A chocolate cake you'll make again and again

I’ve made a lot of chocolate cakes. Some good. Some dry. Some that collapsed in the centre (and were quickly rebranded as ‘sunken’) and over the years, across many birthdays, bake sales and recipes developed for Good Food, I’ve settled on this as my favourite.

Many people who bake have a go-to chocolate cake, the one that pleases all audiences. At least, this is what I assume. If you’re making a cake that pleases only you and plan to eat all of it, then fill your boots. If you keep hoping that everyone will come round to your way of thinking about chocolate cake, then that’s a bit of a worry. Chocolate cake does divide opinion — it can be too dark, too light, too soft, not chocolately enough, or in some cases, so overwhelming that a couple of small bites is enough (more chocolate truffle than cake).

Chocolate cake has had fashions, too, flirting with the devil and darkness, cosying up to cherries and cream for black forest, being elegant as sachertorte, a bit over the top and ‘death by’ in the 1980’s followed by a stint with a molten middle. Flour came and went, and then came back; we red-velveted everything, or swiss-rolled it or added mint, or orange or cherries. More recently, layers have racked up sky high in the Instagram-famous Bruce (Bogtrotter), now retired and replaced by 24 layers of Bertha. Next? Dubai will no doubt have its day in this pistachio-obsessed era.

But, you don’t need to follow fashion to make the perfect chocolate cake. I've been making this one for over 10 years.

It’s not fancy, nothing groundbreaking, but I love it. It has a moist (yes, I said it, and prepare to hear it again) and fudgy crumb, a rich ganache icing and a light mascarpone cream filling. It’s the sort of cake I want to eat forkfuls of straight from the fridge before bedtime (it's fridged due to the fresh cream and mascarpone filling – read on to find out more). Like many good things, it improves with age (at least over a couple of days, which is as long as chocolate cake tends to last in my house).

Meet Cassie

Cassie Best is our Head of Food and also queen of the bakes. Read on for her go-to chocolate cake recipe or check out more of Cassie's recipes.

Strike a balance

Like all good recipes, this cake is about balance. The cocoa is dark and bitter, and the sugar sweet, so it needs a bit of acidity and tang for contrast. A lot of recipes lean on buttermilk to provide this, but I rarely have it on hand. Instead, I mix yogurt with a little milk and vinegar to get the same result.

A note on cocoa powder

In the US, cocoa will be labelled as ‘dutched’ meaning that the cocoa has been alkalised to neutralise the natural acidity, giving a smoother flavour. This not only affects the flavour but also the rise; acid reacts with bicarb, and if the acid has been neutralised the cake needs more leavening agent. Dutched cocoa (or look for added ‘acidity regulator’ in the UK) is standard processing for most cocoa powder now, so recipes will assume this is what you’re using. Worth bearing in mind if you come across ‘natural’ or ‘unprocessed’ cocoa as the rise may be surprisingly lacklustre.

Another secret: blooming the cocoa powder

It’s not a fancy trick, just stirring it into hot water and leaving it to swell for 10 mins or so. Cocoa is notoriously drying, it sucks up moisture, so this step makes a huge difference. It also deepens the flavour.

A builder’s cake (but soft)

Although I’ve been making a version of this cake for much longer, I first wrote it down for a Good Food birthday cake feature over 10 years ago. I needed a cake that was strong enough to stack, without cracking, drying out, or leaving behind a trail of crumbs. But it had to be moist (sorry, there it is again) and mature well in the cake tin for a few days. I knew an American-style oil-based cake would be the key. Sure, butter gives great flavour, but I think it’s lost against the chocolate, and frankly, I’m happy with the trade-off if it means I get a tender crumb. I’ve tried using half oil and half butter and I don’t think it makes a difference. Using a good olive oil however (but not a mega expensive one) does give it a noticeable flavour boost — a move I borrowed from Rav Gill’s famous LPC.

Salt is critical

Chocolate loves it. The entire flavour of chocolate feels more pronounced when you add just enough salt to balance the sugar. (This is true of hot chocolate too, and of all chocolate desserts, frankly.) I wanted to push that slightly further and see what would happen if I added a touch of umami. A small splash of soy sauce did just that, not enough to detect, but enough to amplify the flavours.

The icing on the cake

I like a ganache, glossy, grown-up and not overly sweet. For adults, I make it with good dark chocolate (70%). I like single-origin chocolate (most supermarkets have a good own range which is fairly affordable and often better than the big brands). For kids, I tend to swap in some milk chocolate, around 100g, to take the bitter edge off.

The ganache doubles up as the filling, but if the cake is being served as dessert, I reach for whipped, sweetened mascarpone instead. That’s a tip of the hat to the old Pizza Express chocolate cake of my youth, which came with a blob of mascarpone on the side. It stuck with me. I like the cool, creamy sweetness of the cheese against the rich cake, but it does come with the downside of needing to go in the fridge, and the chill masks the chocolatey flavours a little. Remove it 30 mins or so before eating if you’re the plan-ahead type. If you want to keep the cake at room temperature, use ganache and keep it in a tin for up to four days (it’ll only get better with time). This version is better if you want to adapt it to make it vegan, as I have many times for my daughter who is allergic to milk and eggs. It works just as well, and honestly, I think if I served you both versions side by side, you wouldn’t notice the difference.

Whichever route you choose for the filling, cover the whole cake in ganache. I finish with a few sea salt flakes, again to bring out the flavour of the chocolate, though if salt on sweet isn’t your thing, feel free to leave it off.

My favourite chocolate fudge cake

Serves 12

Prep 40 mins, plus cooling and chilling

Cook 35 mins

More effort

60g cocoa powder

150ml olive oil, plus extra for the tins

150g unsweetened natural yogurt (or use soya)

50ml milk (dairy or unsweetened soya)

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 eggs (or replace with 1 tbsp flour mixed with 4 tbsp yogurt)

2 tsp soy sauce

200g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

280g light brown soft sugar

a few sea salt flakes (optional)

For the ganache

200g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa), finely chopped

300ml double cream (or use vegan alternative)

For the filling (or use another half-quantity of ganache to fill)

200g mascarpone

100ml double cream

2 tbsp icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Put the cocoa powder into a large heatproof bowl. Add 150ml boiling water from the kettle, and stir until smooth. Leave to cool.
2. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4, with a shelf in the centre of the oven. Oil 2 x 20cm loose-bottomed cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. Add the yogurt, milk, vinegar, eggs, soy sauce, olive oil and ¼ tsp fine salt to the bloomed cocoa powder, then whisk well until there are no lumps.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarb and sugar in a separate large bowl. Shake the bowl a few times to bring any lumps of sugar to the surface and squeeze these between your fingers until the mixture is an even, sandy consistency. Pour in the wet ingredients and combine using an electric whisk until the batter is smooth and loose.
4. Divide the batter between the tins and bake in the centre of the oven for 25 mins until a skewer inserted into the centres come out clean. If any wet mixture clings to the skewer, bake for another 5 mins, then check again. Leave the cakes to cool completely in their tins. Can be made up to two days ahead and kept well wrapped at room temperature.
5. For the ganache, put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Warm the cream in a small pan over a low heat until steaming, or do this in the microwave. Pour the warm cream over the chocolate and stir until smooth and glossy. Leave to cool while you make the mascarpone filling (or until just spreadable, if you’re skipping the mascarpone. This will take between 20-40 mins, depending on the temperature. If the ganache is too loose, it will drip off; too firm and it'll be too hard to spread. Stir regularly to ensure it has reached the right consistency). Tip the mascarpone, cream, icing sugar and vanilla into a bowl and whisk to soft peaks.
6. Invert one of the cooled sponges on a serving plate or cake stand, and peel off the parchment. Spoon the mascarpone cream over the centre and spread out to the edges, trying not to disturb the cake crumbs too much. Sandwich the other sponge on top. (Alternatively, sandwich with a quarter of the ganache.)
7. Cover the top and sides of the cake with ganache using a palette knife, then sprinkle over a few sea salt flakes, if you like. Leave to rest for about 1 hr until the ganache has firmed up slightly, or chill for 30 mins before serving. Will keep chilled for up to two days (or, if you've made a ganache-only cake, keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days). Remove from the fridge 1-2 hrs before serving.

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