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 🙂
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.
Leanne says
Does this recipe work as cupcakes. I’m making a cake and also cupcakes and hoped to use the same recipe.
Has anyone tried?
Cheers
Charlotte Oates says
It does. I’ve adapted the recipe here.
Eileen says
Do you coat the cake with buttercream before you put on the fondant
Charlotte Oates says
Yes. I use my chocolate buttercream.
Natasha says
Hi if my tin is 20cm round and 10cm high how would I put this in the calculater?
Charlotte Oates says
I’d put that as two layers and then cook it in the one tin. However, I wouldn’t recommend baking it in a tin that deep as I tend to find it rises better in sandwich tins, so I would split it.
Natasha says
Thanks. I made the cake over the weekend for my little girls 2nd birthday and it was amazing the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted everyone enjoyed! great recipe
Kstherine says
Love this cake-made it for my sons 2nd birthday and he’s requested it again this year! How long does it keep for?
Charlotte Oates says
I find it keeps for about 5 days in an airtight container.
Penny says
Hi Charlotte
Just wondered if you have ever tried chocolate chips rather than grated chocolate as I was thinking of giving it a go but I’m a bit worried as it’s my daughter’s birthday cake!
Charlotte Oates says
I have. I found that as they’re heavier than the grated chocolate they tended to sink to the bottom more rather than being evenly distributed through the cake. If you don’t want to grate the chocolate you can melt it instead. Mix together all of the other ingredients and then fold in the melted chocolate last. Make sure the melted chocolate has cooled to room temperature before adding it.
Ali says
Thanks this is exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a party cake that I could cook and ice in a single layer. I made a 25cm / 10” cake and covered it with buttercream. I have no idea how long it took to cook as I timed 50 mins then checked it with a cocktail stick every 3 minutes until I was happy with it. It came out very nice and even and stayed together when cut.
I sliced the chocolate with a large knife which I find easier than grating.
Magda says
I have just made this cake for the second year running for my daughter’s birthday. I used the buttercream as icing because she doesn’t like normal icing, then just decorate with small colourful things. It really is a deliciously chocolatey cake! The buttercream is especially yummy when it has been refrigerated.
The sizing calculator is genius. I rarely bake, so I look for cakes I can confidently make in the tins I already have – rather than buying new tins.
Grating the chocolate was made easy using an ancient mouli grater.
Charlotte Oates says
Great tip about the grater. My parents used to have one like that when I was young and I always found it so much easier to use. I should get myself one.
Joanne Loch says
Hello this looks fantastic!
Could you tell me how much fondant icing I might need to cover the cake?
Thanks,
Jo Loch
Charlotte Oates says
You can work out how much fondant you need using my calculator.
nicolle jenkins says
Does this recipe not require baking powder? Bit nervous as the cake is for someone else xx many thanks
Charlotte Oates says
Nope. I originally tested it with baking powder and I found it rose too much in the oven and then collapsed when I removed it. The raising agents included in the self-raising flour should be fine to give the cake enough lift.
Lucy says
Delicious chocolate cake, the best I’ve tried over the years – I used it for my sons birthday cake. Thank you for sharing your recipe
Rafia says
Hi,
I tried out your recipe as I was searching for a good chocolate cake that goes well with fondant and I think I’ve finally found the one! This cake was so delicious, super moist and soft and spongy but at the same time dense and rich. The grated chocolate (only tedious part!) added depth and richness and went well with my SMBC filling. I used your calculator to make 2 7” x 3” rounds which I split and layered up. I made this 2 weeks in advance and froze it and it turned out fine. I also added some sugar syrup on each layer to help keep the cakes moist while decorating. Overall, really happy with this and will defo be my go-to recipe from now on. I am only just thinking to grate the chocolate in a food processor beforehand so I have it ready when baking.
Thanks so much for sharing this
Charlotte Oates says
If you really hate the grating then you can melt the chocolate instead (set it aside to cool before adding it to the cake mixture). I find that you get little bursts of chocolate-iness when you grate whereas the cake has a more even chocolate flavour with melted, but both taste good.