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.
Hi Carrie,
This cake looks spectacular!!
Do you think the whole thing would freeze well? I’m making a cake for a cake auction in a few weeks and the idea is that people can buy cakes to have on hand for the holidays, so over a couple of weeks. I’d love to make this one but wasn’t sure!
Also, would dusting it with cocoa like a truffle work as well?
I’m not sure Chantal. I typically don’t freeze finished cakes as they are photographed, served and eaten! As for the decoration, you could certainly dust the top with cocoa if you prefer that over the chocolate flakes or chocolate sprinkles.
The cake looks amazing! Can i replace vegetable oil with butter?
This recipe works best with vegetable oil.
Hi,
I want to make this cake tomorrow but every cake I’ve ever made uses caster sugar rather than granulated. I’m based in the UK so not sure if this makes a difference! Would you please clarify for me?
Thanks
C
I believe that you should use caster sugar being in the UK. From what I understand, granulated sugar in the UK is more coarse than granulated sugar here in the US. So the finer caster sugar would be a better option for you.
Thank you so much! I didn’t see your reply and gambled that it should be caster, best chocolate cake I’ve ever made!
If you don’t mind answering another question for me, I’d be really grateful! I’m using this recipe to make a 10inch cake but I only have one pan. What over temp would you recommend I bake it at considering the whole mixture will be in one pan? I have a cake pan belt to try and keep it from cooking too quickly on the outer edges.
Thanks
Hello, this cake looks awesome and I can’t wait to make it for Christmas dessert! I have a basic question, tho. What is the point of greasing and dusting the pan if you are going to put parchment paper over it? It seems like you should do one or the other?
Hi
This cake looks absolutely amazing! I am also huge fan chocolates & chocolate cakes thanks for sharing the recipe i will try it .
I refrigerated the frosting overnight (should have read the comments first!) and am wondering what’s the best (and fastest) way to soften it up for frosting the cake?
Made this cake last summer for a small garden party – it was absolutely delicious, this is now one of my “bestie” cake recipes. Thank you.
I have a doubt.!
What should I do to make the cake more spongy? (My dad prefers less dense 🍰)
Please help.
Truffle cake looks so delicious i wish i could eat it right now. Really an awesome blog and its my mom’s birthday day after tomorrow so i will surely try this recipe at home ASAP.
Hey can you make this cake of 2 layers instead of 4 layers if you can please tell me the measurement of each ingredient
I made this cake for my office colleagues for my own birthday.. and OMG, when i tasted it .. it was heaven.. i must admit the assembly and photography skills were bad.. but the cake was so yummy, my ideas of taking a better photograph was soon history…!!
Thank you so much for this recipe.. this is truly a keeper!
btw.. i added some hazelnuts and nutella over the second layer.. and it just enhanced the taste soo much..
I made this cake for my office colleagues for my own birthday.. and OMG, when i tasted it .. it was heaven.. i must admit the assembly and photography skills were bad.. but the cake was so yummy, my ideas of taking a better photograph was soon history…!!
Thank you so much for this recipe.. this is truly a keeper!
btw.. i added some hazelnuts and nutella over the second layer.. and it just enhanced the taste soo much..
Regards
Diana
Loved your recipe and should try soon! However I have a quick question! What if I want to just half the recipe! What should be the measurement for baking soda?
¾ teaspoon baking soda
Hi there! This cake looks divine. I was wondering if you could give me some guidance on the weights of the cream and chocolate for the frosting. While I have used a 1:1 ratio for ganache filling, is this any different? I also note the addition of butter – is this to make it more shiny and smooth? Thank you!
One cup of butter is equal to 8 oz / 227 g. Two cups of heavy cream is equal to 16.4 oz / 460 g. Hope that helps!
I love this recipe!! I added chocolate covered strawberries as decorations. I wanted to know if this recipe could be used to make cupcakes instead of a round cake.
Wonderful, thank you for the feedback! Chocolate strawberries are a perfect addition to this cake. And yes, you can use this recipe to make cupcakes, just adjust your baking time accordingly. Enjoy!
Hi do you have a recipes for a moist sponge cake ,which is better oil sponge or made with butter
Thanks Mary
Looks delish a must try. Love the cake stand….do you know where it came from? Thanks in advance.
Just perfect !!!
hi.whats the difference between a chocolate cake and truffle cake ? pls guide
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I made this for my son’s 13 it was delicious and not too sweet which I enjoyed very much. Great recipe!
Hi …can we make this without egg.What would be the substitute for egg.
Moreover can we use salted buttermilk available in market
Thanx for this amazing recipie….i made this cake for a friend’s birthday n it was a huge hit. The frosting was just perfect n so was the soft moist cake….do keep posting such recipies…
Can eggs be substituted?