Chocolate Fudge Cake with the BEST Chocolate Frosting ever!
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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
- This cake will last for 3-4+ days at room temp
- You can freeze this cake for 3+ months
- I use this cocoa powder
- I use this dark chocolate
- I use these cake tins for this bake


Chocolate Fudge Cake with the BEST Chocolate Frosting Ever!
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
- This cake will last for 3-4+ days at room temp
- You can freeze this cake for 3+ months
- I use this cocoa powder
- I use this dark chocolate
- I use these cake tins for this bake
ENJOY!
Find my other Cake Recipes on my Recipes Page!
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J x
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I just love this fudge cake and it baked beautifully but after leaving it in the tins to cool I went to turn them out on a cooling rack and they started to break can you tell me why please? I know it’s a very delicate cake but surely it shouldn’t break when handling. I followed the recipe exactly and used all the same ingredients as stated. Baked at 140c for 40 mins
Genuinely, it is that delicate that until it has set with frosting on it etc it could crumble a bit if held incorrectly etc. It’s best to chill the sponges for a bit to make it easier if you struggle xx
Hi Jane! Is it possible to swap out the plain flour with gluten free flour & xantham gum to make it gluten free? If so, what would be the measurements? Thanks!
Hi Jane
I want to make this but for three 10 inch cakes. as part of wedding cake! (choc, carrot and red velv)
American buttercream will cover the whole cake – do you think it’s ok to do individual buttercreams for each cake? Choc for choc, cream cheese for other two?
Thanks!
is there anyway to make this orange flavour?
You can add orange zest or extract!
Hi, When i take the cake out of the tin slightly cooled there’s a dent at the bottom as if there was an air bubble, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong possibly overmixing?Thanks so much love this recipe xx
I love this cake and recipe – it goes down a treat with my family all the time!
I’m looking to make a smaller version for someone’s birthday – would halving the ingredients in the recipe be suitable to spread over two 6 inch tins instead please? If not, what would you recommend and what would you advise on cooking time please?
Thank you! X
If you look under the heading before the recipe it says slices: 14! You can change that to suit.
Make cup cakes with the left over batter when you’ve put it in your 6 inch tins ,you can freeze them wrapped in cling wrap then in an air tight container
To convert an 8 inch tin recipe to 6 inch you multiply the ingredients by 0.56 x
Hiya,
I have followed the above recipe and used 2x 8ich/ 20cm cake tins but the batter has gone over the sides and it’s only 15 mins into baking. What do I do?
Thanks,
Harriet
This sounds like your tins are too shallow!
Hi Jane, I have just put this cake in the oven and realised that I have used salted butter instead of unsalted! Will it make a huge difference to the taste? X
Hi, i took the cake out of the pan and there was a dent in the bottom as of there was an air bubble sunken in. I don’t know what i did wrong possibility over mixing, love this recipe thanks x
I don’t have instant coffee, just freshly ground coffee. Could I use 125ml of this black coffee?
Yes, as long as it’s strong!
Hi Jane – I’ve made cakes (square for Minecraft theme) but want to cover the sides. – how much extra icing would I need for this? (23 cms square)
Hey! this cake sounds amazing! Will Dutch pressed cocoa work okay or does it need to be different? Trying to work out if I can use other ingredients i have in the house.
Hi can I freeze the sponge as need to make in advance and if so how would you store for best outcome please. I would like to make it a week in advance.
Yes you can! I always double wrap sponges in clingfilm, and then foil, and freeze!
The cake fell apart….. never happened to me before. Went?
Hey! In what way do you mean? It’s a delicate sponge so you need to be careful with it when moving it about x
Wanting to make this over the weekend for my daughter’s 3rd birthday. Can you help me adapt this for two 6 inch tins. How do I adapt the cooking time ? Do I need baking bands? Will it be the same temp?
Thanks in advance! X
Hi how would I make this into a 3 layer? I have 3 x 8” tins
Please help! I’ve just made this for my daughter’s birthday in 2 days and it’s come out like a brownie. It’s extremely fragile, didn’t rise much in the tin and seems quite gooey. I’m not sure where I went wrong. I followed the recipe exactly and am usually pretty successful at baking! It is possible I under-mixed it? I was worried about over mixing so maybe I mixed to little….
Hiya! This can be because of under mixing but also under baking – this is a denser cake as it’s a fudge cake so it won’t be super light x
The boiled water volume is mentioned incorrectly. It is 125 ml for whichever number of slices we select, whether 10 slices or 4 slices or 14 slices. The ingredient list needs to have boiled water in ml adjusted according to the number of slices selected. Water is missing from ingredients and fixed volume of 125 ml has been mentioned as part of the recipe
Hello,
Could the icing be made black? I am looking to create a black icing cake that can also be piped on the top?
Thanks.
Hey Jane!
I never normally leave comments but with this cake I just had to, what a FANTASTIC recipe- thank you so much! The cake was heavenly and the condensed milk addition to the frosting made it just so good. An absolute showstopper, so tasty! Your recipes are always so reliable and I know that they can be trusted for great results. Thanks so much!