Chocolate Cream Cake

This heavenly Chocolate Cream Cake consists of three moist chocolate cake layers filled with homemade chocolate pastry cream, and frosted with chocolate cream cheese frosting.

If you love chocolate desserts, you are going to fall in love with this recipe!

Today, we are using our scratch Chocolate Sour Cream Cake recipe, which is moist and decadent. Another great choice for rich chocolate cake is our scratch chocolate cake recipe.

(For a milder chocolate cake, our Chocolate Velvet Cake and Chocolate Buttermilk Cake and Milk Chocolate Cake are great options!)

How to Make Chocolate Cream Cake

This moist chocolate cake is soft, fluffy, and has a wonderful texture. You will love it! The recipe calls for the Reverse Creaming Method of mixing which means that we will be adding the ingredients in a different order than usual.

You can find the full, printable chocolate cream cake recipe further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 or 9 inch pans.
2. Add Dry Ingredients: Add dry ingredients to the bowl of your mixer and mix for one minute to blend (sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt)
3. Butter: Add the unsalted butter a few slices at a time and mix until it reaches a crumbly, sandy texture. Be careful not to over-mix beyond "sandy" consistency.
4. Wet Ingredients (minus the coffee) In another bowl, combine sour cream, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Using a fork, mix together. This is all of your wet ingredients except for the coffee, it will be added to the batter later.
5. Add Half of Egg Mixture: Set a timer for 1 ½ minutes and SLOWLY add half of your egg mixture to your butter/flour mixture while mixing. Start mixer on low speed then increase to medium for the remainder of the 1 ½ minutes. Do Not Mix Above Medium Speed.
6. Add Half of Remaining Egg Mixture: Stop mixer, scrape the sides and bottom of bowl, and add half of the remaining egg mixture. Mix on medium speed for 20 seconds.
7. Add Last of Egg Mixture: Remaining Mixing Stop mixer, scrape down the sides if necessary, and add the last of the egg mixture. Mix for 20 more seconds on medium speed.
8. Coffee: Slowly add HOT coffee and mixing for 30 seconds to blend. Batter will be runny but that is okay!

This recipe makes lots of cake batter--about 9 ½ cups. Pour into 3 prepared 8" or 9" pans and bake at 325 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center of the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean.

*If baking in 8 inch cake pans, you can pour a few cupcakes also if you'd like- you'll have plenty of batter.

For the Chocolate Pastry Cream

This chocolate pastry cream is a dreamy chocolate custard that is prepared on the stovetop, and is a combination of sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks, milk, and chocolate (we used semi-sweet). 

We've made pastry cream fillings before, but never as a chocolate filling. We've made Vanilla Pastry Cream for our scratch Boston Cream Pie, and a Banana Pastry Cream for our Banana Cream Cake. They are all so good, we think you're going to love the chocolate version!

1. In a medium size bowl mix the sugar, cornstarch and egg yolks until combined.

2. In a saucepan over medium heat, bring milk to a simmer ( do not boil).  
3. Pour approximately 1 cup of the heated milk into mixture of sugar, cornstarch and yolks. Quickly whisk or stir  to prevent the egg yolks from cooking.

4. When this is throughly combined, pour back into the saucepan and stir.   Have the saucepan on low to medium low heat.
5. Add the chocolate pieces and stir constantly until the chocolate melts and the mixture to thicken.  This may take 5 to 10 minutes.  Stir constantly so it will not stick to the bottom of the pan.

6. When the mixture thickens remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.  Remember it will thicken further as it cools.

7. Pour into a dish to cool.  Allow to cool a bit then cover with plastic wrap, pressing it onto the top of the pastry cream to avoid a skin forming.  Chill for 2 to 3 hours before using. 

8. This chocolate filling can be refrigerated for 3 days, it makes 2 cups.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

We love cream cheese frosting recipes, and this Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting is one of our favorites! It is creamy, delicious, and pipes great too!

This recipe is a simple combination of cream cheese, confectioners sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, and vanilla extract.

As with any cream cheese frosting, it is a bit on the softer side. For this reason, we like to refrigerate the freshly made batch for 10-15 minutes before frosting our cake.

Also, if at any when you are decorating the cake, the frosting becomes difficult to work with, just pop the bowl, the piping bag, or the whole cake in the refrigerator (or freezer for about 10-15 minutes) as needed.

Assembling the Chocolate Cream Cake

This cake is very simple to put together. Since we are working with a slightly softer filling, we piped a dam or our cream cheese frosting using a piping bag with the tip snipped away (you could also use a ziplock bag with the corner snipped away).

The purpose of the dam is to keep the filling from escaping when the layers are stacked.

Let's get Started!

Place the first chocolate cake layer on your cake plate or pedestal.

Pipe a dam of buttercream around the edge of the cake layer (about ¼-1/2 inch from the edge). Spread the chocolate cream filling within the dam.

Place the second cake layer on top, and repeat. Then top with the third cake layer. Fill in any gaps between the cake layers with frosting and then crumb coat the cake! (The crumb coat is a thin layer of frosting).

I always chill my crumb coated cake in the freezer for about 15 minutes before applying the final coat of frosting.

This is especially helpful when working with softer fillings or frostings (like lemon curd or homemade whipped cream) as it helps to firm everything up for the decorating process (no shifting cake layers)!

Decorating the Chocolate Cream Cake

You can decorate the chocolate cream cake however you like! After applying a second layer of frosting around the sides of the cake, I combed the frosted cake to add a bit of interest.

Next, I piped a pattern of piped shells around the top edge of the cake using a large star (1M) piping tip, and added dots on top with a round piping tip 4.

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to leave a comment or photo below if you give this recipe a try. We hope that you enjoy it!

Recipe FAQs

More Chocolate Cakes

We've made so many chocolate cakes over the years! Make sure to check out these favorites from our Recipes section!

You can find our full roundup of favorites here: 50+ of the BEST Chocolate Cake Recipes! Some of our favorites are Chocolate Truffle Cake, German Chocolate Cake, Almond Joy Cake, and Black Forest Cake.

These make great holiday cakes, birthday cake recipes, potluck desserts, and more!

Chocolate Cream Cake

BY Melissa and Bebe

Moist chocolate cake layers are filled with a luscious homemade chocolate pastry cream, and frosted with chocolate cream cheese frosting in this amazing dessert!

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Ingredients

• ▢ 2 cups 400g granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 ¾ cups 322g All Purpose Flour
• ▢ 1 cup 82g unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
• ▢ 2 teaspoons 10g Baking Soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon 2g Baking Powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon 2g Salt
• ▢ 1 stick + 5 Tablespoons 185g Unsalted Butter (I sliced the butter into 1 inch pieces onto waxed paper leaving on the countertop for 8 to 10 minutes. It will still be quite cool when adding to the dry ingredients. You should be able to make a fingerprint when you press the butter. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate for a few minutes.)
• ▢ 1 cup 242g Sour Cream
• ▢ 1 c. 220g Milk
• ▢ 4 eggs room temperature
• ▢ 1 teaspoon 4g vanilla
• ▢ 1 cup 220g Hot Coffee

Chocolate Cream Filling

• ▢ ½ cup 100g sugar
• ▢ 3 Tablespoons 27g cornstarch (cornflour in UK)
• ▢ 4 egg yolks
• ▢ 2 cups 484g whole milk (you could also use half and half)
• ▢ 4 ounces 113g semi-sweet or dark chocolate baking bar, chopped into smaller pieces for easier melting
• ▢ 2 teaspoons 14g butter
• ▢ 2 teaspoons 8g vanilla extract

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• ▢ 2 sticks 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened
• ▢ 2 teaspoons 8g vanilla extract
• ▢ 6 to 6 ½ cups 690g to 747g powdered sugar
• ▢ ¼ cup 20g cocoa lightly spoon into cup and level
• ▢ 2 8oz packages cream cheese (total weight 452g) I use full fat cream cheese.

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour three 8 or 9 inch pans. This recipe uses the Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.
• Add dry ingredients to the bowl of your mixer and mix for one minute to blend (sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt)
• Add butter a few slices at a time and mix until it reaches a crumbly, sandy texture. Be careful not to over-mix beyond "sandy" consistency.
• In another bowl, combine sour cream, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Using a fork, mix together. This is all of your wet ingredients except for the coffee, it will be added to the batter later.
• Set a timer for 1 ½ minutes and SLOWLY add half of your egg mixture to your butter/flour mixture while mixing. Start mixer on low speed then increase to medium for the remainder of the 1 ½ minutes. Do Not Mix Above Medium Speed.
• Stop mixer, scrape the sides and bottom of bowl, and add half of the remaining egg mixture. Mix on medium speed for 20 seconds.
• Stop mixer, scrape down the sides if necessary, and add the last of the egg mixture. Mix for 20 more seconds on medium speed.
• Slowly add HOT coffee and mixing for 30 seconds to blend. Batter will be runny but that is okay!
• This recipe makes about 9 ½ cups of batter. Pour into 3 prepared 8 or 9" pans and bake at 325 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center of the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean. (If using 8 inch pans, you can make a few cupcakes too if you'd like!)
• Chocolate Cream Filling
• In a medium size bowl mix the sugar, cornstarch and egg yolks until combined.
• In a saucepan over medium heat, bring milk to a simmer ( do not boil).  
• Pour approximately 1 cup of the heated milk into mixture of sugar, cornstarch and yolks. Quickly whisk or stir  to prevent the egg yolks from cooking.
• When this is throughly combined, pour back into the saucepan and stir.   Have the saucepan on low to medium low heat.
• Add the chocolate pieces and stir constantly until the chocolate melts and the mixture begins to thicken.  This may take 5 to 10 minutes.  Stir constantly so it will not stick to the bottom of the pan.
• When the mixture thickens remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.  Remember it will thicken further as it cools.
• Pour into a dish to cool.  Allow to cool a bit then cover with plastic wrap, pressing it onto the top of the pastry cream to avoid a skin forming.  Chill for 2 to 3 hours before using.  This can be refrigerated for 3 days, possibly longer. Makes 2 cups
• Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
• Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth.
• Add cocoa and mix until blended.
• Cut the cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated.
• Add the vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar beating on low speed until blended.
• Increase mixing speed to medium and beat until fluffy, don't over beat. If beaten too long it will become very soft. If this happens, just refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes.
• This frosting will pipe best if used while still very cool. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix.
• Will frost a 3 layer 8 or 9 inch cake.
• Assembling the Cake
• Place the first chocolate cake layer on the cake plate or pedestal. We like to pipe a dam of frosting around the edge using a piping bag with the tip snipped away.
• Spread on the chocolate pastry cream filling within the dam and top with the second cake layer. (The purpose of the dam is to keep the filling from escaping). Repeat the steps. Top with the third cake layer and frost the cake!
• We like to frost a thin (crumb coat) of frosting over the cake before chilling for about 15 minutes in the freezer to firm everything up. Then, apply the second coat of frosting and decorate. We used a cake comb for our cake, and piped the border with a large 1M star tip.
• This cake needs to be refrigerated because of the filling and frosting. Remove from the refrigerator 2-3 hours before serving for best taste and texture.

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