Chocolate Treacle Cake: Dark and Sumptuous

A moist, dark and delicious layer cake with rich smoky notes and hint of molasses. If you’re looking for a crowd-pleasing birthday or celebration cake, look no further. This chocolate treacle cake, filled and topped with a sumptuous treacly chocolate ganache is just what you need.

This is another recipe I’ve adapted from my vintage Christmas stocking present and I first made it back in January for a friend’s birthday. Although it makes a great celebration cake at any time of the year, its treacly nature lends itself well to autumn and Bonfire Night in particular.

Chocolate Treacle Cake

As soon as I saw the recipe for Unusual Cake, I was dying to make it. Turns out, the unusual ingredient is treacle. As soon as treacle is mentioned, I get all nostalgic. Childhood tastes and images of my mother’s treacle pudding and bonfire treacle toffee immediately swirl around my mind. So when I was asked to make a birthday cake, I knew immediately what that cake was going to be.

I changed the quantities and used sour milk instead of ordinary milk. Soured milk really helps to create a lighter sponge, especially if you use wholemeal flour, as I do. But you can swap it for buttermilk, kefir or a my cheat’s version below.

I also turned my chocolate treacle cake into a layer cake and made up my own treacle ganache icing to fill and top the cake with. The chocolate treacle icing should come with a warning.

And that’s because it’s so good, it’s hard not to eat it straight from the bowl. This is something I thoroughly approve of, but it would mean your lovely cake would go unadorned and somewhat unloved.

It’s an easy ganache to make. Just melt butter and chocolate together and stir in the treacle and other ingredients. Leave in a cool place for about half an hour to firm up enough so that you can ice the cake. But be careful not to leave it so long that it becomes too stiff.

This chocolate treacle cake is a real corker. Both sponge and the ganache icing are delicious. But for that first cake, CT informed me, when it was too late, that I’d got the Happy Birthday candles back to front. Now I can see he’s absolutely right and that the Happy part should be at the back. What do you think?

How to Make a Cheat’s Version of Sour Milk

To make an easy cheat’s version of sour milk, add a teaspoon of lemon juice or cider vinegar to the milk, give it a stir and leave for five minutes. When it’s curdled, it’s ready to use.

How to Measure Treacle with a Spoon

Treacle and golden syrup can be quite hard to measure as both are very sticky and tend to cling to the measuring equipment. But there is a simple trick, which makes it really easy to measure treacle with a spoon or measuring cup.

First off, make sure you use a metal spoon or measuring cup, though ceramic pottery should work too. Fill a mug or cup with hot water. Place the spoon into it and leave for twenty seconds or so. For a measuring cup, just fill it directly with the hot water. Shake off any excess water and quickly use the spoon to measure out the treacle or syrup.

You will get a more accurate measure and the treacle will slide easily off the spoon.

Other Chocolate Celebration Cakes You Might Like

• Chocolate fudge cake
• Chocolate Guinness cake
• Eton Mess chocolate cake
• Hazelnut apple chocolate cake
• Orange & cardamom chocolate cake
• Vegan chocolate cake

Keep in Touch

If you’d like more treacly recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have a few of them. All delicious, of course.

Choclette x

Chocolate Treacle Cake. PIN IT.

Chocolate Treacle Cake – The Recipe

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5 from 2 votes

Chocolate Treacle Cake

A moist, dark and delicious layer cake with rich smoky notes and hint of molasses. If you're looking for a crowd-pleasing birthday or celebration cake, look no further. This cake, filled and topped with a sumptuous treacly chocolate ganache is just what you need.

Cook ModeToggle to keep screen awake

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Total Time50 minutes mins

Course: Afternoon Tea, Dessert

Cuisine: British

Keyword: birthday cake, cake, chocolate cake, treacle

Servings: 12 slices

Calories: 493kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

Chocolate Treacle Cake

• 200 g unsalted butter
• 200 g dark brown sugar
• 5 tbsp treacle
• 4 medium eggs
• 250 g flour (half wholemeal, half plain white)
• 50 g cocoa powder
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 8 tbsp sour milk swap for buttermilk or kefir or read note below for how to make a cheat's version of sour milk.

Chocolate Treacle Ganache Icing

• 100 g unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp treacle
• 150 g dark chocolate broken into pieces (I used 72%)
• 6 tbsp double cream (heavy cream)
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

Chocolate Treacle Cake

• Cream the butter with the sugar until pale and fluffy, then beat in the treacle.
  200 g unsalted butter, 200 g dark brown sugar, 5 tbsp treacle
• Beat in the eggs one by one, adding a little of the flour as you go if the mixture starts to curdle.
  4 medium eggs
• Sift in the dry ingredients and gently stir together followed by the milk.
  250 g flour, 50 g cocoa powder, 1½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• Stir this in alternately with the sour milk.
  8 tbsp sour milk
• Spoon into two 20cm (8") cake moulds and bake at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) for 25-30 minutes or until the cakes are well risen and firm to the touch.
• Leave to cool for ten minutes or so, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Treacle Ganache Icing

• Melt the butter in a saucepan over a gentle heat.
  100 g unsalted butter
• Add the treacle and chocolate. Turn the heat off and leave to melt.
  1 tbsp treacle, 150 g dark chocolate
• Stir until smooth then add the cream and vanilla extract and stir again.
  6 tbsp double cream (heavy cream), ½ tsp vanilla extract
• Leave in a cool place for about half an hour to firm up enough so that you can ice the cake. But be careful not to leave it so long that it becomes too stiff.
• Sandwich the cakes together with half the mixture and spread the remainder over the top.
• Decorate if wished with chocolate curls or shavings, glitter, golden balls or stars.

Notes

To make a cheat’s version of sour milk, add a teaspoon of lemon juice or cider vinegar to the milk, give it a stir and leave for five minutes. When it’s curdled, it’s ready to use.

 

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on serving size and exact ingredients used.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories: 493kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 120mg | Sodium: 89mg | Potassium: 417mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 835IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 101mg | Iron: 4mg

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

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I’m cheekily entering this chocolate treacle cake into AlphaBakes as H for Happy Birthday Cake. I’m not sure it will be allowed, but nothing ventured nothing gained! Alpha Bakes is hosted alternately over at The More Than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes.

This treacly cake of gorgeousness also goes off to Bake of the Week over at Casa Costello.