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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.

615 Comments

  1. Neha on November 29, 2020 at 3:03 pm

    5 stars
    This cake is insane! Soo chocolatey and incredibly rich. And the buttercream is absolute heaven! I made this in 2 x 9 inch tins and multiplied the ingredients by 1/3 and it needed 50 mins in the oven. Thank you Jane for another amazing recipe.

    • Kelly on February 24, 2021 at 7:27 pm

      I am wanting to make this in 9” tins, could you tell me how much they rise please x



    • Jane's Patisserie on February 25, 2021 at 1:31 pm

      Typically you increase by 1/3 for 9″! X



  2. Eleanor on November 19, 2020 at 7:45 pm

    Hi Jane! I’m wanting to bake this cake for my birthday, it looks gorgeous! I love Nutella so do you think baking this cake but using the Nutella icing from your Nutella cake recipe would be nice or would it be too sickly?

    • Jane's Patisserie on November 20, 2020 at 9:13 am

      The frosting on this recipe is already quite rich, so I wouldn’t say the nutella is going to be any more sickly if that makes sense! But it is all about personal taste xx



  3. Amanda on November 14, 2020 at 12:53 pm

    5 stars
    This cake was absolutely delicious! It went down really well and I’d definitely make it again!

  4. Ella on November 7, 2020 at 9:53 pm

    Hi Jane,
    Would the frosting be enough to fill and cover a 3 layer version? if not, how much should I increase the quantities by?
    Thanks!!

    • Jane's Patisserie on November 8, 2020 at 10:35 am

      I wouldn’t say so personally as this is only two layers. Safe bet would be to use at least 1.5x, if not double… but be aware it’s not that firm so it won’t be a perfect smooth finish if that’s what you are after x



  5. Amy on November 7, 2020 at 6:16 pm

    5 stars
    I have quite honestly waited years to find this recipe. So delicious, thank you. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes.

  6. Tel on November 6, 2020 at 2:52 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Jane!

    I absolutely love this recipe. I was wondering if I was to make this into a 10” cake with 3 layers, how much should I multiply the recipe by? Thanks in advance x

    • Jane's Patisserie on November 6, 2020 at 3:09 pm

      So usually I would say to increase the recipe to 1.6x if you just wanted the bigger tins, but because you want an extra layer I would maybe double the recipe? x



  7. 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



  8. 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 !!

  9. 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



  10. 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



  11. 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



  12. 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?



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