This Chocolate Fudge Cake is incredibly moist, rich, and chocolatey, made with Dutch-process cocoa powder, sour cream, and hot coffee, then topped with a thick layer of homemade chocolate fudge frosting. I love that the cake batter comes together in one bowl without a mixer, making it an easy dessert whenever a chocolate craving strikes. And if I'm being truthful, that usually happens around 2 p.m. every afternoon! The frosting is what really makes this cake special, with real melted chocolate and cocoa powder for an intensely fudgy finish.
Featured Review
"The Cake is super fluffy and chocolatey. It was easy to make and came out great. The frosting was also good. It was super fudgy (which made it a little hard to cut the cake) I think next time I'll try to add a little heavy cream. Definitely going to make this cake again."
Sabina
When I'm craving chocolate, I usually find myself choosing between a really good slice of cake and a fudgy brownie. My favorite brownie recipe is perfect when I want something dense and chewy, but this cake gives me that same rich chocolate flavor with a much softer texture. And if you love the frosting as much as I do, you can make my Chocolate Fudge Frosting separately to spread over cupcakes or your favorite layer cake.
Simple Cake Ingredients, Serious Chocolate Flavor
- Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder: After developing so many chocolate cake recipes over the years, I've found that using a good-quality cocoa powder makes a huge difference in flavor. I use Dutch-process cocoa for its rich, deep chocolate flavor. Don't substitute natural cocoa powder in this recipe.
- Sour Cream + Oil: I love using this combination because the sour cream adds richness and tenderness, while the oil helps keep the cake beautifully moist, even a few days after baking.
- Hot Coffee: Don't worry, the finished cake won't taste like coffee! I add hot coffee to help bring out the chocolate flavor. The batter will be quite thin once it's mixed in, which is exactly how it should look.
- Chocolate Fudge Frosting: This isn't your typical chocolate buttercream! I use real melted chocolate, cocoa powder, and corn syrup to create a thick, rich frosting with a fudgy texture. I recommend using good-quality chocolate because its flavor really comes through.buttercream recipe but it is not as fudgy.
For ingredient quantities please reference the recipe card below. On the recipe card there is a button for US or M (Metric) measurements.
Mix, Bake, Frost, Enjoy
There you go a delicious chocolate fudge cake. I love to warm up a leftover slice and serve it with ice cream.
★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!
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PrintRecipe Card
One-Bowl Chocolate Fudge Cake
This Chocolate Fudge Cake is incredibly moist, rich, and chocolatey, made with Dutch-process cocoa powder, sour cream, and hot coffee, then topped with a thick layer of homemade chocolate fudge frosting. I love that the cake batter comes together in one bowl without a mixer, making it an easy dessert whenever a chocolate craving strikes. And if I'm being truthful, that usually happens around 2 p.m. every afternoon! The frosting is what really makes this cake special, with real melted chocolate and cocoa powder for an intensely fudgy finish.
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 9-12 Slices 1x
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 100 grams (½ Cup) Granulated Sugar/ Caster Sugar
- 100 grams (½ Cup) Light Brown Sugar
- 2 Large Eggs, at room temperature
- 2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
- 3oz (¼ Cup +2 Tablespoons) Vegetable Oil
- 4oz (½ Cup) Sour Cream
- 125 grams (1 Cup) All-Purpose/ Plain Flour
- 45 grams (⅓ Cup) Dutch Process Cocoa Powder ( I use Bensdorp Dutch Cocoa Powder)
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 4oz (½ Cup) Hot Coffee*
Frosting
- 4oz Good Quality Chocolate (dark chocolate or milk chocolate)
- 5oz (10 Tablespoons) Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature
- 60 grams (½ Cup) Confectioners Sugar/ Powdered Sugar
- 45 grams (⅓ Cup) Dutch-process Cocoa Powder
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- 3oz (¼ Cup +2 Tablespoons) Light Corn Syrup
- 1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
Instructions
Moist Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C and grease a 9-inch pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl mix together the sugar, eggs, vanilla, oil, and sour cream mix until fully combined. Place a fine mesh sieve on top of the wet ingredients and sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Mix to just combine.
- Add in the hot coffee and mix until evenly combined. The cake batter will be very thin. Pour evenly into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean/ only moist crumbs, no wet batter. Set the cake on a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cake is cooling prepare chocolate frosting. Wait to frost the cake until it is fully cooled.
Assembly
- Melt the chocolate first, by using a Bain Marie** or in a microwave at 50% power in 15-second increments. Be careful not to burn the chocolate, once 75% of the chocolate is melted I take it off of the heat and mix it to fully melt everything. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before starting on the rest of the recipe.
- In a large food processor add the butter, confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, and salt then pulse a few times, until everything is combined.
- Add in the corn syrup and vanilla and pulse to combine again. Scrape down the bowl and add in the melted chocolate, mix for another 30 seconds- a minute to ensure everything is evenly incorporated.
- Spread on top of the cooled cake. Use the back of a spoon to create a swirly design. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. If you live in a warm environment store the cake in the refrigerator but let it sit at room temperature for the ideal serving temperature.
Notes
- Freezing: Let the chocolate cake cool completely. Once cooled wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then wrap the cake in a second layer. Two layers of plastic wrap help prevent any freezer burn. You can freeze the frosted cake as well, let it freeze for an hour first then wrap it in plastic wrap.
- Thawing frozen cake: Take the cake out of the freezer and place on the counter at room temperature for a couple of hours. The cake will thaw a lot quicker than you think.
- If you think you've accidentally overcooked your cake you could make a quick cake simple syrup to brush on and ensure the cake is moist. Simply add ¼ cup of sugar and ¼ cup of water and cook in a saucepan for 7-9 minutes over low-medium heat. Then let the simple syrup cool for 10 minutes before using a pastry brush to brush the syrup all over the top of the cake.
- Prep Time: 20 Minutes
- Cook Time: 25 Minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Sabina says
The Cake is super fluffy and chocolatey. It was easy to make and came out great. The frosting was also good. It was super fudgy (which made it a little hard to cut the cake) I think next time I'll try to add a little heavy cream. Definitely going to make this cake again.
Sophie says
Sometimes US recipes are good, this one was pretty shocking. The cake itself was fine but the icing (frosting) was horrific. Obviously in the UK corn syrup isn’t freely available, nor should it be, so I used agave syrup instead. Otherwise I used the exact ingredients and it was pretty grim tbh. The icing was way too synthetic-tasting, even with the best quality cocoa and green & black’s chocolate. Will stick to UK recipes in future for fudge cake
Elizabeth Waterson says
Sorry to hear you feel that way Sophie. The frosting is a very fudgy, thick, sweet chocolate frosting. I have used golden syrup instead of corn syrup in the past I wonder if the agave syrup gave it a different taste that wasn't pleasant?
Lisa says
Made this for my son’s birthday cake yesterday but used a different frosting—he requested cream cheese chocolate buttercream. I doubled it using the handy metric option and used my kitchen scale. The only difference I used was instead of hot coffee, I used some espresso powder mixed in hot water. Excellent cake! Moist, tender, delicious!