A rich fudgy chocolate cake topped with a sweet and silky marshmallow buttercream frosting. This recipe is delicious, decadent and makes the perfect bake for any occasion.
The base of this recipe is the rich an decadent fudgy chocolate cake. Made with a mixture of dark brown and white sugar, cocoa powder and warm milk. This is the ultimate chocolate cake. Using a mixture of both regular white caster sugar and dark brown soft sugar in equal quantities adds a slight caramel hint to the base, which is perfect for a chocolate cake. My one piece of advice would be to try and buy a high quality cocoa powder whenever possible. And always use a cocoa powder over hot chocolate powder when it comes to baking! Trust me, this will really make a difference to the overall taste, texture and quality of the chocolate cake.
This recipe also uses melted butter, this adds a richness to the cake and also slightly changes the texture. Rather than light and fluffy, the cake becomes denser and fudgier. The use of warm milk helps to activate the cocoa, creating a richer bake. For this step, it’s important to add this with the dry ingredients. This is important as if you add the warm milk to the eggs then they may start cooking which could result in curdling.
Chocolate
For this cake, add the dry ingredients to a bowl and gently mix together then set aside. In a separate bowl add the wet ingredients, minus the warm milk, once again mixing together and setting aside. Next, add the hot milk to the dry ingredients and stir until fully incorporated. Lastly add the wet ingredients and mix everything together until fully combined. The mixture will be wetter and runnier than a usual batter but this will result in a fudgier cake.
These cakes do rise well, so when filling the cases with batter fill them only 2/3 of the way full to allow them to stay flat on top, making them easier to decorate and ice.
The finishing touch and real showstopper is the marshmallow using, made using marshmallow fluff. This is light, spongy and tastes just like marshmallows! This buttercream frosting is really easy and simple to make and follows the same basis as a regular buttercream, with a few minor tweaks. Place the butter into a bowl with half of the marshmallow fluff and cream together. Next add the icing sugar into two separate batches, stirring each time before using an electric whisk. This helps to prevent an icing cloud, and icing sugar flying everywhere! Add the milk with the second addition of icing sugar. Lastly add the rest of the marshmallow fluff and blend. With icing sugar you can’t overmix and really want to create something which is smooth so don’t be afraid to over mix here. This recipe uses ~100 grams of fluff, which I know sounds like a lot, but this is needed to get that nice marshmallow flavouring. But as always, taste along the way and adjust to your personal preference.
Chocolate
This icing also uses less icing sugar than a basic recipe to help control the sweetness. It is still able to hold its own shape and is easily pipeable if that is how you wish to decorate.
I always make a smaller batch of cakes as I believe that they are best eaten fresh on the same as baking. Any leftover cakes should be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 days. If you have any leftovers buttercream which has not been used, place this in an airtight container and store in the fridge for roughly 1 week.
Ingredients
- CAKE:
- 2 oz / 55 g Self - Raising Flour
- 1 oz / 30 g Dark Brown Soft Brown Sugar
- 1 oz / 30 g Caster Sugar
- 1 oz / 30 g Cocoa Powder
- 1 1/2 oz / 42 g Butter, melted
- 1 Egg
- 1 teaspoon Milk
- Pinch Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 oz / 55 g Hot Milk
- 1 oz / 30 g Cold Milk
- BUTTERCREAM:
- 3 oz / 85 g Unsalted Butter
- 5 oz / 140 g Icing Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Milk
- 3.5 oz / 100 g Marshmallow Fluff
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160*c Fan Oven/180*c/350*f/Gas Mark 4.
- Line a baking tray with cupcake cases and set aside.
- Place the dry ingredients (flour, sugars, cocoa powder, salt) into a bowl and lightly mix before setting aside.
- Place the wet ingredients (egg, melted butter vanilla extract), leaving out the milks, into a separate bowl and combine.
- Mix the hot milk in with the dry ingredients, stirring well.
- Next, add the wet ingredients and mix everything together.
- Once everything is well combined, stir through the cold milk. The mixture may be quite runny, but that this is fine and will result in a fudgier bake.
- Spoon in the mixture into your prepared cases, making sure that the mixture is evenly distributed.
- Cook for 16 - 20 minutes checking regularly, or until light and fluffy. You can tell it's ready when it springs back when lightly pressed. You could also insert a skewer into the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean, then the cake is ready.
- Once ready, remove from the oven.
- Allow it to sit in the pan for roughly 5 minutes before turning out onto a wired baking tray and allowing it to cool completely.
- Whilst the cake is cooling, make the buttercream frosting icing.
- Add the butter and half of the marshmallow fluff (~50g) to a mixing bowl and using an electric mixer, blend until creamy.
- Add half of the sieved icing sugar to the bowl and using a spoon, gently stir together until just combined (this helps to prevent an icing sugar explosion!), before mixing with the electric mixer.
- Add the remaining icing sugar and milk and follow the steps above, do not be afraid to overmix, you want this to be nice and smooth.
- Mix in the remaining marshmallow fluff. Remember that you can always add more or less depending on personal preference and taste.
- This icing is thick enough to be piped if desired. Decorate as you wish and enjoy!
Notes
This cake is slightly denser than an average bake. I always recommend eating this as close to baking as possible. However, any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for roughly 2-3 days.
Looking for more baking ideas? Have a look in the recipe section:
Want to stay up to date and receive exclusive content and recipes? Follow me and never miss a moment!