Chocolate Fudge Cake
This ultra moist Chocolate Fudge Cake has a rich yet mellow flavor thanks to the dutch process cocoa in the recipe. It is a quick, easy, wonderful go-to chocolate cake!
Servings: 15 servings (Just over 6 cups cake batter)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups (400g) Granulated Sugar (white sugar)
- 2 ¾ cup (322g) All Purpose Flour (not self rising)
- 1 cup (90g) Dutch Process Cocoa
- 2 Teaspoons (8g) Baking Powder
- ½ Teaspoon (3g) Baking Soda
- ½ Teaspoon (2g) Salt
- 2 Teaspoons 3g Instant Espresso Granules *See Notes
- 4 eggs, room temperature (If in a hurry, place eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.)
- 1 cup (215g) Vegetable Oil (We use Canola Oil)
- 1 Teaspoon (4g) Vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup (295g) very hot water (almost boiling)
For the Chocolate Frosting
- 3 sticks (339g) unsalted butter, slightly sotened
- ¾ cups (67g) Dutch Process Cocoa
- 5 cups (575g) Confectioners Sugar
- 1 teaspoon (4g) Vanilla Extract
- 1 teaspoon (4g) Salt
- ¼-1/3 cup heavy cream or milk. Adjust amount to your liking for desired consistency of frosting.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch cake pans. We also like to line our pans with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of your mixer, whisk together the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, espresso granules.
- Next, add the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and ¼ cup of water. Mix for two minutes on medium speed. *Scrape down the sides of the bowl as the mixture will be fairly thick.
- With mixer on low speed, slowly add the remaining (1 cup) very hot water and mix approximately 30 seconds to blend. The batter will be very thin.
- Scoop the cake batter evenly into three 8 inch cake pans. Tap the pans onto the counter a few times each.
- Bake for 22-24 minutes- Bake times may vary. The cake layers are done when a wooden toothpick or skewer can be inserted and removed with no crumbs (or just a few crumbs) attached.
- Allow the baked layers to cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out.
For the Chocolate Buttercream
- Cream the slightly softened butter until smooth. Blend in the vanilla.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and cocoa and most of the milk. Beat at medium speed until the powdered sugar and cocoa is incorporated.
- Add remaining powdered sugar, milk, and salt and mix at medium speed another 3 to 4 minutes scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Then mix on the lowest speed for 1 to 2 minutes. This will help eliminate air pockets in the buttercream. The texture will become very smooth.
- Yields approximately 4 ½-5 cups of frosting.
- If your buttercream is too thin, add more sugar. If the consistency is too thick, add a bit more milk.
Notes
This cake is fine at room temperature under a cake cover for 1-2 days if using the buttercream frosting in the recipe. If using a more perishable filling or frosting, refrigerate the cake and remove from the refrigerator 2-3 hours before serving for best flavor and texture.
No espresso granules? You can also just use hot coffee (rather than hot water) in the recipe.
Coffee enhances the chocolate flavor- you cannot taste it. However, if you want to omit the espresso/coffee altogether, that is fine. The water in the recipe should still be hot (as it helps to bloom the cocoa).