There are a handful of recipes I use repeatedly because I’ve tried and tested them with great results each time; the recipe for this Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake is one of them. It’s from the book Sky High by Alicia Huntsman. The flavor is intense with chocolate and not overly sweet. The only variation I made for this cake was to use a marshmallow frosting to fill the layers and give a lighter contrast to the dark cake.
I tend to gravitate towards any kind of recipe that has chocolate in it, as shown in my earlier posts, Chocolate Mannequin Cake, G Clef Birthday Cake, If Music be the Food of Love Play on Cake, and so forth. Those chocolate cake recipes are entirely different from this one and I would say just as good. It might be safe to conclude, therefore, that chocolate is a safe bet when it comes to baking.
Mixing the chocolate icing.
I’m going retroactive once again since I actually baked this cake sometime in late July or early August; but better late than never.
I can never seem to make up my mind as far as decorating a cake.
I could have, should have, would have stopped right here.
But no, I had to tinker with it just one more time.
And I would have changed the look yet again, except that I ran out of white frosting.
It’s just as well that I ran out of white frosting, or I would have frosted the entire cake in it.
And now a view from the top.
I really liked the flavor and texture of this cake. It had a soft crumb, was very moist and the chocolate icing was a nice complement to it. The marshmallow creme frosting also gave a good contrast to the chocolate.
I wonder if there is a term for people who can’t stop baking, because I am one such person.
Once in a while, one can post a photo in Flickr and in the next few days be surprised to find it pop up in a few dozen sites on the internet. This is one such photo. Well, I don’t really mind. It’s all about sharing, isn’t it?
Oh, that flavor of chocolate and marshmallow is just luscious.
My photos are a little bit out of sequence. This is actually the cake before it was frosted.
Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake – adapted from Sky High by Alicia Huntsman
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups hot, strong brewed coffee
2 eggs
1 cup mayonnaise, regular, not low-fat or fat-free
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper and butter the paper.
- Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Put the chocolate in a fairly large heatproof bowl.
- Bring the milk to a simmer.
- Pour the hot coffee and milk over the chocolate. Let stand for a minute, then whisk until smooth and allow to cool slightly.
- In a mixer bowl, beat together the eggs, mayonnaise and vanilla until well blended.
- Gradually beat in the sugar. Add the dry ingredients and mocha liquid alternately in 2 or 3 additions, beating until smooth and well blended.
- Divide the batter among the 3 prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
- Let the cakes cool in their pans or wire racks for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Unmold onto the racks, carefully peel off the paper and let cool completely at least 1 hour.
Sour Cream Chocolate Icing
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup half-and-half at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream at room temperature
- Melt the chocolate with the butter and corn syrup in a double boiler over barely simmering water.
- Remove from heat and whisk until smooth.
- Whisk in the half and half and sour cream. Use while soft.
Marshmallow Creme Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups marshmallow cream (7 oz tub)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon milk
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
- Beat butter and marshmallow creme together until smooth.
- Add liquids and mix well.
- Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.
- Add more milk one teaspoon at a time if you need to thin the frosting
Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Recipe
Two questions….1) do i have to use coffee because i dnt drink it and 2) would this recipe be enough for a 9 or 10″ round
Hi Lauren, 1) I would say yes, the recipe does require coffee. I don’t drink coffee either, but I love the flavor of coffee in cakes. I usually use instant decaffeinated espresso for the coffee, and 2) yes, 9″ or 10″ rounds can be used, and the layers will be shorter.
Thx for the feedback oh and also another question well actually two….ok so my shipment for unsweeted cocoa powder came its from the brand valhrona so I opened the box and the container said “Valhrona unsweetened cocoa powder 100% cocoa 21% cocoa fat content: dutch processed” so….will I still be able to use this powder in this recipe and my last question is are you sure you do not taste the chocolate because I ahd made one before and you can taste it when you werent suppost to…its for my sons birthday thats why oh oh and Imma have to make a 12″ round would I need to double the recipe for that size….sorry for the long questions
Hi Lauren, yes, that cocoa would work. As far as the flavor, it is chocolate cake, so that is what it’s supposed to taste like. Regarding using a 12″ round pan, yes, I would double the recipe as that is quite a large pan if you want to make a couple of layers out of the recipe. If you’re undecided, and if you have the time, just make a test batch and see if you like it, and if you do, then you can use this recipe for the actual birthday cake.
Thank you very much for answering my questions I really appreciate you taking the time to do so
You’re welcome any time.
I made a sample cake and i tasted the coffee so i am not gonna use the coffe so….is there anything else i can use or can i just omit it completely and not replace it with anything
Hi Lauren, I haven’t tried making the cake without the coffee, as the recipe calls for it. I’m not sure what a good substitute would be as that would be something that has to be tested. I’m sure there are a lot of excellent chocolate cakes out there that don’t have coffee as an ingredient. I also have an earlier post for a G Clef Birthday Cake that’s a chocolate marble cake that doesn’t have coffee in it.
thx for the tip
but another question I have 1 10″ inch round pan so can I just poor all the batter into it and bake it for the amount of time or would it have to be longer? How many cupcakes would this bake up as well?
Hi Lauren, a 10″ round is quite large so you might want to use a heating core in the center so that the cake will bake and rise evenly. IF using only one 10″ round pan, make sure not to overfill it. Also, set the baking time to about 20 minutes, but start watching it after about 15 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center. It should come out with just a few crumbs, but not wet. Since you will be using only one pan, if you have any left over batter, use it to make cupcakes.
As far as using the entire batter to make cupcakes, instead of cake layer/s, I haven’t used it yet for cupcakes, but I would say one recipe can yield 3 dozen medium cupcakes.
Grand cake! Did you double the amount of marshmallow cream used sinced you made more cake layers? Can’t wait to give this a try…
Hi Tappy,
Yes, actually I might have done X 2.5 if I remember correctly because I divided the batter by 5 to make 5 layers and I still had a little bit of marshmallow cream left to play with that I could decorate the top of the cake. Anyway, it can’t hurt to have more than enough of anything.
The recipe says to use 3 cake pans but you have 5 layers that all appear to be the same size. Did I miss something???
Hi! You can bake it either way. The recipe calls for 3 cake pans and you’ll have higher cake layers. But as a variation, I just decided to divide the batter by 5 and bake it in 5 pans. You could also bake it in 4 pans. The height of the layers will depend on the number of pans. Also, if you decide to have more than 3 layers, the batter in each pan will be more shallow so you would have to shorten the baking time by a few minutes.
This is beautiful! This should be in the dictionary next to “layer cake”
Thanks, Erin.
This cake is seriously beautiful. It takes a lot of skill to make something like that!
Thank you.
Wow, this looks gorgeous! The cake looks soo moist. Great job!