4 Bar Chocolate Fudge Cake
This 4 bar chocolate fudge cake is the king of chocolate fudge cakes. It’s made with not one, not two, but four bars of chocolate. Two go into the luscious chocolate sponge and two into the irresistible chocolate fudge icing. Perfect for birthday celebrations, special occasions and chocolate lovers everywhere.
An extra large birthday cake was needed recently for a combined birthday and house warming celebration. I was so impressed with the sponge that I made for the tiramisu layer cake earlier on this year, that I was determined to make it once again.
4 Bar Chocolate Fudge Cake
That cake was also quite a large one, which fits the bill nicely. The dilemma was what to sandwich and top it with. As I was a bit unsure of the audience involved, I thought a general crowd pleaser would be the best option, so chocolate fudge icing it had to be.
For once nothing went wrong with this cake and with four bars of chocolate in it, I was mightily relieved. It turned out as good as I could have wished for. In fact I was particularly proud of this one.
I trawled our local charity shops for a suitable plate to place the cake on. It’s quite nice to include this as part of the gift. Luckily, I found a rather beautiful blue plate which I was a bit reluctant to let go.
Almost as soon as I cut the cake, it disappeared and I only just managed to save a couple of pieces for the host and hostess. It obviously wasn’t big enough after all. Luckily, a friend saved me a bit of her slice or I would not have been able to verify that it was indeed as good as it looked.
Other Chocolate Celebration Cakes You Might Like
- 3 layer chocolate cake with buttercream and glaze
- chocolate celebration cake with treacle fudge icing
- chocolate treacle cake
- coffee praline cake
- strawberry chocolate heart cake
- triple orange chocolate cake
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this 4 bar chocolate fudge cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for making chocolate fudge cakes?
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Choclette x
4 Bar Chocolate Fudge Cake. PIN IT.
4 Bar Chocolate Fudge Cake
Equipment
- electric beaters (affiliate link) optional
Ingredients
Chocolate Sponge
- 200 g dark chocolate (I used 70%)
- 170 g unsalted butter softened
- 350 g soft brown sugar
- 3 large eggs separated
- 370 g flour (I used 175g wholemeal, 175g plain white and 20g quinoa, )
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 250 g Greek yoghurt
- 250 ml water
Chocolate Fudge Icing
- 100 g dark chocolate (I used 70%)
- 100 g milk chocolate (I used 35%)
- 30 g unsalted butter
- 50 ml water
- 2 tbsp golden syrup
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 100 ml double cream (heavy cream)
Instructions
Chocolate Sponge
- Chop the chocolate into small pieces then place in a heatproof bowl. I find glass or ceramic works best. Suspend the bowl over a pan of hot, but not boiling water. Make sure the bowl doesn’t actually touch the water, but that it’s well sealed. Once melted, stir and leave to cool slightly.200 g dark chocolate
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
- Creamed the butter and sugar together until your arm is incapable of beating any more and the mixture is light and creamy. For an easier alternative, use electric beaters.170 g unsalted butter, 350 g soft brown sugar
- Beat in the chocolate. Keep the bowl as is for later chocolate melting.
- Beat in the eggs yolks, reserving the whites for later use.
- Sift in the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.370 g flour, ½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda, ½ tsp salt
- Stir in the yoghurt and water, again until just mixed.250 g Greek yoghurt, 250 ml water
- Whisk the eggs whites with a scrupulously clean whisk or electric beaters in a clean bowl until soft peak form. Then fold carefully into the batter with a metal spoon until you can no longer see any white.
- Divide the batter between two lined 23cm (9 inch) cake tins or lightly greased silicone moulds. Level the tops and bake in the centre of the oven for 30-35 minutes. The cakes are done when firm to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out more or less clean.
Chocolate Fudge Icing
- Chop the chocolate into small pieces. In the same bowl you used before, melt the chocolate and butter together. Stir until smooth.100 g dark chocolate, 100 g milk chocolate, 30 g unsalted butter
- Place the water, golden syrup and cocoa into a small pan. Gently heat and stir until the mixture is smooth.50 ml water, 2 tbsp golden syrup, 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- Remove from the heat and stir it into the melted chocolate together with the cream.100 ml double cream (heavy cream)
- Leave to cool completely then use half of the mixture to sandwich the two cakes together. Spread spread the remainder on top. Decorate with little gold stars, if liked.
I like the stars too – sparkling!
Tis is my dream birthday cake – loving the stars!
That’s a lot of chocolate that goes into the cake. Looks nice.
Thanks Foodycat
That icing is amazingly fudgy! So beautiful.
Oxslip – now that was a bit mean – cardamom and saffron would have got along fine together! Maybe you need to live in a poorer part of the country – we get loads of jumble sales down here.
Thank you Indie Tea
Jac – I do know the feeling about cupboard space, in fact space in general – sigh
What a good idea. I never go on the search in charity shops cause I have no cupboard space to spare, but it is a great idea for gifts 🙂
Looks like your cake and the frosting turned out beautifully 🙂 And I love the star decoration.
Cake perfection.
I made your choc and cardamom shortbread dough btw, only to be upstaged by a visiting saffron bread. So it’s in the freezer waiting for another time (much to my husband’s chagrin who doesn’t see why we can’t have both and he’s probably right)
And speaking of charity shop buys, why don’t you get jumble sales anymore? Is it the car boot that has done for them?
Raffaella – Let me know how you get on if you do make it.
Maria – thank you. A slice now would be very nice indeed.
CC – thanks. Just wish I’d bought more of those stars when I had the chance.
That icing looks awesome and the stars are so pretty – elevates it to a special cake!
That chocolate cake looks so delish. I would love a huge slice now.
Maria
x
It looks so tasty! I’d like to make it. Thank you for the recipe.
Danielle – thank you, it was a good one.
Les reves – I’ve labelled all the best ones I’ve made “delicious” if you want to have a look at those. Keep thinking I should be a bit more methodical in my rating and do a star system of something.
I love the little stars on top! I’m very interested in chocolate cake recipes because I’m seraching for the best version at the moment.
What a wonderful cake! It’s looks so chocolatey and delicious.
Sushma – thank you, it sounds pretty much like clotted cream, which I used to make but now take the lazy way out and buy.
Anon – If I had a name I would – glad you liked them.
Janice – good to hear from you. This cake was not for the faint hearted.
4 bars!!! I’m not surprised it was delicious, the stars are so pretty too.
Add my name to list list of people who *LOVE* the stars!
Hi,For home made cream v need to use full fat milk, then boil it and allow it to cool,a thick layer of fat or cream will be formed,take out that layer and store it, repeat the same twice or thrice….and store it in the refrigerator..for one litre milk you get around 1/4 cup cream…
Gill – a tea party with bread and jam from you and cake from me – yum!
Celia – thanks. No room for a full on mixer in our kitchen, but I do have an electric hand held beater – just don’t find it’s very good at creaming butter and sugar. Very good at beating eggs & sugar though.
Thanks Sushma, this icing was a very good one.
MaryHoh – thanks for your comments, I was pleased with the stars.
I love chocolate cake…any time. Love all those starts on the frosting…simple and nice.
wow what a beautiful frosting,yum and chocolaty…
It’s a work of art, Choc! (And you know how much I love those little gold stars!). One thing, buy yourself a mixer, girlfriend. 🙂
Wendy – I was a little surprised how quickly it was pounced on given that there were a massive pile of cupcakes lying around untouched – home made v brought I guess.
Kath, a remiss blogger perhaps, but never a bad mother. Keeping your poor daughter waiting whilst you take the perfect picture is perhaps not the way to go. I had a look at the BBC cake before making the one I did and decided I preferred MangoCheeks’ version.
Ananda – glad you liked it.
Dom – I think it might be one of them
FreeRangeGirl – I seem to be quite good at finding excuses to make cake and if I really can’t find an excuse, I’ll make one anyway.
Kitchenmaid – I’ve only just started doing this from a recent CityHippy tip, so haven’t acquired much to get attached to yet, but that plate was rather a special one. I buy quinoa flour, already ground, though I have seen recipes where people use it whole.
CityHippy – I did give you credit for the charity shop tip in an earlier post. It was such a good idea. Haven’t found much yet suitable for cakes, but did find the plate I used here and a couple of round silver trays. Perhaps I should take your new tip on mother’s cupboards 🙂
Oh how I wish it was my birthday in your house, Choclette!
Choc just reading your comment about the charity shop plates. Like you I frequently get plates to present food on for people (but you knew that), if I like it a little too much, than I swap it for one I already have. I’m getting an assorted batch of awesome plates 🙂 Scored an art deco green one recently…but that was ‘found’ in my mums cupboard.
Perfect looking cake!
Lovely! Nice idea about giving the plate away too, but I’d find that pretty hard as I get ridiculously attached to kitchen kit, even if it’s of the charity shop variety (which most of mine is!)Still bit confused about the quinoa… do you grind it up or just use it as is?
this is the cake x
oh can i have piece of it, drool worthy cake, loving those little stars ..cute 🙂
Yum – I definitely need to find a reason for a celebration cake so that I can try this out. The stars look great x
Oh no, do you know with the excitement of the day I forgot to take a pic of her cake – that makes me quite a bad mother and a very bad blogger I realise. It was a great cake though. No the courgette cake was inspired by yours and Mangocheeks but I didn’t have the necessary ingredients so got one off the BBC recipe website. Others said they liked it, but I have a feeling they may have been comforting me after a bad baking day. I wasn’t keen on the mixed spice with the chocolate and the fudge icing was a disaster that I just about managed to salvage – but only just.
Oh, so pretty! It sounds truly delicious… and it must have been if you had to fight for scraps! There’s no better recommendation than that.
Jac – thanks, I was rather taken with the plate and am trying not feel too sorry that I sent it off with the cake. Am now trawling charity shops for nice things to present cakes on, but sort of wished I’d hung onto that one.
Tamanna – glad you liked it.
the word lava makes me melt. melt with love for the cake off course. that cake looks like it can top off my stressful day! great recipe thanks
Joanna – Thank you for the kind words. I’ve rather taken to those stars too, but when I went to stock up from the place I’d originally bought them from, they had none in and said they never had! As for the quinoa, I just like to substitute it or buckwheat or some other flour for some of the wheat flour so I can kid myself my cakes are healthy.
LilaVanilla – thank you. The egg whites are meant to give a lighter texture and they probably do but I’m convinced it’s the yogurt that makes the real difference.
Lucie – thank you, I’m quite keen on those stars too.
Johanna – the stars seem to be winning this show. Amazing what useful things can be found at the back of cupboards.
Kath – I do know you made it and I’m still waiting to see it appear on your blog or at least a picture??? Sorry to hear about your courgette cake, now worrying that it came from me – hoping to hear more about that one too.
Kate – Just repeating what I said above about the quinoa. I just like to substitute it or buckwheat or some other flour for some of the wheat flour so I can kid myself my cakes are healthy. It’s certainly not essential – any flour can be used instead. Hopefully you built up a good appetite for supper.
Chele – thanks. So wish I was around to sample your creations.
It looks gorgeous and very droolworthy. Wish I had been there to enjoy a slice. Love the plate too 🙂
is that quinoa flour or just quinoa? I haven’t seen quinoa flour for sale and would it be ok to sub it with a different one or is it essential?
Bad idea to look at your blog at 5:30 when I’m not having dinner till 8pm this evening….
That is a wonderful looking cake – wish I had been there ;0)
As you know I made this cake the other week for my daughter’s birthday and it is lovely. I am definitely going to use your fudge icing recipe next time I make a chocolate cake as I tried a chocolate courgette cake with choc fudge icing at the weekend but neither the cake or the icing were a complete success. The stars do look very elegant.
cute stars – just the sort of thing I never think of – must seek them out and then make sure they don’t linger at the back of the pantry
Gorgeous! The chocolate and gold really work well together. Does whisking the egg whites leave you with a much lighter cake? 🙂
Loving this Chocolette! The stars are a lovely touch. x
Those little gold stars are so pretty Choclette and the cake looks magnificent! Another winner!
Does the quinoa do something special or is it for nutritional reasons? I am not familiar with it.