Our indulgent dark chocolate cake is the perfect cake of choice for any occasion. This triple-layered cake has beautifully soft chocolate sponges sandwiched together and topped with a rich velvety ganache.
To turn this into an Easter show stopper why not top with gold-coated chocolate eggs to wow your guests.
Find out below how to make our delicious dark chocolate cake and if you love all things chocolate we think you'll love our chocolate cupcakes.
16 ingredients8 steps
Nut Free
Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan / gas mark 4). Grease 3 x 18cm sandwich tins and base line with baking parchment.
Step 2
Sift together the flours, bicarbonate of soda and the cocoa powder into a large bowl. Stir in the dark muscovado sugar, breaking down any sugar clumps until evenly combined.
Step 3
In a small pan set over a very low heat gently combine together the chocolate and butter with 145ml of water. Stir continuously and heat just until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
Step 4
Add the melted chocolate mixture, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix well to a combined and smooth batter. Divide the batter evenly between the 3 prepared tins and place into the oven.
Step 5
Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins before turning out onto a wire rack.
Step 6
To prepare the ganache; gently heat the double cream and dark muscovado sugar in a pan, until the cream looks like it is starting to come to the boil. Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Mix well together until the chocolate has all melted and stir in the golden syrup. Leave to cool at room temperature so it thickens slightly.
Step 7
Once the cakes have cooled sandwich together with a thin layer of ganache and smooth the rest over the top and sides of the cake until completely covered.
Step 8
For the decoration, lightly dust the chocolate eggs with gold lustre using a small decorating brush then position on your cake for decoration.
Ingredients
MetricImperial
For the Sponge
125gAllinson's Self Raising Flour
125gAllinson's Plain White Flour
1/2 tspBicarbonate of soda
40gCocoa powder
425gBillington's Unrefined Dark Muscovado Sugar
240gDark chocolate (broken into small pieces)
240gUnsalted butter (softened)
4Medium free range eggs (beaten)
95mlButtermilk
2 tspNielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
For the Ganache
200gDark chocolate (broken into small pieces)
250mlDouble cream
1 tbspBillington's Unrefined Dark Muscovado Sugar
1 tbspSilver Spoon Golden Syrup
For the Decoration
20Mini chocolate eggs
1 potGold lustre
Utensils
3 x 18cm sandwich tins
Small saucepan
Sieve
Medium saucepan
Spatula
Nutritional information per 115g serving
Energy 545cal
Fat 32g
of which Saturates 19g
Carbohydrates 56g
of which Sugars 44g
Protein 6.3g
Salt 0.32g
5 Baker Ratings
it was disgusting the chocolate wouldn’t melt and the sponge was horrible
Love this?
Love this chocolate and makes a great base for decorating as a birthday cake.
