I wanted to make a true chocolate cake. Nothing added, just pure unadulterated fudgy chocolatey-ness! I came across a simple typed up recipe in my file with minimal instructions, and I had a feeling it was one of my friends’ mum’s recipes from 40 years ago. With that first bite I knew it was. I was taken straight back to my early teens and the perfect chocolate fudge cake that she used to serve slightly warmed up for extra gooiness.
Chocolate… just chocolate
Sometimes you don’t want anything fancy. You don’t want layers of complexity or trendy flavour combinations. For a moment, forget salted caramel, raspberry infusions, or pistachio dust. Occasionally you just want pure, fudgy, chocolatey perfection.
This is a cake for chocolate purists. For those moments when only proper chocolate cake will do. When someone’s had a tough day, when you’re celebrating something special, or when you simply need to remember what made you fall in love with baking in the first place.
An oldie but goodie
I stumbled upon this recipe in my old file of cakes and bakes. A simple typed-up card with minimal instructions and smudged with chocolate. It’s the kind of recipe that’s been photocopied and passed between family and friends for decades. There was something familiar about it, but it wasn’t until that first bite that everything clicked into place.
Suddenly, I was back sitting in my friend’s kitchen, being served a slice of this incredible chocolate cake. Slightly warm, the chocolate icing squidgy but not runny. This was that cake. Forty years later, here it was, finding its way back to me through a pile of old recipes.
Chocolate magic
Not quite brownie, not quite sponge, but something gloriously in between. The kind of cake that’s dense enough to satisfy but light enough to have a second slice (and let’s be honest, you will). The secret is serving it slightly warm. Not hot from the oven, but gently warmed so the cake becomes soft and the icing turns glossy and almost molten.
A recipe worth keeping
Some recipes deserve to be treasured, passed down, and shared. This chocolate fudge cake is one of them. It’s been feeding families and creating memories for at least forty years that I know of, probably longer. There’s no fancy technique, no hard-to-find ingredients, no complicated method. Just honest, reliable, absolutely delicious chocolate fudge cake.
Other chocolate recipes
If you’re looking for other chocolate recipes, you can find a selection here:
This chocolate fudge cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days – if you can resist it that long!
You can certainly make this cake ahead of time and freeze it either as a whole or in individual slices. It can be frozen for up to 3 months. To thaw the cake slices, leave at room temperature for 3-4 hours. If you are freezing the entire cake it will likely take a little longer. Once defrosted, you can always gently warm it (in a microwave for example) to soften the icing further.
Chocolate Fudge Cake
Equipment
- 20cm x 20cm/8”x8” square cake tin
Ingredients
Chocolate Fudge Cake
- 115 g dark chocolate min 70%
- 140 ml milk
- 115 g soft brown sugar
- 115 g soft butter
- 115 g caster sugar
- 2 eggs separated
- 200 g plain flour
- 30 g cocoa
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Chocolate Fudge Icing
- 40 g butter
- 1 ½ tbsp milk
- 170 g icing sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp cocoa
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 160 °C
- Line a square 20x20cm/8×8" baking tin with greaseproof paper leaving a slight overhang to allow you to lift the cake out when cooled.
- In a small non-stick saucepan, melt the chocolate, 4 tbsp of the milk, and the soft brown sugar together over a medium heat. Once melted, stir in the remaining milk.
- In a free-standing mixer, or with a hand whisk, cream together the softened butter and caster sugar. Once pale in colour, beat in the egg yolks one at a time.
- Add the flour, cocoa and bicarb to the mixture and beat until smooth. Pour in the melted chocolate mixture and beat until combined.
- Using a clean whisk and a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Add in a couple of large spoons of the whisked egg white mixture into the main bowl, stir to combine and loosen the mix. Then gently fold in the remaining whisked whites, trying to maintain as much air as possible.
- Pour the cake mix into the tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
- In the meantime, make the icing by melting the butter and milk in a small non-stick saucepan.
- Remove from the heat and sift over the icing sugar and cocoa and beat well. Pour the icing over the cake and leave to cool before removing from the tin and slicing into 12 pieces.
Notes
- The cake can be served at room temperature or warmed very slightly. Add some double cream, ice cream, or creme fraiche if desired.
- This chocolate fudge cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days
- You can freeze this cake either as a whole or in individual slices. It can be frozen for up to 3 months. To thaw the cake slices, leave at room temperature for 3-4 hours. If you are freezing the entire cake it will likely take a little longer. Once defrosted, you can always gently warm it (in a microwave for example) to soften the icing further.
