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
© 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.
Hello. I made this as a three tier for father’s day and it was fab. Would it work as cupcakes? Thinking of doing them for my son’s birthday party. Would I need to change anything? Thanks!
Yes I’m sure it would! It’s quite a moist mix so beware of certain cupcake cases peeling! X
Hi Jane. Since my oven is a small one, can I just bake it in an 8″ round cake pan & when done, just divide the cake into 2? At what temperature should my oven be & to bake for how long?
Hiya! You definitely could! I would still bake it at the same temperature, but just for much longer. I’ve never baked it in one tin, but I can imagine it would take more than an hour in the oven because its so fudgey x
Thx Jane for your fast reply😊
Hi I just made this cake for my brothers birthday. It was rising nicely in the oven then it sunk 🙁 It seemed bit crispy on top in the middle and more spongy on the outside. I followed the recipe precisely. Any idea why? (It sunk in the oven)
Hey! If you opened the oven earlier than 3/4 of the way through the baking time, that would probably be it. Otherwise it might not have been baked properly, maybe if the oven temperature was off. x
Thank you for the reply. Didn’t open oven until 35 mins but it had sunk before then. Gutted as I did everything so carefully to make sure it would be ok. Think I can blame oven as I just tried turning it on and it didn’t turn on first try! Maybe it is on its way out. Will have to try again in another oven 🙂
Hi I would like to use this recipe for a wedding anniversary cake and cover it in fondant do you think it will be suitable for this?
It’s a very moist and soft cake so I wouldn’t say its the best for covering and stacking, it might be worth using a normal cake sponge and then maybe the frosting?
I made this for my girlfriend’s birthday. It was the first proper cake I’ve ever baked by myself, and it turned out fantastic! It’s extremely rich and decadent, and I highly recommend it. Thanks for the recipe. 🙂
Hi there. Firstly I want to say that this cake was amazing!! Very moist and so chocolatey!! U mentioned in your comments that’s this was a light sponge.. .. the consistency of mine was almost like a brownie??? Did i do something wrong?? Thanks x
It might be that your cake mixture was slightly over mixed, but sometimes it can come out that way purely by chance depending even on the oven!
Hi Jane, thank you so much for all your recipes. My niece and I have made a few of them and we have so much fun. Looking forward to making this cake as I’ve been searching for a good recipe for ages. Just wanted to check if it would be ok to split the recipe in half? Thanks again xx
Do you mean to just make one layer of the cake? It should be okay but I’ve never personally tried it! x
Sorry I meant would it be ok to use half the recipe…so still 2 layers but a smaller cake. Thanks xx
You can do but the sponges are already quite thin so I wouldn’t recommend it! X
Aww ok thank you 😊 xx
Love your recipes. Do you have to refridgerate cake before frosting ? Doesn’t putting a cake in the fridge dry it out ? Do u think that would be enough frosting to cover the sides too ? Thanks
It is just advised to put it in for half an hour or so which wouldn’t dry the cake out. And yes it should be plenty of frosting.
Made it yesterday absolutely delicious
What kind of nozzle do you use to pip the buttercream in the middle of the cake?, does it matter what size it is? Also, I only own a hand mixer will this still be okay to mix the buttercream instead of a paddle attachment??
I use a Medium 2D closed star, sizing just literally changes the sizes of the swirls so I always stick to medium size. And yes a hand mixer will still work.
Hi Jane, I’m going to attempt to make this cake for my little nephews birthday. I was planning on covering the whole cake with buttercream, shall I just double the ingredients for the frosting, would that be enough to cover the whole cake and for some swirls on top? Thanks!
Hiya! Yes doubling would be good. I would also recommend keeping an eye on the amount of evaporated milk as it can be quite a slack frosting, so cover the sides it could be a little soft. Therefore you might need less than double the amount.
Brilliant thank you! I’m so excited to make the cake!!
So I thought I had better to do a trial and I am so glad I did as one of the cakes sunk a little. Strange as I thought I had divided the mixture equally into the tins. I guess I’ll just have to bake them a little longer next time. Also the frosting was delicious but a little sloppy, shall I skip the evaporated milk next time to make it a little more stiff? The end result looked amazing and my hubby devoured the cake, I just need to perfect it for the birthday boy. Thank you
Just use a little less evaporated milk next time, or add in more icing sugar. And yes, if one worked fine then it probably was a little uneven – but also ovens can bake differently depending on where a cake is placed inside them.
This icing is my absolute favourite and I would like to make a vanilla version.. should I just add vanilla extract and substitute the cocoa powder for extra icing sugar?? Thank youuu!! Xx
Hiya – It will just turn into a coffee cake. There isn’t a suitable way to convert it as its really designed for a chocolate style cake, and the icing sugar wouldn’t work in place. The chocolate is a large part of the recipe so you can’t simply remove it. x
Just to clarify, it will still be the same chocolate cake but I would just like to have blue icing on it (therefore I wouldn’t be able to use the cocoa powder..)
You would have to add at least 100g of icing sugar in place of the cocoa powder, as it is designed really to be used with the cocoa powder. Cocoa powder naturally thickens substances like these frostings, so you need double the amount in placement. It might still be a little soft.
Hi Jane, I’ve made this cake as per recipe but was going to make it in two 7inch tins, would that be okay? And just leave it in the oven a little longer?
Yeah that should be perfect!
I really enjoyed making this! I found that when it came to frosting the cake it was very crumbly and it ended up losing big chunks 🙁
Sometimes you need to refrigerate it as suggested to prevent this ? the sponge is so soft it can happen.
Would this work with self raising flour as I always have trouble with plain flour chocolate cakes
I really would recommend using Plain Flour because of the type of cake it is. You don’t need the extra raising agent from the Self Raising Flour.
I need 4 layers of 8 inches, should I just double up? Xx
Yeah! x