Ultimate chocolate cake

Ultimate chocolate cake

Indulge yourself with Angela Nilsen's heavenly moist and fudgy chocolate cake - perfect for celebrations - birthdays, weddings, christenings - any excuse!

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Cuts into 14 slices

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 30 - 40 mins

Cook time

Cook 1 hr - 1 hr 30 mins

Plus baking and cooling time
Freezable

Without icing

Method

  1. Butter a 20cm round cake tin (7.5cm deep) and line the base. Preheat the oven to fan 140C/conventional 160C/ gas 3. Break 200g good quality dark chocolate in pieces into a medium, heavy-based pan. Cut 200g butter into pieces and tip in with the chocolate, then mix 1 tbsp instant coffee granules into 125ml cold water and pour into the pan. Warm through over a low heat just until everything is melted - don't overheat. Or melt in the microwave on Medium for about 5 minutes, stirring half way through.
  2. While the chocolate is melting, mix 85g self-raising flour, 85g plain flour, ¼ bicarbonate of soda, 200g light muscovado sugar, 200g golden caster sugar and 25g cocoa powder in a big bowl, mixing with your hands to get rid of any lumps. Beat 3 medium eggs in a bowl and stir in 75ml (5 tbsp) buttermilk.
  3. Now pour the melted chocolate mixture and the egg mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until everything is well blended and you have a smooth, quite runny consistency. Pour this into the tin and bake for 1 hour 25- 1 hour 30 minutes - if you push a skewer in the centre it should come out clean and the top should feel firm (don't worry if it cracks a bit). Leave to cool in the tin (don't worry if it dips slightly), then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  4. When the cake is cold, cut it horizontally into three. Make the ganache: chop 200g good quality dark chocolate into small pieces and tip into a bowl. Pour a 284ml carton of double cream into a pan, add 2 tbsp golden caster sugar, and heat until it is about to boil. Take off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
  5. Sandwich the layers together with just a little of the ganache. Pour the rest over the cake letting it fall down the sides and smoothing to cover with a palette knife. Decorate with grated chocolate or a pile of chocolate curls. The cake keeps moist and gooey for 3-4 days.
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Try our other top-rated chocolate cake recipes including Chocolate brownie cake Chocolate marble cake, or Chocolate birthday cake.

541 kcalories, protein 6g, carbohydrate 55g, fat 35 g, saturated fat 20g, fibre 2g, sugar 40g, salt 0.51 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, April 2004.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 141-160

  • Binder photo Riverluck

    24 September 2008

    Riverluck commented on this recipe

    I was surprised at the amount of chocolate used in this recipe

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  • Binder photo Riverluck

    24 September 2008

    Riverluck commented on this recipe

    I was surprised at the amount of chocolate used in this recipe is that much really needed?

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  • Binder photo Barbie-Doll

    24 September 2008

    Barbie-Doll rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Heaven on a plate!!!!!!

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  • Binder photo veronika

    24 September 2008

    veronika rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    One of the best chocolate cakes ever!

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  • Binder photo angelic

    24 September 2008

    angelic commented on this recipe

    This cake was lovely and sooo easy to make, i too only put 300g sugar but as a variation i put lindt dark chilli chocolate in the cake instead of the plain, it turned out lovely with only a slight hint of heat, and my partner and kids loved it...

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  • Binder photo angelic

    24 September 2008

    angelic rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    ooops forgot to rate :o)

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  • Binder photo angelic

    25 September 2008

    angelic commented on this recipe

    I think it works well Riverluck, i guess if you wanted the cake not so rich you could use half dark and half milk chocolate? or maybe even a flavoured dark choc?

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  • Binder photo carly

    25 September 2008

    carly rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I made this to bring to work, went down a treat everyone loved this. This is an extremely rich cake couldn't eat a huge slice of this.

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  • Binder photo Tracey

    26 September 2008

    Tracey rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I have made this cake so many times, and everyone always loves it

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  • Binder photo Robyn

    28 September 2008

    Robyn rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Cake is the BEST chocolate cake i have ever made. So rich and moist, and no fail. Rose better than any other cake ive made as well.... I also did one in an 18cm tin and added 10 mins to the cooking time which was fine. I have only rated 4 stars thoug because of the icing. it was far tooooo runny and spoilt the whole effort. I have since made the cake again and topped with white chocolate butter icing which LOOKS brilliant and tastes great too. I will defo do this over and over again and plan to use the cake as part of a wedding cake for a friend.

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  • Binder photo Debby

    29 September 2008

    Debby rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Perfekt!

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  • Binder photo Kirsty

    29 September 2008

    Kirsty rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Yackety-yack

    30 September 2008

    Yackety-yack commented on this recipe

    Made this cake at sea level in South Africa exactly according to recipe but reduced cream in ganache to 250ml. Think it was overbaked at 1 hr 20 min at 160 and so will consider checking it at 1 hr. Used organic dark chocolate from Woolworths (not UK Woolworths) throughout and it went down really well.

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  • Binder photo Susan Sebastian

    02 October 2008

    Susan Sebastian rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Deelicious!!! My friends thought this cake was out of this world :)

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  • Binder photo Xisca

    03 October 2008

    Xisca rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Too much sweet with 400 g of sugar, next time I´ll use only 200 g.

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  • Binder photo irishcountry-cousin

    06 October 2008

    irishcountry-cousin rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo lm4999

    07 October 2008

    lm4999 commented on this recipe

    Hi, Does anyone know how to make this cake using regular cup measurements, etc?

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  • Binder photo sal's menu

    07 October 2008

    sal's menu rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this for a friend's birthday. Didn't end up looking like the photo, it kept falling apart but everyone loved the taste and couldn't get enough of it. I think next time I make it I will use 2 sandwich tins. Easy enough to make and very chocolatey.

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  • Binder photo thorpe7878

    09 October 2008

    thorpe7878 commented on this recipe

    this sounds great! my friends got an ultimate brownie cake recipe. i hope this is just as good!!!!

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  • Binder photo kittie

    09 October 2008

    kittie rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was the first chocolate cake I ever made - and I loved it! Going to try it again tonight... this time as a cupcake :)

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Cuts into 14 slices

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 30 - 40 mins

Cook time

Cook 1 hr - 1 hr 30 mins

Plus baking and cooling time
Freezable

Without icing

Ingredients

  • 200g good quality dark chocolate , about 60% cocoa solids
  • 200g butter
  • 1 tbsp instant coffee granules
  • 85g self-raising flour
  • 85g plain flour
  • 1⁄4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 200g light muscovado sugar
  • 200g golden caster sugar
  • 25g cocoa powder
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 75ml buttermilk (5 tbsp)
  • grated chocolate or curls, to decorate

FOR THE GANACHE

  • 200g good quality dark chocolate , as above
  • 284ml carton double cream (pouring type)
  • 2 tbsp golden caster sugar
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541 kcalories, protein 6g, carbohydrate 55g, fat 35 g, saturated fat 20g, fibre 2g, sugar 40g, salt 0.51 g

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