If you’re looking for the best ever chocolate mud cake then look no further because you will not find a rich chocolate mud cake recipe better than this one.
It’s the most moist chocolate cake, decadently rich, delicious, not too sweet and easy to make.
You pick up your cake fork and raise it to touch the top of the glossy icing.
As you press gently you meet no resistance from the thick layer of chocolate fudge icing goodness.
You can smell the richness and can’t wait to get it to your mouth.
As you reach the cake layer you press a little harder and the cake crumbles and squishes a little onto the fork.
You raise it to your mouth and get another whiff of intoxicating chocolate.
In case you’re looking for the best ever chocolate mud cake in a gluten-free version, here you go – best ever flourless chocolate cake.
It hits your lips and then the icing coats your teeth and lips like lipstick.
As soon as the flavour hits your tongue you want more of the tender crumb and smooth as silk icing. You’re in chocolate mud cake cake heaven.
Ok back you come. I so wish that there was a way you could smell this cake through the computer because I guarantee you’d be diving into your screen to get a taste.
This is my go-to mudcake recipe! I have used it for years and ALWAYS get rave reviews. I make it with either a white chocolate or dark chocolate ganache. It’s yummmmmmmm!Kate (mud cake recipe lover)
Yesterday, a friend emailed me asking for the best chocolate cake recipe.
‘I know you have a lot on the blog, but which would you say is best?’
Her question couldn’t have come at a better time because this is quite possibly the best ever chocolate mud cake.
I know there are a lot of different recipes out there but this one really is the perfect chocolate mud cake.
It's our go-to for any special occasions.
It’s the best that I’ve made that’s for sure.
I know it’s a big call but I can confidently say that (edit: and if you read the comments you’ll see others agree!).
Ingredients
To make the perfect cake you will need:
- Butter - good quality butter that comes in a foil-wrapped block
- Dark chocolate - the best quality you can get. If dark chocolate is a little too rich you can substitute ¼ of it with milk chocolate.
- Strong coffee - you can use instant espresso powder mixed with boiling water. Don't be put off if you don't like coffee. You can't taste it in the final cake but it adds a lovely depth to it.
- Caster sugar - also called superfine sugar
- Plain flour - or you can use spelt flour
- Baking powder
- Cocoa powder - adds extra chocolate flavor
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract - we like to use homemade vanilla extract
Of course that is just my opinion, feel free to make it just to prove me wrong (or back me up), any excuse to bake it will do.
Like a little mint with your chocolate? Then you might enjoy our choc-peppermint mud cake.
The recipe is quite similar to one I was given by my mum’s friend. It’s a secret recipe that I’m not allowed to blog, but this one, well this one I’m allowed to share and share it I will.
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C fan-forced and grease and line a 25cm springform cake tin with parchment paper. Alternatively, line 2 x 20cm round cake pan to make a double layer cake.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter, chocolate and hot coffee over low heat, stirring, until the chocolate has dissolved.
- Add the sugar to the pot and stir it in until it has dissolved too.
- Pour the wet chocolate mixture into a heat-proof bowl.
- Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder over the top of the wet ingredients and whisk them into the liquid then whisk in the eggs then the vanilla.
- Once everything is combined, pour the cake batter into the tin.
- Bake the cake for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin on a wire rack.
- Ice the cooled cake with chocolate fudge icing.
The cake is even better the next day.
I often make the cake at least a day in advance and ice on the day of serving.
The rich chocolate icing
I do love ganache but sometimes it can be a bit rich even to me.
I don’t know why.
Maybe it’s made with super duper rich chocolate?
My most favourite chocolate icing is chocolate fudge icing made with real chocolate.
It has no cream but a lot of butter, chocolate and brown sugar instead of icing sugar and it is just so light and fluffy and sweet and chocolatey and smooth and … do you get the picture?
You could also use a chocolate buttercream.
I posted this photo on Facebook the day I made the cake with the caption ‘I may have eaten a great deal of this icing as I iced the cake. Like if you’d have done the same.’
I got a few likes that day.
Sadly I wasn’t lying.
I really did eat quite a lot of icing and since then I’ve made it many many times and every time I end up eating copious amounts of icing from the dish.
The first time there was a bit left over and it would have been a shame to let it go to waste right?
The first time I made the best ever chocolate mud cake I served it for Valentine's Day dessert with some little raspberry hearts in cream (because I forgot to whip the cream and I was too lazy to do it after dinner - bad wife!).
Isn't that cake to icing ratio wonderful?
FAQs
Absolutely not, it's a good thing. The key to a fudgy chocolate cake is a nice runny chocolatey cake batter.
I’m not a fan of coffee and I have to say you can’t taste it at all. It just adds a nice richness to the cake. I will say though, make sure you’re using a good-quality vanilla extract rather than a vanilla essence.
Yes indeed you could make it in two loaf tins. I’d strongly advise lining them as well as greasing them.
I have used this recipe to bake cupcakes and other shapes in smaller sizes. You’ll just need to start checking on them a lot sooner so you don’t burn them.
I have made it up to 3 days in advance but I usually ice it at the earliest the day before serving. You can also make the cake up to 3 months in advance and freeze it.
To freeze wrap in plastic wrap then in aluminium foil. Make sure it is fully thawed to room temperature before icing.
Mississippi mud cake is essentially a mudcake that you top with marshmallows while it is still warm from the oven and then ice with chocolate icing. You could definitely use this classic mud cake recipe to make it.
If I still haven’t convinced you, the year I discovered it I made my own Birthday cake instead of asking for my most favourite cake in the world from Jocelyn’s Provisions.
Actually – funny story about that.
I made my cake and we went out to dinner with some family.
When we arrived we delivered the cake to the kitchen (in a cake box because I was a bit fancy).
It was one of those restaurants with an open kitchen and where I was seated, I could see straight into the kitchen.
We ate a delicious dinner and were having a great time and then I saw them preparing my cake.
I saw the guy take the cake out of the box then… promptly drop it upside down on the bench.
I thought it was pretty hilarious. But it got funnier.
They didn’t say anything to us. Not a word.
They redecorated it and served it to us like we wouldn’t notice (it looked completely different!).
We may have mentioned it when they added a cakeage charge to the bill.
Needless to say they took that charge off!
What about you? Do you make your own Birthday cake?
You might also like our red velvet cake with buttercream icing.
Recipe
Recipe
The best ever chocolate mud cake
Ingredients
- CAKE
- 250 g 2 sticks butter
- 200 g 7oz dark chocolate
- 375 ml 1½ cups strong coffee (ie 375ml water with coffee dissolved - about 1 tablespoon if you use instant coffee granules)
- 450 g 16oz caster sugar
- 175 g 6oz plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 2 free-range eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ICING
- 125 ml ½ cup water
- 30 g 1oz dark brown sugar
- 175 g 6oz unsalted butter, cubed
- 300 g 10oz good-quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
Instructions
Cake
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C fan-forced and grease and line a 25cm springform tin.
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter, chocolate and coffee over low heat, stirring, until the chocolate has dissolved.
- Add the sugar to the pot and stir it in until it has dissolved too.
- Pour the mixture into a heat-proof bowl.
- Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder over the top and whisk them into the liquid then whisk in the eggs then the vanilla.
- Once everything is combined, pour the batter into the tin.
- Bake the cake for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin.
Icing
- Put the water, 30g dark sugar and 175g butter in a pan over a low heat to melt.
- When the mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, swirling the pan so all the chocolate is heated.
- Leave it for a minute or two and then whisk until the icing turns smooth and glossy.
- Leave it for 1-3 hours and whisk every 20-30 minutes until it is thick.
- When the cake has cooled spread it with the fudge icing.
Sara says
Hi Claire,
I have made this a lot and it is just deeelicious! My dads fave!!! I was just wondering, every time I've made it, it has ended up with an air ring round the middle when its fully cooked. It then sinks down when it's cooling so doesnt have an evenish level!It's also really delicate and crumbles.I've tried it in both a round and square tin! Is there anyway to avoid it? I'm making it as mini square cakes covered in fondant for my sisters wedding (80 in total) so just wanted to see if I can do anything differently! Thanks x
Claire says
Hi Sara. Glad you like the cake! Hmm unfortunately that happens to mine sometimes too. Strangely when I've cooked it in a loaf tin it didn't sink. I have read that you can get things that wrap around tins to help the cake cook evenly and nice and flat but making 80 I'm not so sure. Only thing I could think of would be to level the tops and sandwich two cut-side together although that would add a lot of extra work!
Fleur says
Hi Claire. Live your blog! When you say "good quality dark chocolate" in your posts/recipes, can you tell me exactly what you use? Many thanks!
Claire says
Hi Fleur. Thank you! I actually use the Aldi Belgium dark chocolate. I think it's the best. Nice and rich and not bitter.
Naomi says
Hi Claire, this looks delicious! Would you be able to give me an estimate of how high the cake part ends up in a 25cm tin (without the icing on it)? I'm wondering if I should increase ingredient quantities to get a higher cake. Hoping to bake today if you can get back to me, if not I'll go ahead and experiment anyway :)
Claire says
Hi Naomi. I would guestimate at about 4cm. If you'd like a higher cake then I'd recommend making two and sandwiching them together rather than adding more batter to the tin as it might not cook properly. Good luck!
Zo says
I think I just died on the inside. I've been searching for the best choc mudcake recipe for ever. I was just wondering what sort of cocoa powder to use. I only have 100% natural cocoa powder (the cheap brand in au). Is that fine or what kind should I buy? And also what brand of chocolate did you use? Thanks for all your help and for posting this recipe
Claire says
Zo that should be fine. Hope you like it!
Kim says
Baked this cake tonight and im really quite concerned something went wrong, and im just not sure what. After adding the coffee with the chocolate and butter it began to go quite lumpy, and even more lumpy when i added the sugar. I used instant coffee was i meant to add water to it? Or use a different type of coffee? Im still waiting to see how it turned out, but i feel the results may be bad as it was quite lumpy when i placed it in the oven and not at all liquidly like what other people have been saying.
Claire says
Hi Kim. Possibly the mixture was heated for a little too long and the chocolate seized? How was the coffee when you added it? Dissolved in the water? I hope it turned out ok!
Mitch says
Baked this lip-smacking cake for my brothers birthday last night. Family, friends, neighbours all loved it and wanted the recipe!
Thanks heaps, Claire!
Claire says
Yay! Glad it was a hit Mitch. You are very welcome and Happy belated Birthday to your brother.
Paula says
Wish me luck, hubby's b'day tomorrow, his fav cake is chocolate mud! Was going to just buy one, but decided to make one instead, searched the web, found this sensationally delicious looking mud cake! Just placed it in the oven, fingers crossed!
PS: I have never baked a cake from scratch, yes I am quite nervous to make this as my first!
Claire says
Good luck Paula! I'm sure it will be perfect and your husband will love it!
Daniel says
Hi, looks great.. can you tell me how many cups of batter this recipe makes?
Claire says
Hi Daniel. I'm not entirely sure but I'd say about 5 cups.
Leighanne B says
This cake looks awesome but if you follow the recipe it's like water & doesn't cook! Looks like the amounts of ingredients are wrong or there is something missing!
Claire says
Hi Leighanne. It's a very liquid batter. The first time I made it I didn't think it would work out. The ingredients are all correct though I promise.
Evelyn says
Hi claire,
Juz wondering, how many tsps/tbsp of coffee granules did u add for your 375ml of coffee? I want to make sure that i got the right consistency of the coffee taste thickness.
Thks!
Evelyn
Claire says
Hi Evelyn. I usually add a heaped tablespoon of coffee granules. Hope you like it!
Michelle K. says
Hi Claire,
I made this cake last week for my boyfriend Chris' birthday. I followed your instructions exactly and although I was briefly worried about the liquid consistency of the batter (I've never made a cake with such a batter) I popped it into the oven and hoped for the best. As Chris works away from home at a gold mine I made the cake the day before he travelled and he shared it with the other guys at the mine site. I didn't get to taste the cake but it received rave reviews! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Michelle K.
Claire says
Hi Michelle. I'm so glad it was a hit although that's no good that you didn't get any. You'll just have to make it again :-)
The first time I made it I was a bit worried about the batter too.
Chetna says
Thanks a lot Claire for your reply.
I made it again for my brother's birthday, as I really could not serve the bitter sweet cake, and this time it turned out quite well. I think it over-baked the first time (as I had used a smaller cake tin earlier) and hence the bitterness. I just modified the icing a bit and used cream instead of water to ensure that the icing was spreadable quickly due to paucity if time. The cake was loved by everyone and all my fears were proved wrong. But yes I'll have to ensure that its only a treat cake.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Claire says
Not a problem Chetna. Ahh yes that could have been the reason for the bitterness. Glad it was a hit!
Chetna says
Hi Claire,
I just baked this cake yest night and will do the icing today. But I just tasted a bit of it and its a bit bitter even after adding 450gms of sugar (thats a LOT).
Could it be because of the strong coffee ( i added 2 tsps of coffee powder to 375 ml of hot water) or the extra 3tbsps of cocoa powder or the dark chocolate (with 45% cocoa)? I am quite confused.
Also the batter was so liquidy that it leaked through the springform baking pan and i had to transfer it to a regular baking tin.
Though it looks great but its also too greasy because of the huge amount of butter. Is it possible to reduce the quantity of butter in it as some of family members have high cholestrol levels?
Thanks a ton
Claire says
Hi Chetna.
Yes the batter is really liquid before baking. The first time I made it I was a bit worried but it turns out well. Hmm... it's not really something I'd serve to anyone with high cholestrol. It's more of a treat cake. I think reducing the butter would change the cake a lot. Re the bitter - I'm not sure about that. I've never had a problem with it being bitter but I would say the type of coffee/chocolate you use would have an impact?
Mandy says
Hi Claire
I've just put the cake in the oven. I followed the recipe to a tee and found that the batter was very liquid. As I'm not used to cake batter having this consistency I was worried that 375ml of coffee seemed like an awful lot of liquid....did I read it right???? Well the proof will be in the pudding (or should I say cake he he he). Will repost in an hour with the result. It smells divine so fingers crossed.
Claire says
Mandy you did it right. It's a very liquid batter. The first time I made it I was rather uncertain. I hope you like it!
Mandy says
Hi Claire,
The cake turned out perfectly. It was a real hit with my daughter and her friends who came searching for a snack not long after the cake came out of the oven. I just did ganache for the icing because it was quick and the girls couldn't wait,but next time I'm going to try your icing cause it looks much yummier. Thanks for a smashing recipe.
Claire says
Yay! So glad it was a hit. Thanks for coming back to let me know.
Rachel says
I just wanted to say a huge thank you for this recipe, it was delicious! I made it for a friends birthday recently and it was such a hit. I wanted a taller cake so I made 1.5 times the recipe and used two 7inch pans, I messed up the icing slightly but it was fixable although not perfect and decorated it with chocolate butterflies I had made earlier. I will attach a link to the photo.
This is definitely a recipe I will be using again!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151657888341806&set=pb.503031805.-2207520000.1381705700.&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-frc3%2F1378215_10151657888341806_1374574291_n.jpg&size=640%2C640
Claire says
Hi Rachel. I'm so glad you liked it! Sounds like it was fabulous. Unfortunately I can't seem to open the link. I'd love it if you'd share it on my Facebook page? https://www.facebook.com/ClaireKCreations?ref=hl