This chocolate birthday cake is simple to make, tastes delicious and is perfect for decorating for a special celebration.
I hate getting questions that I can’t give a helpful answer to, so over the past few weeks I’ve been a busy bee trying to perfect my chocolate cake recipe. Now this couldn’t be just any old chocolate cake, it had to be perfect for a birthday which meant it…
I get a lot of comments on my all-in-one vanilla sponge birthday cake and the ones that always makes me smile the most are when people say that they never bake and the simplicity of the recipe has given them the confidence to do more in future. I wanted this chocolate cake to be that simple to make… a cake even the novice-est of cooks can make.
This cake is so simple… chuck it all in and mix it up. The only piece of culinary skill you need is a bit of grating!
2) Must be suitable for decorating
When I make birthday cakes for my boys I love to go to town on the decoration (you can see some on my cakes in my cake gallery). In order for the cake to work as a decorated cake it can’t dome too much on top or sink in the middle and it must be sturdy enough to be carved into various shapes for decorating without crumbling.
3) Be chocolatey
This is actually the big reason I’ve not been able to recommend chocolate cake recipes until now. All the cakes I’d made in the past with the right texture (see point 2) used just cocoa powder and they simply weren’t chocolatey enough. To give this cake some extra chocolate-iness it includes lots of actual chocolate grated into the cake mix alongside the cocoa powder.
Photographing this cake caused a lot of confusion in my house as I decided it needed to be decorated just like a birthday cake with lots of colourful fondant. Josh (who’s 3) kept asking whose birthday it was and then started getting all excited about Father Christmas coming (because apparently, he delivers presents for birthdays too). I probably didn’t help matters by deciding to light the candles – a completely unnecessary step as I really only wanted to photograph the inside of the cake after they’d been blown out – we had fun doing it together though 🙂
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Chocolate Birthday Cake
INGREDIENTS
- 200 g self-raising flour
- 40 g cocoa powder
- 230 g caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 230 g soft margarine - you can also use softened unsalted butter too
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 100 g milk chocolate - choose something from the baking aisle in the supermarket as it will cope well with the heat in the oven without going grainy.
- 2 tsp milk
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pre-heat your oven to 160ºC/140ºC fan.
- Line your tins (2x 20cm sandwich tins) with liners or greaseproof paper.
- Grate the milk chocolate (100g).
- Put all of the ingredients into a large bowl (200g self-raising flour, 40g cocoa powder, 230g caster sugar, 4 large eggs, 230g soft margarine, ¼ tsp vanilla extract, 2 tsp milk and the grated chocolate) mix on a low speed until fully combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and spread it out so it’s pretty even (it doesn’t have to be perfect as it’ll even out in the oven, but roughly flat is good).
- Put the tins in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes put a skewer in the middle and check if it comes out clean. If it does it’s done, if not pop it back in for a couple more minutes and check again.
- Once cooked, remove the cakes from the oven and leave them to cool in the tins for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, remove the cakes from their tins and pop them onto a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For…
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Nut-Free
The ingredients for this recipe are easily available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.
Hattie says
Hi,
I’ve made this cake many times, as it’s my family’s favourite birthday cake. I’m planning on doing cupcakes with the recipe for the Jubilee and was wondering how many cupcakes the recipe makes?
Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
This recipe will make 16 cupcakes
Niki says
Hi can I use melted chocolate instead of grated? If so do I have to cool it down before I add it in?
Niki
Charlotte Oates says
You can. You do need to cool it to room temperate before folding it into the other ingredients.
Helen says
This so easy and the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made. Thank you!
Becky says
How long does this keep for if covered with fondant? Wondering how far ahead I can make it! Many thanks
Charlotte Oates says
The cake should be good to eat for up to 7 days after baking, just store it in an airtight container to keep it fresh.
Lindsay Duncan says
Hi, I’ve made this a few times now and it’s always a winner! Did it freeze well? Thinking I’ll make it ahead of icing to give myself more decorating time. Thanks!
Charlotte Oates says
There will be no problem freezing the sponges, just made sure to wrap it well.
Kat says
Hi Charlotte
Can this cake be frozen. I always bake in advance & freeze my sponge cakes then decorate day before needed?
Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
Yes this cake is great to freeze.
Helen says
Hi Charlotte
I love the recipes on your website and particularly the useful tips you add.
Just wondering about the recipes for Easy Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Birthday Cake. They are obviously quite similar, but in one, self raising flour is used and in the other, plain flour plus baking powder. Is there any particular reason for this?
Keep up the great work
Helen.
Charlotte Oates says
They are very similar. My chocolate birthday cake was the first I developed of the two. I had lots of questions about if it could be made with plain flour and BP, and melted chocolate instead of grated and so I tested them both and found the both worked. I decided to publish it as a separate recipe. The results of the two are quite similar.
Siobhan says
Hi I’m just wondering if the measurements for the flour are before you sieve or after being sieved? Many thanks
Charlotte Oates says
If you are measuring by weight then the measures are the same either way. If you are using the US cup measurements then scoop and scrape un-sieved flour. For best results I do recommend using weight measurements if at all possible.
Katrina says
How many times do I need to multiply this recipe to fit a 15 inch by 11 inch cake tin please ?
Charlotte Oates says
If you have a look below the recipe you’ll find a link to my calculator where it will work the ingredients out for you for a different size of tin.
Holly says
Hi Charlotte
Made this today using all fresh ingredients.
However, each layer is only about an inch thick, whereas in your picture the layers look much deeper. Is this the case, or is it just how it looks in the photos?
What could I be doing wrong?
Charlotte Oates says
Without having been able to watch you baking, it is difficult to say what the issue is. The most likely candidate is that you may have used a tin that was bigger than the one in the recipe. I would make this the first thing that you check.
Ginette says
Please ignore my previous question I didn’t realise the calculator for the chocolate birthday cake included the adjusted weights for the buttercream when using a different sized tin.
I have just made this chocolate cake in a 9in tin and also made the chocolate buttercream, filled and covered the cake with it too. It is absolutely delicious. This is the first time I have covered a cake with buttercream and I’m so pleased how it has turned out. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Amanda says
I have been looking for a chocolate cake recipe for the cakes I bake for people.
This one is perfect, I would definitely give it 5 stars and above.
The sponge is dense, soft, moist and melts in your mouth.
I used both dark and milk chocolate in the mix and both worked well.
My most recent pairing has been with a rose flavour buttercream for a Turkish Delight themed cake, the pairing worked beautifully.
Many thanks Charlotte for this recipe, it will now be my go to chocolate cake
Lana Metcalfe says
I was looking for an easy chocolate cake recipe which was a bit more kiddy friendly and suitable for fondant decoration and this was firm, chocolatey and perfect. Doubled the recipe for both cake and buttercream and used deep 25cm tin. Perfect amounts!
Mary says
Hi
My last message has disappeared.. I made this cake with 22.5cm measurements but split it between 2 x 20 cms. After 30 mins it still wasn’t cooked, not sure where I went wrong, had to leave it in for an hour altogether?!
Charlotte Oates says
You used more mixture per tin than the recipe calls for. The deeper the cake the longer it takes to cook so I’m unsurprised that it would need longer in the oven than the time stated in the recipe.
Jo says
This is my go to celebration cake recipe. It is so easy and has never let me down. I’ve made this with flavoured chocolate for a chocolate orange lover and it was great as well. I have also used the vanilla cake recipe but substituted lemon and it was delicious. I’m so glad I found this recipe, an actually chocolatey, chocolate cake!
Vikky says
My kind of cooking ..all in together and done. ..love it ..Great flavour too..
Jo Finn says
Hi
Can I put the entire mixture into one deep 20cm tin rather than 2 shallow ones? Thanks very much
Charlotte Oates says
You can but the cooking time and temperature would both need to be adjusted. I have not tested the recipe in this way and cannot therefore properly advise. I would recommend baking in two tins if at all possible.