*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details!*

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!
Print Pin Rate
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!

You can find me on:
Instagram
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
Youtube

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. Teyanne on September 15, 2020 at 10:54 pm

    Hi Jane,

    If the two tins don’t fit in the same oven, and I bake one at a time; does this alter the time spent cooking and the temperature needed of the oven?
    Also, if I want to cover sides would you recommend doubling the frosting?

    Many Thanks.

    • Jane's Patisserie on September 16, 2020 at 8:46 am

      No the timings should still be the same, and the temperature. And you probably only need 1.5x the frosting (but you MUST use block butter otherwise it won’t hold up on the sides)



  2. Jill on September 14, 2020 at 1:33 pm

    Hey Jane 👋 I’m looking to make this j to a 3 layer 8” cake as it’s for a birthday and need it a bit bigger. How much extra ingredients would I need ?
    Thanks 😊 x

    • Jane's Patisserie on September 14, 2020 at 8:12 pm

      I would use 1.5x the recipe, and split into three tins!



    • Jill on September 15, 2020 at 8:41 pm

      So an extra half of the recipe I presume you mean? Also would you recommend vanilla butter cream or white ganache to cover it? ☺️



    • Jane's Patisserie on September 16, 2020 at 8:43 am

      Yes, an extra half. I would use a ganache as it sets much firmer – make sure to chill the cake for about an hour before though as the cake is VERY soft so can be hard to make into a covered cake.



    • Jill on September 16, 2020 at 8:05 pm

      The cake is for Saturday if I made the sponge Thursday would that be too early ?



    • Jane's Patisserie on September 16, 2020 at 9:03 pm

      No that should be fine!



  3. Harriet on September 14, 2020 at 12:04 pm

    Hi, I have just made this cake and put it in the oven. I realised I’ve forgot to add the coffee and water mix… will this be a disaster?! Any advice is much appreciated.
    Thanks 🙂

    • Jane's Patisserie on September 14, 2020 at 1:30 pm

      It will have a different taste (less deep/chocolatey) and might be slightly different texture x



  4. Abbie Giglio on September 12, 2020 at 3:42 pm

    Hi Jane! My cakes have sunk 🙁 will they taste okay? What do you recommend I do? x

    • Jane's Patisserie on September 12, 2020 at 9:02 pm

      That just means they needed longer in the oven, but they should taste fine!



  5. Abby Maguire on September 10, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    Hi Jane, I was hoping to use the cake recipe in this to make a 4 layer pinata cake just because it sounds so much more delicious than a standard chocolate cake. Do you think it would work well or would it be too moist and not good for all over frosting? X

    • Jane's Patisserie on September 11, 2020 at 8:46 am

      It is a very very soft sponge, so it could be difficult. It can work, but you need to chill/freeze the sponges to make them easier to move about more x



  6. Molly on September 9, 2020 at 12:10 pm

    Heya! I’ve just made this and I totally accidentally used evaporated milk in the cake instead of the buttermilk 😭 will it be okay? It’s in the oven baking for a friends birthday! I’m panicking.

    • Jane's Patisserie on September 9, 2020 at 2:27 pm

      The buttermilk is there to help create the texture, make the cake rise, and get the best results because of the acidity and with what buttermilk is. It may not work the same with the evaporated, but I honestly have no idea! x



  7. Amy on September 9, 2020 at 10:35 am

    Hi Jane, I am planning on making the triple chocolate cake this weekend for my partners birthday except I want to use the icing from this recipe! Would you recommend icing the outside and top of that cake with this icing or should I make half the buttercream with evaporated milk for the filling and then the outside without evaporated milk.
    My next question is to fit into my schedule it would be easiest for me to bake it Sunday morning and then ice and decorate the cakes on Monday. Is this something that would cause any issues with the cakes or anything you would recommend?
    Love all of your recipes too by the way! We are all so very excited to try this!!! Xxxxxx

    • Jane's Patisserie on September 9, 2020 at 11:24 am

      Hey! So this frosting (in which you MUST use block butter and not a spread) is still quite soft and can be too soft to decorate the sides of a cake – so generally I would say yes to using it for the filling, and leave out evaporated milk for the outside! And yes you can bake the cakes the day before, just let them cool full and wrap well in clingfilm and leave at room temperature! xx



  8. Lindsay Ferguson on August 31, 2020 at 1:28 pm

    5 stars
    10/10. Would recommend to anyone. I make it all the time now.

  9. Emma on August 23, 2020 at 7:09 pm

    Good tasting cake just on its own. Kids loved it even without icing. It had a very thin papery crisp top layer like a brownie for some reason.

  10. Sam on August 18, 2020 at 10:59 am

    Hey Jane, I’m a little bit confused about the frosting stage. Am I meant to add some icing sugar and cocoa power and then add a little of evaporated milk and then repeat? So is it best to do half of the amounts and then add the other half?

    • Jane's Patisserie on August 18, 2020 at 3:41 pm

      Yes so I list as that, because some people don’t have an electric mixer and this way makes it much easier – if you do have an electric mixer though you can add all the icing sugar/cocoa powder, and then just add the evaporated milk a little at a time x



  11. Olivia on August 17, 2020 at 10:17 am

    5 stars
    Hi Jane

    This cake tasted absolutely incredible!

    unfortunately when I put the top layer on, the whole thing started cracking and the top cake split into 2 and then into 4! Any idea what I could have done wrong?

    It was still thoroughly enjoyed as deliciously chocolatey mess, but I would love to try again just not sure what I did! x

    • Jane's Patisserie on August 17, 2020 at 8:09 pm

      I can only assume it wasn’t being put onto a flat layer, which could easily cause it to crack unfortunately! You need to make sure the layer underneath is flat, along with the frosting, so it can just safely sit on top xx



  12. Stephanie on August 9, 2020 at 2:01 pm

    Hi Jane I’m wondering if you can freeze the frosting as I have lots left over! It’s tastes amazing by the way, thank you for the recipe.

  13. Kelly on August 9, 2020 at 11:07 am

    I made this cake for my mother in laws birthday yesterday. It was incredible she said it’s the best fudge cake she’s ever had. Thank you for the amazing recipe. I’d love to make a chocolate orange version for my mums birthday in a few weeks. How would I best achieve this? Should I swap the dark choc for A dark chocolate orange or maybe just add orange extract to the recipe?

    Many thanks x

    • Jane's Patisserie on August 9, 2020 at 12:23 pm

      I would just add orange extract as the cocoa content of dark terry’s isn’t dark enough xx



  14. Sinal on August 8, 2020 at 10:01 am

    5 stars
    Thank you so much for this recipe Jane! It was delicious and perfect. Me and my family loved it so much that I’m going to make it again for my husband’s birthday. I’m going to switched the 8″round tin for an 8″ square tin – will I need more batter and if so what ratio shall I increase it by. How many serving do you think I’ll get out of an 8″ square? I still want to keep it as a two layer cake (as I only have two the same size). Thank you! And sorry for all the questions.

    • Jane's Patisserie on August 8, 2020 at 11:19 am

      Hey! So typically a round cake is the same volume as a square, but 1″ smaller… so 8″ round = 7″ square. So, as an estimate, an 8″ square would need 1.3x the recipe to still have the same depth of sponge! Baking time will be a bit longer, but other than that just use 1.3x the recipe xx



  15. Romey on August 2, 2020 at 4:34 pm

    Hi I was planning to make this tomorrow, but have noticed one of the ingredients is coffee and the person I am making this for really does not like coffee. Is there any way to remove the coffee and still use this recipe? Thanks, Romey

    • Jane's Patisserie on August 2, 2020 at 6:20 pm

      You can’t taste the coffee as mentioned on the post – it really does just make it taste more chocolatey.



Leave a Comment

Recipe Rating








This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.