Chocolate Fudge Cake with Easy Fudge Frosting
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Chocolate Fudge Cake with Easy Fudge Frosting. A homemade, old fashioned, easy to make one-bowl chocolate cake covered in an easy fudge frosting that's made from chocolate chips.
Originally published Feb. 2016
This chocolate fudge cake recipe is really being posted for the easy fudge frosting. The same one-bowl, super easy, chocolate cake recipe has been used several times on Rock Recipes from Black and White Cake to Chocolate Buttercream Cake to Strawberry Black Forest Cake.
It's a real tried-and-true recipe that's light , moist and tender and gets a great response every time. I'm adding it again here just to have the complete recipe in one place for convenience sake.
I have made quite a few fudge frostings over the years but they can be fussy things to deal with. One of my old time favourites was a shortening based recipe which was also cooked, but had to be beaten for a long time in a pan of ice water.
That requires a had mixer and quite a bit of active time so I don't make that much anymore. A friend suggested this recipe to me and I tweaked it a little to use less sugar and make it a bit more intensely chocolate flavoured than the original.
Make no mistake, any fudge frosting is going to be a sweet frosting anyway. However, I found that using darker chocolate chips in this recipe rather than the semi-sweet it called for balanced the sweetness better.
The addition of a small amount of cocoa as well, really improved the overall flavour without adversely affecting the fudge consistency.
A few points to keep in mind:
- Do not over boil the mixture to begin with or you risk the frosting crystallizing.
- Be careful in measuring the butter. Over-measuring can turn a glossy frosting into a greasy frosting.
- Do use 50% cocoa chocolate chips which contain less sugar than regular semi sweet chips.
- Do not whip it on high speed. Fudge frosting should be dense and introducing air into the mixture can also cause it to crystallize.
If you're looking for more fudgy treats, you might also like our recipe fro Homemade Fudgee-O's:
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Chocolate Fudge Cake with Easy Fudge Frosting
Chocolate Fudge Cake with Easy Fudge Frosting - a homemade, one-bowl chocolate cake covered in an easy fudge frosting that's made from chocolate chips.
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cake
- 2 cups sugar, (regular white granulated sugar)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup cocoa
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup soured milk
- 1 cup black coffee
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Fudge Frosting
- ⅔ cup butter
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 4 tablespoon cocoa
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup milk
- 2 cups dark chocolate chips, 50% cocoa
Instructions
To prepare the Chocolate Cake
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes.
- Grease two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans and dust with cocoa instead of flour. I also like to line the bottoms of the pans with circles of parchment paper to ensure an easy release from the pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To prepare the Fudge Frosting
- Add the butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla extract and milk to a medium sized saucepan and bring to a gentle boil for 1-2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips until melted and smooth.
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl to cool completely. This usually takes an hour or more. Stir the mixture occasionally.
- Beat in a stand mixer on low until the frosting thickens to a spreadable consistency. You can place it in the fridge a couple of times for 15 minutes or so to cool it faster if this is taking a long time to become spreadable.
- Use immediately to frost the top, middle and sides of the chocolate cake.
- Store leftovers in an airtight cake dome.
Recommended Products
Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
16 servingsAmount Per Serving Calories 475Total Fat 23gSaturated Fat 10gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 11gCholesterol 47mgSodium 302mgCarbohydrates 63gFiber 3gSugar 44gProtein 5g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
This cake looks delicious! I love a good chocolate cake!
Made this chocolate fudge cake yesterday......easy to make...quite good.. a big hit! used a different topping....
amazing
Could you use buttermilk for the sour milk?
yes.
That frosting looks divine! Does it freeze well?
I don't think so.
Made this today but with a Chocolate Swiss Buttercream frosting. This is the best ever chocolate cake I have ever made, and I've made a few. This will now be my go to chocolate cake recipe. Thanks Barry!
Can I replace baking soda with baking powder and sour milk with milk
the sour milk can be replaced but baking powder is not a substitute for baking soda.
Do you taste the coffee in the cake?
No. It heightens the chocolate flavour.
This was a delicious, easy cake to make. The whole family loved it.
Made this cake yesterday for spouse's birthday. It is truly divine. The cake is moist and fudgy, the frosting was beautiful to sculpt with and set up wonderfully. This cake is THE CHOCOLATE CAKE in our home. Five plus stars. The recipe is straight forward, easy to follow and the results show in a fabulous product as with all the recipes that Barry has shared with us viewers and subscribers. Great site. Thanks Barry.
Well, that's a five star comment for sure! Thanks Gail, so glad it was such a success!
Thank you for the delicious recipe, Barry! I've made this cake at least three times now, and my family and I absolutely adore it! It's easy and no-nonsense to whip up, bakes beautifully, chills beautifully, and tastes incredible! By far one of the best chocolate cakes we've ever had!
I was wondering though, would it be possible to convert this recipe into a vanilla/yellow cake? I love this recipe so much that having a yellow cake recipe just like it would be amazing, but judging by what I've read on the subject, it's not that simple of a thing to do.
Any thoughts?
There are a couple of good recipes for vanilla cake, and a great yellow cake recipe as well on this site, but the closest thing to what you're looking for would be this Quick Vanilla Cake recipe : https://www.rockrecipes.com/quick-vanilla-cake/
Which brand of dark chocolate chips do you recommend for the icing?
I use several brands including Costco brand. I only use 50% cocoa chocolate chips in everything.
Truly delicious and moist cake Barry. I make designer cakes and it hold together quite well. Have you tried the frosting as a base for fondant before? Simply wondering if this would happen map to on the integrity of the fondant at all? Your opinion?
I don't decorate a lot with fondant. I'n no expert at that.
Looks delicious will absolutely try it!
How many spoons of ground coffee did you use and was it mixed with a cup of water?
A cup of black coffee, just means coffee as you would prepare it to drink.
Sounds delicious!! I am not a coffee drinker and dislike the taste of it. Can I omit the coffee and if so, do I need to add anything in its place?
Add the same amount of additional milk. You do not taste coffee in this cake regardless.
Would love to make this in a 9x13--how long to bake
Probably a little longer, depends if you are baking in glass or aluminum. Just let the toothpick test be your guide.
Could this be converted to cupcakes (cake and icing); if so are there any adjustments required?