A very chocolatey, moist Chocolate Fudge Cake that is similar to chocolate mud cake, but not as dense. Made with both melted chocolate and cocoa, AND topped with chocolate ganache, this one is sure to satisfying your chocolate cravings!
Super easy to make, very forgiving, no stand mixer or beater. Just one bowl and a wooden spoon!
Chocolate Fudge Cake
I may be disowned as an Australian for saying this, but I’m not the hugest fan of classic Chocolate Mud Cake. I find it too dense and doughy, and it gets stuck to the roof of my mouth. It’s very……erm…..mud-like.
Duh.
Creative writing isn’t my forte, is it?? Hey – I’m a food blogger. Not a writer! 😂
So this isn’t a classic Chocolate Mud Cake because it has a bit of lift in it, but it is still way fudgier and mud-cake like than 99% of other chocolate cakes, including my own everyday Chocolate Cake. Call it a Chocolate Fudge MUD CAKE if you want!! (Bit too much of a mouthful for me…. 🙂 )
Why I love this fudge cake so much
I know there are a LOT of chocolate cake recipes “out there”. But here’s why I love this Easy Chocolate Fudge Cake so much:
It’s intensely chocolatey – thanks to the use of both melted chocolate AND cocoa powder.
Beautifully moist and fudgy – hence the name!
Terrific flavour. It truly tastes of chocolate which, as odd as it sounds, is actually rarer than you might think.
You just need a wooden spoon. No stand mixer, no electric beater.
It’s virtually foolproof. I’ve cooked it on high for shorter periods of time, and low for longer. I’ve had to dash out of the house before it was fully cooked and left it in the oven (turned off) to finish cooking. And it always works out. Why? Because it’s so fudgey, it is actually hard to overcook so it becomes dry and it is not meant to rise very much so you don’t have to worry about that part either!
The Chocolate Ganache Frosting is crazy easy too. Cream + chocolate, melt, mix, cool. No beating!
Everyone goes mad over this. Chocolate on chocolate. Enough said!
How to make this fudgy moist cake
You would be forgiven for thinking you’re making a brownie when you start making this Chocolate Fudge Cake. Because that is in fact where the roots of this cake recipe is drawn from.
Did you know… The reason you see hot water in chocolate cake recipes is because it makes the cocoa “bloom”, making the cake taste more like chocolate!
↑↑↑ Crackage is normal! It’s kind of like that crinkly top of brownies – because this cake has lift in it from baking powder, it “bursts” through the crinkly top. But don’t worry, the cracks are less prominent once it cools (because it sinks a bit) and it’s completely hidden under Chocolate Ganache!
Difference between chocolate fudge cake and mud cake
I had someone on Instagram asking me what the difference is between Fudge Cake and Mud Cake so I thought I’d explain!! Chocolate mud cake is so dense that it cuts cleanly with perfect edges and virtually no crumbs.
In contrast, fudge cakes have more of a cake-like texture, like what you see in the close up of the slice at the top of this post.
Chocolate Ganache Frosting
I’m of the opinion that if we’re going to make a Fudgy Chocolate Cake, let’s really drive home the decadence and chocolate flavour by frosting it with chocolate ganache.
If you’re new to Chocolate Ganche, you’re going to really love this. Rather than beating icing sugar and butter for ages and ages like we do with Chocolate Buttercream, Chocolate Ganache is made simply with cream and chocolate that’s heated until the chocolate melts.
When hot, it’s a chocolate sauce you want to pour over everything.
When it cools, it has the consistency of peanut butter. Easy to spread and swirl on your cakes or cupcakes, and everything in between.
My everyday Chocolate Cake is beautifully moist and it’s the one I make most often.
But I figure we all need a blow out Chocolate Cake in our repertoire too. And this Easy Chocolate Fudge Cake is my blow-out Chocolate Cake recipe. It is rich. It is chocolatey. It is moist and fudgy. And I absolutely love it.
I hope you consider trying it! – Nagi x
Get your chocolate fix!
Everyday Chocolate Cake – try it decorated with Mirror Glaze!
Chocolate Cream Pie (outrageous!!!)
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Easy Chocolate Fudge Cake
Ingredients
- 125g / 4 oz dark chocolate chips (Note 1)
- 100g / 7 tbsp butter , salted (or unsalted butter + 1/4 tsp salt)
- 1 1/4 cups white sugar , caster / superfine best (Note 2)
- 1/4 cup oil (vegetable, canola)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs , at room temperature
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder (Note 3)
- 1 cup flour , plain / all purpose (Note 4)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup boiling hot water
- 1 tbsp coffee granules , optional (Note 5)
Ganache
- 1 cup heavy / thickened cream , 30%+ fat (Note 6)
- 250g / 8 oz dark chocolate chips (Note 1)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 150C/300F (standard) or 130C/265F (fan). Grease a 22 cm / 9″ springform cake pan and line with parchment / baking paper.
- Melt butter and chocolate: Place butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Microwave 3 x 30 seconds on high, mix in between, until melted. Mix.
- Oil, vanilla & Sugar: Add oil, vanilla and sugar, mix to combine (this brings down batter temp).
- Eggs: Add eggs and mix until combined.
- Dry Ingredients: Sift cocoa, baking powder and flour (and coffee, if using) directly into the bowl. Mix until smooth, batter will be thin. Some small lumps is ok.
- Hot water: Add hot water. Mix until incorporated.
- Bake: Pour into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out moist but clean. Check at 50 minutes. The surface will crack (sometimes badly!) but sill subside when it cools and gets covered with frosting so don’t stress!
- Cool: Remove sides from the cake pan and transfer to a cooling rack to cool. Cool completely before carefully handling to remove base (Note 7).
Ganache (Note 8)
- Place chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl. Microwave 3 x 30 seconds, mixing in between, until chocolate melts. DO NOT let cream come to boil.
- Stir chocolate until smooth. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours or until thickened to a spreadable consistency like peanut butter.
- Spread over the cake – tops and sides. Use a teaspoon in a swirling motion to achieve the textured surface you see in the photos.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe published May 2016. Recipe slightly updated November 2018 with improved cake texture and a more streamlined process. New photos, new video, new words!
Let them eat cake! 10 classic cake recipes
LIFE OF DOZER
I shooed him outside thinking that brown smear on his head was 💩
Turns out it was ganache 😂 It was driving him crazy trying to figure out a way to get to it! {PS No I never give him chocolate! I have no idea how it got there}
This cake needs to be registered as a dangerous weapon. I just took two — one with ganache, one without — to a birthday celebration, and I brought NONE back. I shall henceforth use it as my go-to cake for the taming of hungry masses.
Ba ha ha!!! I think that’s the perfect description for this! Thanks Shalryn, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! N x
When you say eggs, are they usually large or medium?
Hi Kim! I use medium but I promise you, this recipe is pretty forgiving, you can use small, medium or large (but not tiny like quail eggs!!!)
I’ve made this cake twice now and both times it came out soooooo good. Made it most recently for my mom’s birthday; my dad had it for breakfast the next day!
Awww, you treat your mom (and dad) so well! I’m so glad you enjoyed this Alanna, thanks for letting me know! N x
Do you absolutely have to sift the flour, etc? What will happen if you don’t? I’m a poor college kid without any fancy tools 🙁
You’ll be fine Lily! You might get a few small “holes” in the sponge if there were flour lumps but I promise it’s not big drama!
Hi I meant to say can I use granulated sugar instead of caster sugar.. Thank you! 🙂
Yup!
Hello can I use refined sugar instead of caster? I cannot find any at our supermarket thank you !
That’s fine Kaye, any white sugar will work ok 🙂
This came out awful. The measurements see way off. The sugar and flour are both 1 3/4 th of a cup yet one is 385g and the other is 265g. Also 1/2 cup is not 45 grams. Followed thisto a T since it is stated that there is not enough of a difference to matter. Just wasted 2 hours and around $35 dollars in ingredients and into the trash it all went.
Hi Jenn, I wish I could have been there to troubleshoot, it sounds like your measurements were quite far out! The weight of sugar, flour and cocoa powder are all VERY different which is why 1 3/4 cup of flour is 265g whereas 1 3/4 cup sugar is 385g (sugar is heavier). If you followed the measurements, the recipe would have worked out perfectly! 🙂
Hi Nagi,
I’ve made this cake for my son’s birthday in 2 days time. I intend on doing the ganache tomorrow night. Should I freeze the cake until then or will it keep ok?
Hi Sharon, sorry for the late reply! It will keep fine in a very airtight container, it is such a moist cake!
Hi Nagi! I forgot to come back and tell you that Gary really, really enjoyed this cake! I know why…it’s dense and moist and not overly sweet. He would prefer that I leave frosting off cakes, because it’s to sweet for him (NOT me), but that does not stop him from eating it! 🙂
I didn’t even know you made this!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! PS Better to have too much frosting so that odd people who don’t like frosting can scrape it off and give it to people like you and me!!! 🙂
Hi Nagi,
Your cake looks amazing, my husband loves chocolate cake and I’ve always wanted to make him one but I’ve never found an easy recipe till I came across yours. Thank you so much.
And now I’m going to ask a silly question, would it be possible to make this cake with “white” chocolate?
With kindest regards
Rita
Hi Rita, I’m so glad! Unfortunately I don’t recommend making this with white chocolate. The setting consistency and strength of flavour is actually quite different! I haven’t tested it yet, but I will test it one of these days and update the recipe! 🙂
Hi Nagi,
I had to search high and low for a chocolate fudge cake recipe incorporating real chocolate not just powder, oil and coffee and here it is – looks and sounds great! I’ll be making this next week for a friend’s birthday and wondered if the recipe will A) Work with x2 20cm sandwich tins iced together and B) Be sticky and strong enough to firmly hold a chocolate decoration of 70g.
Thanks,
Jenny
Hi Jenny! I didn’t realise there were so many recipes out there just using powder???!!! I think for a 20cm tin, you will be better off making one then cutting it in half. I would be concerned that if you make 2, you will lose too much cake when you cake the dome off to flatten the bottom one 🙂 Less waste if you make one and cut it in half!! And YES it is definitely strong enough to hold a 70g decoration! It is not a really delicate type cake 🙂 I hope you love it!!! N x
Oh no, tried to make just one tonight in a 20cm tin reduced the heat as I worried about the density in the centre cooking.. the whole outside burnt.. I am now on attempt two and over 2, 20cm Tins.
The cake on the inside was amazing so so good just completely burned on the outside 🙁
Oh dear! Yes one 20cm pan will make a very tall cake which means a much longer cook time…which does mean a burnt top. 🙁 2 x 20cm tins should be fine!
Hi Nagi, just wondering if you think this recipe would be OK to use to make cupcakes?
It sounds amazing – can’t wait to try it!!
Hi Andrea, I’m so sorry I missed this message! Yes this recipe is great for cupcakes! Even better than cake actually because it will cook in 20 minutes or so which means it will be even more moist than the cake!
This cake is fabulous. So much easier and tastier than my old Mississippi Mud Cake recipe.
For portion control (there is only 2 of us) so I baked 2 loaves and spread the delectable ganache over the top. (Froze one).
With the remaining ganache I popped it into the freezer to firm up before forming balls and rolling in a mix of chilli and cinnamon powder and des. coconut. Placed back in the freezer and WOW! Who wants chilled Lindt balls when you can make your own. The silky mouthfeel and the taste are heavenly.
Thank you so much Nagi for sharing.
Homemade Lindt Balls!!!! Amazing, isn’t it? 🙂 Thank you for trying my recipe Diane, I am SO GLAD you enjoyed it!!! I must say I was tossing up whether to share a mud cake or this one, and in fact I made both and sent them both out to my taste testers. Everyone preferred this and I do to!!! I feel like I SHOULD love mud cake more, it is so Australian. But I prefer this!!
Thanks Nagi for this scrumptious recipe.
I made it for my partner’s birthday and everyone loved it. I loved that it was so easy to ice! Made me look like a pro. 😉
When the remaining cake was refrigerated, it was like eating a slab of chocolate every time we went back for a slice – no complaints here!
Thanks again.
Thank you for trying my recipe Emma, and happy birthday to your partner! I am so glad everyone enjoyed it, and thank you for letting me know! N x
AMAZING Post.thanks for share..more wait .. …
Glad you like the look of it! Have you tried it? Would love to know what you think!
Hi Nagi. Just pulled this out of the oven and it has cracked quite considerably. It looks like a parched desert ground. I followed the recipe to a T, using scales, room temperature eggs and do use oven thermometers. I baked it at 160 degrees Celsius. Any ideas why this would have happened? I don’t want to use ganache this time so I’m hoping its still edible even though it doesn’t look great. I can also pretend I made a skinny version without all that cream 😉
Hi Bobbi! The surface of mine cracks too – it always does. 🙂 Every recipe I have tried and seen over the years cracks on the surface, but as it cools, it subsides. In the video you can see my cake and it has a crack on the surface – a round crack. It all gets covered up by the fudge, part of the reason why there is PLENTY of it! Thanks for reminding me though, I must add that note into the recipe so others don’t get concerned. 🙂
Foolproof and totally delicious! I made this on Wednesday, ganached it (new word!) on Thursday to serve Friday and it was still totally perfect on Sunday as we happily ate our way through it. It’s rich, so it serves a lot of people – just the way I like it! It came out of the oven with a big raised cracked bit on top, but it subsided to smooth as it cooled and was covered by the perfect ganache anyway. Thanks for another winner Nagi!
Woah! Thanks so much Beck, I’m SO GLAD you enjoyed it! And “ganached” is definitely a new word – let’s get it into the dictionary! Te he!
How Can I resubscribe to your email list? Also, can this chocolate cake be made with less sugar?
Thanks
Hi Arlene! Here you go (for mail list) -> http://eepurl.com/4kKKD I think the sugar could be reduced a bit from 1 3/4 cup to 1 1/2 cup, but please don’t go any lower than this, I would be concerned about it affecting the recipe 🙂
i have to make this! will this cake hold well when stacked? going for 3-4 layers… also, i’m using 7″ cake pans, how many times the recipe should i make?
Hi M! It definitely will hold up well, this is one sturdy cake 🙂 1 1/2 batches will be plenty for 4 layers. I look forward to hearing how it goes! N x
Chocolate cake!!! I am always craving for chocolate cake. This looks so easy and moist. I have to make this for my birthday in a few months. 😉
I’m WITH YOU!!! Chocolate and cheese are always on my mind….. 😉
Hi Nagi!
Greetings from Canada! I cannot thank you enough for all your AMAZING recipes! I am a cookbook and food fanatic, and can honestly say that I have never come across any recipes as good as yours! Not only are they delicious, but all the ingredients are easy to find! I made your “easy chocolate fudge cake” last night and everyone loved it and could not say enough about it!
I was wondering instead of dark chocolate, could it be substituted with semi-sweet chocolate and could the icing be made with milk chocolate chips?
Thank you again for all your amazing recipes – you truly are the Queen of cooking and I look forward to all your recipes!!!!!
Patti
Hi Patti! Thank you for your lovely message! Oooh, I’m so glad you enjoyed the fudge cake, I worked hard on that one! YES you can use semi sweet and milk chocolate chips. 🙂 Please just be sure to use chocolate chips that melt – we have a type of choc chips here in Australia that hold their form when baked – for choc chip cookies etc – and they don’t melt as well for ganache and batters. N x