Chocolate Fudge Cake

This chocolate fudge cake has a light, fluffy, moist crumb and rich, fudgy buttercream icing, making it a chocolate lovers’ dream. Great for so many special occasions!

I made this cake for my father in-law’s 80th birthday and let’s just say it was a great success. Everyone really enjoyed its moist cake layers and the rich chocolate fudgy buttercream. The addition of honeycomb shards just gave it that wow factor. I am not a professional cake maker, but this cake is so easy and quick to make, I recommend it for any occasion.

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing what you think! And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me @thegourmetlarder or hashtag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram or Facebook. I love seeing what you’ve been baking! 🙂

---

RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS

• EASE: easy.
• FREE FROM: check out my substitutions section for gluten-free, sugar-free and vegan options.
• GREAT FOR: weekend baking, birthdays, friends and family visiting.
• TASTE & TEXTURE: moist chocolate sponge layers with a rich chocolate fudge buttercream and crisp honeycomb shards.
• SERVING: great on its own or with a little whipped cream on the side.
• QUANTITY: 16 slices, three-tier 20cm (8″) layer cake or a two-tier 24cm (9.5″) sandwich cake.
• TIME: 45 minutes, plus 1 hour chilling.

---

---

INGREDIENTS

For this recipe all you need are these ingredients:

• Plain (all-purpose) flour – adds structure.

• Cocoa powder – adds a rich chocolate flavour and builds structure. I prefer to use unsweetened cocoa powder, natural cocoa works better as it hasn’t been neutralised. Meaning the cocoa still contains its original acidity which reacts with the bicarbonate of soda and helps the cake to be light.

Cocoa recommendations: Dr. Oetker fine dark cocoa powder or not as dark – Sevenhills wholefoods organic cacao powder

• Soft light brown sugar (muscovado) – adds a sweet, caramelised depth to the cake.

• Caster sugar – for structure and sweetness.

• Bicarbonate of soda / baking soda – is a chemical raising agent. When it comes into contact with the vinegar in this recipe, it expands and creates a light and airy cake batter prior to baking.

• Baking powder – is also a chemical leavening agent, which increases the volume of the ingredients, creating a nice light texture during baking.

• Neutral tasting oil (sunflower, vegetable) – makes the cake moist, when the cake is chilled it will not firm up like butter.

• Eggs – create structure and taste, use room temperature eggs for best results.

• Milk or plant-based alternative – this cake needs lots of moisture and the milk adds flavour too. If you want, you can also use buttermilk.

• Hot water or hot coffee – We use hot water or coffee to break down the protein of the flour, this gives the cake a nice crumb. If you go with hot coffee, which you really don’t taste that much, it helps bring the chocolate taste out.

• White vinegar – I use white vinegar as it has a slightly higher acidity level than apple vinegar, meaning that it reacts more with the bicarbonate of soda in the cake batter. If you only have apple vinegar it will also work to some degree, just not as well.

• Dark chocolate – is used to create the ultimate chocolate fudgy buttercream that is deliciously rich and creamy. It is also used to create the chocolate drip around the edge for decoration.

Chocolate recommendations: bars – Lindt Excellence dark 70% bar 100g, Montezuma’s darkside 51% bar 90g, Menier dark cooking chocolate 100g, Green and Black’s Organic dark Chocolate 100g, 1kg bags – Callebaut dark chocolate, Callebaut milk chocolate, Callebaut white chocolate.

• Icing sugar – is ideal for making the buttercream as it is nice and fine, meaning we don’t get a gritty finish.

• Milk (or cream) – helps to thin the buttercream, making it more pliable and easier to frost the cake.

• Salt – I highly recommend adding a good pinch of salt to your chocolate cakes. It might seem a bit weird, but it actually has the incredible ability to enhance sweetness, suppress bitterness, and elevate the flavour of chocolate, making your cake taste even better. It’s pretty crazy, the sodium in the salt sends signals to move glucose into your tongue’s sweet taste receptors, making the sweetness really pop. So, don’t be afraid to sprinkle a little salt – it’ll take your cakes to the next level!
  I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt, but any good quality sea salt is fine.

---

SUBSTITUTIONS

While I am making recommendations for alternative ingredients, I haven’t necessarily tried them. If you try making any adaptions, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.

GLUTEN-FREE OPTION

• Flour: replace the gluten flour with a 1:1 alternative gluten free flour, such as Doves Farm Free plain gluten free flour. As this type of flour does not contain much protein you do not need to use a hot liquid in the recipe. Simply use room temperature water or coffee for the batter.

SUGAR-FREE AND LOW-CALORIE OPTIONS

• Sugar-free or calorie reduced options: try alternatives such as coconut sugar, honey, natural erythritol, xylitol, stevia or fructooligosaccharide powder instead. There are also sweetener mixes available, that are 70% calorie reduced and low in carb.

• Brown sugar suggestions: Pure Via Baker’s soft brown sugar or Sukrin Gold’s natural brown sugar alternative.

VEGAN OPTIONS

• Chocolate: There are now quite a few brands making vegan chocolate to choose from, such as these bars – Lindt classic milk chocolate, Ombar 55% coco mylk, Ombar 72% dark chocolate, Happi plain oat milk, Happi white chocolate, Montezuma’s Fitzroy 74% dark cocoa.

• Cream: I recommend the Coconut Collaborative double cream or Elmlea plant based double cream.

• Butter: I recommend Naturli vegan block or Flora plant-based block butter alternative.

---

WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

• Alternative flavoured chocolate – flavoured chocolates can add a surprising taste to the butter cream. I practically like orange or raspberry.

Flavoured recommendations: Lindt Excellence dark orange or Raspberry chocolate bar

---

NUTRITION

---

STORAGE AND FREEZING

This cake will keep in the fridge for 5 days – if it lasts that long!

Pre-prep stages – allows you to make some of the components of this recipe in advance.

• Cake – bake the sponges and then wrap them individually once cooled. They can then be placed in the fridge for up to 2 days or frozen up to 2 months.
• Chocolate fudge buttercream – can be prepared 2-3 days in advance and kept in the fridge. When required bring to room temperature and beat with an electric hand whisk to create a nice smooth creamy frosting which can then be used to spread onto the cake.

Freezing: The frosted cake freezes well for up to 2 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge, then bring to room temperature before serving. (If using, honeycomb is best made the day before or on the day to ensure it remains crunchy.)

---

---

TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

Here is some kitchen equipment that I use and recommend for this recipe.

• Breville Classic Combo Stand and Hand Mixer | 3.7 Litre Stainless Steel Bowl | Swivel Control, Whisk, Dough Hooks and Beaters

I like this model of electric hand mixer because it comes with a large stand, meaning you don’t have to always hold it.

• Silicone Spatulas, Heat Resistant, Non-Stick Coating with Steel core, (3PCS)

These spatulas are so useful for baking. I use them everyday and not just for baking. Good rigid handles, excellent for scraping out bowls, dishes and frying pans. The large spatula is not flat, it has a raised centre, which makes it very strong.

• Springform Round Cake Pan/Tin, Loose Base 20cm (8 inch)

These springform pans make removing cakes from them after baking a doddle. I personally tend to line them as often as possible to ensure that my cakes don’t break for added security.

Please check out my Shop for a curated collection of some of my favourite baking equipment. The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.

---

RECIPE TIPS

Room temperature ingredients – to ensure that the ingredients blend together smoothly and are easier to work with, I highly recommend removing chilled ingredients from the fridge a couple of hours prior to using them, so they can come to room temperature.

Lining the springform or sandwich pan – I recommend lining your pan with baking / parchment paper, as the sponges are very moist and fragile.

---