it does take longer some times, but you definitely do not need the water in the oven x



  4. Niccy on October 21, 2020 at 4:30 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Jane,

    This recipe is absolutely amazing! Received many compliments for this one!

    I would like to make 3, 6 inch cakes, how would i go about this?

    • Jane's Patisserie on October 21, 2020 at 4:40 pm

      Hey! So glad you like it!! If you wanted the cakes to be about the same depth, I would split the mix as it is between three tins! x



  5. Amy on October 19, 2020 at 10:42 pm

    Hi Jane- I love making this cake and is probably the best chocolate cake I make!

    I’m making my sister in laws wedding cake this weekend and wanted to use this on the bottom and then stack a 6 inch Victoria sponge on top- would you say it’s too delicate to do this?!

    Thank you in advance

    Xx

    • Jane's Patisserie on October 20, 2020 at 8:31 am

      It would be fine, as long as it is dowelled correctly. It is definitely a softer sponge than I would use for a tiered cake, but as long as it’s done correctly there is no reason it won’t work! x



  6. Taylor Jackson on October 19, 2020 at 7:47 pm

    Hi Jane! Can I make the frosting without the cocoa powder (so just a normal buttercream) and still add the evaporated milk ? Do you think it will taste okay ?

    • Jane's Patisserie on October 20, 2020 at 8:26 am

      It won’t work the exact same – cocoa powder is quite drying so it works really well, without you’d need probably half or less of the evaporated milk x



    • Lisa on February 24, 2022 at 10:13 pm

      Sponge tasted delicious!! but I tried this 3 different times to try and suit a deepish sponge 6inch, each time they all came out so raw!
      Have you got a recommended temp and time for a deep 6 inch sponge with this recipe?



  7. Stephanie on October 11, 2020 at 9:24 pm

    5 stars
    Thank you so much for posting this recipe Jane! This is now my go-to-never-fail chocolate cake. My family and friends love it so much that my sister-in-law even requested it for her wedding cake! I made a three-layer 6-inch version (it was only a small gathering). I have only gotten compliments from all your recipes I’ve made. Thanks again!

  8. Marina on October 7, 2020 at 8:40 pm

    Hi Jane,

    I’m looking to make this for my mother in laws birthday, however after ready the comments I’m slightly worried about the sponge being too delicate. Do you think it would turn out ok as a tall three layer 9inch cake, with normal buttercream, decorated with chocolates on top? Or would that be too heavy for the sponge?

    Also, I like to do practise runs as I’m not very confident. If I was to make a 1 9inch layer, would halving the ingredients work?

    Many thanks!

    • Jane's Patisserie on October 8, 2020 at 9:38 am

      The sponge is delicate, but, if you refrigerate the sponge to firm it up before decorating it will be completely fine! Leave the cakes to cool in the tin fully, and then refrigerate for a few hours – it won’t dry them out enough to cause any issues, it will just make it easier to decorate!

      9″ tins are about 1/3 bigger in volume, so you wouldn’t want to halve it as it would be very thin xx



  9. Seher Akbar on October 3, 2020 at 11:40 pm

    Hey Jane, the recipe sounds amazing. If I were to make this as a three layer 6” cake, how would the recipe vary? Xx

    • Jane's Patisserie on October 4, 2020 at 9:56 am

      I would probably split the mix between three 6″ tins as it is – and make a few cupcakes if you have any leftover mix!



  10. Sadia on September 29, 2020 at 8:23 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Jane,
    I was just wondering if you could link which cake tins you use to bake your layers as there is so much choice out there and after reading so many reviews I’m a little confused. Thank you in advance. X

    • Jane's Patisserie on September 30, 2020 at 9:36 am

      I’m working on a post just for that – I use a few different ones but it will be worth the wait! x



  11. Laura on September 27, 2020 at 3:32 pm

    I haven’t been able to get golden caster sugar or light brown sugar from the shop. Would normal caster sugar and dark brown sugar work by any chance? Thanks!

  12. Rachel on September 27, 2020 at 9:45 am

    5 stars
    Hi Jane, I’ve just made this cake, it tastes amazing, however it’s broken apart when I’ve taken it out of the tin. I did leave it to cool for 10mins in the tin, and I put a skewer in the centre to check it was baked, any idea where I’ve gone wrong? Thank you 🙂

    • Jane's Patisserie on September 27, 2020 at 9:56 am

      The sponge is very soft, especially when warm, so it may have just been too warm still and broke apart! So sorry for the problem x



  13. Hannah on September 26, 2020 at 9:39 am

    Hello,
    I was wondering if this type of icing is okay to pipe ? Or is it to running for that ? Thanks 🙂

    • Jane's Patisserie on September 26, 2020 at 12:07 pm

      If you have a look at the cupcake version of this recipe it can pipe – but that relies on using the correct type of butter, and not adding too much evaporated milk! x



  14. Sadia on September 23, 2020 at 11:20 am

    Hi Jane,
    I tried this recipe out yesterday and baked the whole mixture in a 9inch baking tin, I baked it at 160•C for nearly double the time. The cake tasted good however is it meant to have a brownie like crust on the top of the cake, or did I do something wrong? I baked a second cake again using the whole batter in the same cake tin at the same temperature but for less time and it still had a crust. The frosting and cake is definitely a winner, thank you for your lovely recipes.

    Sadia

    • Jane's Patisserie on September 24, 2020 at 9:19 am

      It is a large amount of batter for one tin, and for that length of time – it will have a different feel. If you bake into the tins it’s designed for it doesn’t have as much of a hard top – but these are chocolate fudge cakes so the texture is different to a regular sponge x



  15. Shreya on September 22, 2020 at 12:14 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Jane,
    . Thanks for the recipe. Can I follow this recipe to make cupcakes instead? If not the sponge cake, can the frosting recipe work as a cupcake frosting?

    Appreciate your inputs.

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