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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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.
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)
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
I would use 1.5x the recipe, and split into three tins!
So an extra half of the recipe I presume you mean? Also would you recommend vanilla butter cream or white ganache to cover it? ☺️
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.
The cake is for Saturday if I made the sponge Thursday would that be too early ?
No that should be fine!
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 🙂
It will have a different taste (less deep/chocolatey) and might be slightly different texture x
Hi Jane! My cakes have sunk 🙁 will they taste okay? What do you recommend I do? x
That just means they needed longer in the oven, but they should taste fine!
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
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
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.
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
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
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
10/10. Would recommend to anyone. I make it all the time now.
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.
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?
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
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
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
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.
Yes you can!! xx
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
I would just add orange extract as the cocoa content of dark terry’s isn’t dark enough xx
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.
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
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
You can’t taste the coffee as mentioned on the post – it really does just make it taste more chocolatey.