Easy Chocolate Cake

A recipe for a simple chocolate cake that doesn’t fall. Very chocolate cream, very chocolate sponge cake with oil, two types of chocolate, one cream perfect for plastering and layering the sponge cake.
The easiest chocolate cake cream that quickly sets in the fridge and becomes stable.
No mascarpone, no cooking, no ganache.
If you want to prepare this cake in a lactose-free version, use lactose-free cream and butter.
A very chocolatey sponge cake that can be used as a base for many cakes.
If you want to get a more bitter-chocolate cream, you can use e.g. 300g of dark chocolate and 100g of milk chocolate or 400g of dark chocolate, and if you are a fan of sweet milk-chocolate cakes, you can use more milk chocolate. But if you are preparing this cream for the first time, I recommend preparing it with 50% dark and 50% milk chocolate as in the recipe.
How to make a chocolate cake?
Bake a sponge cake, cut it in half, soak it, cover it with jam and then cream. Cover the cream with the other half of the sponge cake, cover with the rest of the cream and it’s ready!
What to put on a chocolate cake?
To cover the chocolate cake, you can use various creams based on chocolate, cream, mascarpone, chocolate ganache or Nutella. In this post you will find a recipe for the easiest, very simple chocolate cream made of butter, cream and chocolate. The cream comes out smooth and plastic, perfect for plastering and filling. It hardens quickly in the refrigerator, so it is very stable, so the cake will not “melt”.
How to decorate a chocolate cake?
When it comes to cake decorations, you are only limited by your own imagination! You can plaster the cake smoothly and cover it all with chocolate or prepare a chocolate drip. You can use fruit, chocolate figurines, chocolates, macaroons, etc. However, the easiest way is “artistic disorder”. Check the video below how easily you can cover the cake with tasty chocolate cream and you will not need any additional decorations and the cake will not look “naked”.
What fruit for chocolate cake? What jam for chocolate cake?
You can add raw fruit to the cake, prepare homemade jam or add store bought jam. Raspberries, strawberries, cherries and currants go best with chocolate. Homemade blackberry jam is also perfect.
How to prepare a classic chocolate cake.
Classic moist chocolate sponge cake and chocolate cream with jam. However, if you want to prepare a classic 100% chocolate cake, just skip the jam 😉
How to make cherry chocolate cake with this recipe?
You can use cherry jam, add fresh cherries or pickled cherries between the cake layers or soak the sponge cake with cherry alcohol.
How to make chocolate cake moist?
You can’t bake the sponge cake for too long or it will turn out dry. Do not use fan, only the upper and lower oven heaters. The best way to keep the cake moist is to soak it with liquid after it has cooled down.
What to soak chocolate cake with?
Below, I suggest soaking the cake with the simplest mixture of water and sugar (to dissolve the sugar easily, use hot water and wait until it cools down before pouring the cake). You can also soak the cake with tea, fruit juice, coffee or a mixture of water and cocoa powder.
What kind of alcohol should you soak the cake with?
If you want your cake to have an alcoholic taste, you can use flavored liqueurs, rum, cherry vodka or raspberry vodka to soak it. You can mix alcohol with water, juice or use only alcohol, but remember that this will give the cake a strong kick!
How to make chocolate cream for a cake?
To prepare the cake cream, simply mix the whipped cream with melted chocolate and butter. You can prepare such a cream in just a few minutes. It is important that the whipping cream is well chilled and the chocolate is cool before adding it to the cream.
How many days in advance to make the cake?
You can prepare this cake on the same day you want to serve it or prepare it the day before to have peace of mind. It is a quick cake with 1 cream, without ganache, without jelly and without crisps, so the cake is ready the same day. Preparing and baking the sponge cake takes about 50 minutes, the sponge cake cools down in about 1 hour, you can prepare the cream in a few minutes and assemble the cake, then you need to cool the cake for a few minutes in the fridge, so the cake will be ready to eat about 2-2.5 hours from the start of preparation.
Chocolate cake is perfect for people on a vegetarian, flexitarian and pescatarian diet.
The proportions given below make a cake with a diameter of 23 cm, i.e. about 16 pieces of cake.
Read the step-by-step recipe on how to prepare a chocolate cake and watch the video below the recipe.
Also subscribe to the SaltedPasta channel on YouTube and sign up for the newsletter so you don’t miss any recipes!
Easy chocolate cake
Recipe for Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Sponge cake
- 5 eggs (whites and yolks separately)
- 120 g flour
- 60 ml oil
- 40 g cocoa powder (extra dark)
- 12 g vanilla sugar (1 package)
- 175 g sugar (fine)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- salt
Cream
- 330 ml whipping cream (30% fat)
- 200 g dark chocolate
- 200 g milk chocolate
- 100 g butter
Additionaly
- 100 ml water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 100 g jam (eg. blueberry)
Instructions
Sponge cake
- Separate the whites from the yolks. Pour the egg whites into the mixer bowl. Add a pinch of salt and start beating at high speed. When the egg whites form a thick foam, start adding sugar a spoonful at a time so that the sugar dissolves before adding a new one. When you add all the sugar, beat the egg whites for another 2-3 minutes to obtain a thick, stiff foam (as in the video below).5 eggs, salt, 175 g sugar
- Mix the yolks with oil and add to the beaten egg whites. Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder through a strainer into the egg whites. Also add sugar or real vanilla extract. Mix all ingredients together. You can use a mixer at low speed or mix the mixture manually with a whisk or spatula.5 eggs, 120 g flour, 60 ml oil, 40 g cocoa powder, 12 g vanilla sugar, ½ tsp baking powder
- Pour the batter onto a cake tin lined with baking paper (I use a 23 cm diameter cake tin). Place the cake in the oven preheated to 170 °C (338 °F) and bake for about 40 minutes. To make sure the cake is baked, insert a wooden stick into the center of the cake and remove it immediately. If the stick is dry and not sticky, it means that the cake is baked inside and you can remove it from the oven. I leave the baked cake in the tin to cool.
Cream
- Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave or in a pot. When the chocolate and butter melt, mix them together to form a smooth mass. Then set the chocolate aside to cool for a few minutes.200 g dark chocolate, 200 g milk chocolate, 100 g butter
- Whip the cream until stiff. The cream must be very cold to whip nicely. When the cream is 90% whipped, reduce the speed and add the cooled chocolate. Mix until you obtain a smooth chocolate cream.330 ml whipping cream
Cake
- Cut the cooled sponge cake in half. Soak each half with water with sugar dissolved in it. Put a layer of jam on one sponge cake. Put a layer of cream (½ cream) on top of the jam. Cover the cream with the other half of the sponge cake. Then apply the rest of the cream and plaster the cake. Place the cake in the fridge so that the cream cools down and becomes more stable. Thanks to this, the cake will not melt.100 ml water, 1 tsp sugar, 100 g jam
Video
Nutrition
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet