Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake
The chocolate cake that defines the term "fudge". Oil instead of butter for tenderness, hot coffee to bloom the cocoa, buttermilk for tang and rise — and a generous fill of chocolate buttercream. Stays soft for four days.
Plus 1h 30m cooling / chilling time
Method
- 1
Preheat the oven to 175°C (155°C fan / 350°F / Gas 4). Grease two 20cm (8-inch) round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment.
- 2
Boil the kettle and stir the instant coffee into 240ml of just-boiled water. Set aside to cool slightly while you make the batter — you want it hot but not scalding when it goes in.
- 3
Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt together in a large bowl until completely uniform — no visible streaks of cocoa. Sifting the cocoa beforehand stops it clumping.
- 4
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla together until smooth.
- 5
Pour the wet mixture into the dry and whisk on low speed (or by hand) just until the flour has disappeared. Slowly pour in the hot coffee in a thin stream while whisking gently — the batter will become very thin, which is exactly what you want. This is what gives the cake its signature moisture. Do not panic at the consistency.
- 6
Divide the batter equally between the two tins (weighing after filling for even layers — this batter is too thin to eyeball). Bake for 32–38 minutes, until the tops spring back to a light press and a skewer in the middle comes out with only a few moist crumbs. Do not overbake — the line between fudgy and dry is about 3 minutes.
Bake35:00 - 7
Cool in the tins for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely — at least 90 minutes. Warm cakes will melt the buttercream the moment it touches them.
Cool90:00 - 8
Make a 1.5x batch of the rich chocolate buttercream (recipe on cakeytops.co.uk). Place the flatter sponge upside-down on a stand or plate. Spread roughly a third of the buttercream evenly to the edges. Sandwich the second sponge on top, top-side up. Pile the remaining buttercream on top and spread down the sides, smoothing or swirling as you prefer.
- 9
Refrigerate for 20 minutes to set the buttercream, then bring to room temperature for 30 minutes before slicing for the softest crumb.
Baker's Notes
- •Hot liquid is the trick. Pouring hot coffee or water into a chocolate batter is called "blooming" the cocoa — the heat draws out cocoa's deeper, fudgier flavour notes that stay locked away in cold mixing. Skip the coffee if you must; the cake still tastes of chocolate, not coffee, when the coffee is included.
- •Buttermilk substitute: stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white wine vinegar into a measuring jug and top up with whole milk to 240ml. Stir and leave for 5 minutes until slightly curdled. Yogurt thinned with milk also works.
- •Why oil, not butter? Oil stays liquid at fridge temperature, where butter sets firm. The result is a cake that is still tender straight from the fridge — exactly what you want from a fudge cake.
- •The batter is meant to be thin. Thinner than any other cake batter you have probably made. This is correct — pour confidently into the tins and the cake will rise into a properly moist crumb.
- •Storage: airtight at room temperature for up to 4 days, or refrigerated for up to 1 week. Bring to room temperature for 30 minutes before serving. Freezes well, frosted or unfrosted, for 3 months.
- •For a richer finish: replace the chocolate buttercream with chocolate ganache (recipe on cakeytops.co.uk). Use a spreadable consistency for the filling and a slightly looser pour for a glossy drip down the sides.
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