Chocolate Truffle Cake – a chocolate layer cake recipe with dense, moist chocolate cake, silky chocolate truffle frosting and chocolate flakes. By our contributor, Olivia Bogacki.
I am a HUGE fan of chocolate, especially chocolate cake – there are few things more comforting. I always have some kind of chocolate around the house. I know, I’m a baker so it’s obvious. But I’m talking about chocolate other than what I use for baking. I’m talking about little pieces I can snag here and there when I’ve got a craving or when I need something sweet after a meal (which is pretty much always).
I’m more of a semi-sweet or dark chocolate fan rather than milk or, heaven forbid, white chocolate. No offense to any readers who love white chocolate, it is just not my thing. I don’t like the flavor, and rarely have it around unless I need it for a special baking project. There’s often some milk chocolate around (my husband loves it), but for me it’s all about that slightly bitter flavor of dark chocolate that my taste buds crave.
Let me tell you though, this Chocolate Truffle Cake will satisfy any chocolate lovers craving. The cake itself is dense and moist, just like proper chocolate cake should be, and the frosting…. oh that frosting! Pure chocolate heaven! It’s simple, consisting of chocolate, heavy cream, and butter, which is basically how you make a chocolate truffle, albeit with slightly different proportions. It is dreamy chocolate heaven right there.
To maximize the ratio of chocolate truffle frosting to cake, I cut each of the cake layers in half horizontally. You can skip this step if you like, but you’ll have a bit of frosting left over.
I kept the decorating on this cake simple and classic, just like a chocolate truffle. The classic ones you find are covered in a simple dusting of cocoa powder, or sometimes coconut. Nowadays, the possibilities are endless. Because I like simple and elegant, I chose to cover the whole cake in gorgeous chocolate flakes. These may not be incredibly easy to find – I get them at a local gourmet shop – but good old-fashioned chocolate sprinkles will work too!
Simple textured dollops of frosting on top finish off this pretty Chocolate Truffle Cake.
MORE CHOCOLATE CAKES TO BAKE:
- Hot Chocolate Cake
- Drippy Chocolate Cake
- Dark Chocolate Honeycomb Cake
- Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Cake
- 10 Chocolate Cupcakes to Bake
Chocolate Truffle Cake
A chocolate layer cake recipe with dense, moist chocolate cake, silky chocolate truffle frosting and chocolate flakes.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: one 8” cake (4 layers) ≈ 12 servings
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Cake
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Frosting (make in advance):
- 18 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate (finely chopped)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup unsalted butter
For the Chocolate Cake:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (sifted)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup buttermilk (room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup hot water
For the Assembly:
Instructions
Make the Chocolate Frosting (in advance)
- Place chopped chocolate into a large heatproof bowl.
- In a medium saucepan, combine heavy cream and butter. Cook on med-high, stirring often, until just simmering.
- Pour hot cream over chopped chocolate and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit 5 minutes.
- Stir gently until completely smooth.
- Place plastic wrap directly on top of chocolate. Allow to thicken and set overnight.*
Make the Chocolate Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two 8″ cake rounds, dust with cocoa powder and line bottoms with parchment.
- Place flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until well combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla. Very slowly pour in hot water while whisking constantly.
- Add wet ingredients to dry and mix on medium for 2 to 3 minutes. Batter will be very thin.
- Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, cut each layer in half horizontally, if desired.
Assemble the Cake:
- Place one layer of cake onto a cake stand or serving plate. Top with a thin layer of chocolate frosting (approximately 2/3 cup). Spread evenly.
- Repeat with remaining layers of cake and frosting. Crumb coat the cake. Chill for 30 minutes.
- Frost the cake and smooth the sides and top, reserving a small amount of chocolate frosting for the top decorations, if desired. Place cake back in the fridge for 20 minutes to set.
- Place a bowl upside-down on a baking sheet. Place cake on inverted bowl so that the sides hang over.
- Gently press chocolate flakes (or chocolate sprinkles) into the sides and top.
- Pipe dollops of reserved chocolate frosting on top using a large open star tip, like a Wilton 6B, if desired.
Notes
- Plan to make the chocolate frosting one day in advance.
- You can force the chocolate frosting to thicken quicker by placing the frosting in the fridge, but be sure to stir often.
This cake looks amazing! I’m making a dessert for a fundraiser this week, and I think this is going to be it!
Quick question…do you have a recipe for the chocolate frosting used for the dollops on top? It’s so glossy!
Great question Naomi – it’s the same chocolate frosting that is used to frost the cake. We’ve updated the recipe to make this more clear. Thanks for asking!
Thanks! I wasn’t sure. In the pictures, the frosting on top looks different from the frosting covering the cake. Maybe it’s because it’s exposed to air?
I need help….I accidentally put the frosting in the fridge how do I soften It to use??
Heat it again and let it cool
This cake looks AAAMAZING, my husband’s birthday is this weekend and I am so going to make this cake for him! I was wondering do you need to refrigerate the frosting overnight or is it okay just left on the counter covered?? And when the cake is finished and decorated does it do well out or refrigerated? Thanks
Hi Courtney! The frosting should be left on the counter overnight. If you put it in the fridge it will be too firm to use. Once decorated it should be stored in the fridge but served at room temperature. It will do ok for a few hours at room temperature though. I hope you like it!
I only have Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa powder, can I still use that or do I need to go out to get something different?
You could certainly use what you have Courtney – but a Dutch processed cocoa powder will give you a deeper chocolate colored cake with a richer chocolate flavor.
I made the frosting with Callebaut, 70.5% dark chocolate. I’m afraid the frosting won’t be sweet enough for the cake. Will this work well or should I attempt to sweeten and if yes, how?
This cake looks absolutely amazing! A choc-a-holics dream come true. I’m on a mission to find birthday cakes for my children’s birthdays and this just topped the list.
What is the tip u used?
Any large star tip will work. There’s a link in the recipe above if you need one.
Hi love this cake. Can I substitute buttermilk with whole milk instead and would the quantity be the same?
RI
I don’t think using regular milk will give you the same results. The acid in the buttermilk is meant to react with the baking powder and baking soda to assist with the rise and to provide a bit of ‘tang’ to the finished product. You can mimic buttermilk by taking 1 cup of milk and adding 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice or white vinegar, stir and let sit for a bit until it appears to curdle. Obviously, buttermilk would be best but this substitution will work in a pinch.
You can substitute buttermilk with mix 1 part yogurt and 1 part milk. It will work. B’coz i’ve been tried and it was ready
Hello! What a lovely cake. I’m about to make it but first i wanted to know how long does the frosting last? Because i wanted to use it for a room temperature cake.
Thank you
Greetings from Venezuela
The frosting will be fine at room temperature for a few hours, but should be refrigerated for longer periods of time.
Hi i am also huge fan chocolates & chocolate cakes thanks for sharing the recipe i will try it for sure
I have a feeling that when the recipe was written the ‘buttercrwam frosting’ was typed by mistake. The only frosting is the truffle fudge that was made in the first half of the recipe.
This cake looks AWESOME!! Love it!
HI
Could you please advice about frosting.. its very thin like a cake batter. I used 35% fat cream and 1 pack of butter and 510gr of chocolate, left it to cool overnight and its still the same 🙁
How much apprx in gramms should be butter?
Kind regards
Lena
One cup of butter is equivalent to 226.8 grams. Here is a handy conversion calculator for you Lena! This will help you convert all of the ingredient quantities to metric units.
https://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking/
Can i use the chocolate cake recipe as the base of blackforrest cake?
I don’t see why not. Hope you enjoy!
This recipe looks great, I plan on making it for my friend’s mother’s birthday. I want to make and frost it a day ahead, so should I store it in the fridge or would it be fine on the counter? Thanks!
Once the cake is decorated, it should be stored overnight in the fridge. Be sure to bring it out of the refrigerator an hour or two before serving, so it can be enjoyed at room temp.
Making this cake for the weekend. I made the frosting exactly as stated in the recipe. After overnight on the counter, it is very loose. Kinda hard to work with as it is pretty drippy. As I type, it is in the fridge after crumb coating. Is this normal? I’m sure when refrigerated, it will be more firm. I have made ganache many times before, but it has never been this loose. Just want to know if this is normal for the recipe. Thank you.
Both the cake and frosting are amazing! My frosting was a bit lose but was perfect to spread after a little while in the fridge. Thinking of using it as my go to chocolate cake batter for cupcakes also.
This is such a stunning cake! I had planned to buy my husband’s birthday cake, but perhaps I should make this instead!
Il est magnifique, vôtre gâteau, merci pour la recette.
Did you doubled the recipe to make 4 layer cake or you just cut each cake into half to make 4 layer cake ?
This cake is baked as two layers, then each layer is cut in half to make a four layers total (see step 7 in the recipe instructions). Enjoy!
I made this for my wife’s family reunion this past May 2017, and WoW ! ! I took it a step or 2 further with split Lindt truffle candies cut in half for top decora rather than piped stars. I also dusted it with flakes of heath toffee brickle and then swizzle /drizzled my homemade salted caramel all over. I am now requested at all family functions as long as make cakes like this fantastic show / heart stopper. I wish I could post a picture of it.
That sounds amazing Jerry! Thanks for the feedback! We’d love to see a photo – just tag @thecakeblog on Instagram or use hashtag #thecakeblog! That’s the best way to share it with us. 📷🍰📷
Hello! I’m Sophia and I know i’m 16 so some may consider me to be an amateur, but I did follow this cake step by step, making sure to do exactly what you had said. I used a different frosting recipe as I found frosting with no sugar to be odd, but the cake tastes amazing, its not overly sweet, and its moist but not dense which I find amazing, its literally a perfect cake! Only problem is that once I had inserted a tooth pick and it came out clean, I took the cakes out only to find that both had risen in a very severe dome shape, so I had to cut most of the domes off to even out the cakes (I did not cut them off all the way, as I figured I would just fill in some of the empty side portions with frosting), but because it rose like that, it gave me no room to cut each one in half. Hence it was only a two layer cake :(! Is there a solution to this or was there possibly something I did wrong? If not should I just double this recipe in order to achieve a four layer cake?
Glad you gave this recipe a try Sophia! Cakes dome because the metal on the outside of the pan conducts the heat faster. The sides of the cake set while the center still continues to bake and rise higher. You can help balance it out by using moistened cake strips that wrap around the outside of the pan. They help keep the pan itself cooler, so the cake bakes level with less that has to be cut off the top. You can find cake strips in cake decorating stores, craft stores and on amazon.
Next time, give the frosting a try as well! The sugar in the chocolate is enough to make the frosting sweet and delicious!
Do you leave it to set overnight in the fridge or out pls?
I think you’re asking specifically about making the chocolate frosting? If so, you let it set overnight on the counter, not in the refrigerator.
Once the cake is decorated it should be stored in the fridge but served at room temperature. It will do ok for a few hours at room temperature though.
Can I use grated chocolate in place of the chocolate flakes?
Sure Sonia! Or chocolate sprinkles! Or chocolate chips! All would be good options. Enjoy!
Hello…the cake looks wonderful but could you please tell me where can I get heavy cream? And is heavy cream also called whipping cream?
Yes, heavy cream is the same as whipping cream. Hope you give this one a try Pam! Enjoy!
Thanks a lot Carrie…will surely make it now!
I think what most of us are trying to ask is that if we leave the frosting overnight on counter top and are not immediately decorating the cake in the morning, then for how long can the frosting remain on the counter top i.e outside? Please let me know as my frosting has already been outside over night…but making the cakes and decorating will take a few hours. Thank you 😊
You should be just fine Hansa. While I’m no expert at food safety, ganache is typically counter stable for one to two days, depending on the temperature of your home and the amount of cream/butter in the recipe. If you’re concerned about an extra long length of time between making the ganache and decorating the cake, you can refrigerate the ganache and then bring it back to room temperature before using. Hope that helps!
Dear Carrie
I made this cake and just say it is the best
Thank you so much, Be sweet.
sholeh
Dear Carrie
I would like to know if you doubled the recipe to get a 4 layer cake ? As I have never done a cake with 1 cup and a half of flour . I’m doing it for my husbands bday this week and I really want to stand out !!
XoXo
Valentina
I believe Olivia baked this recipe, as written, in two 8″ round pans and then torted the finished cakes to create four layers. I hope it worked out well for your husband’s birthday!