Triple Chocolate Cake!
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Triple chocolate cake with dark, milk and white layers and a chocolate drip!
Triple chocolate cake!
Welcome triple chocolate cake! It’s not midway through the year, and I thought it was about time to post a showstopper. I’ve made a few ‘insane’ bakes this year so far such as my millionaires cookie bars and my Lindt chocolate cheesecake, but nothing as unapologetically chocolattey as this.
This is a beauty I’ve made at home a few times before. However, as I was posting similar layer cakes quite close together, I wanted to hold off and give this one its moment. When I finally revisited it and tweaked the design slightly, it turned into something genuinely glorious.
And honestly… just LOOK at it. If you love chocolate, this is absolute heaven in cake form. Triple chocolate sponges, triple chocolate buttercream, and a glossy chocolate drip running down the sides, it’s intense, dramatic, and completely irresistible.
Combination of recipes
The look came from various other cakes I have done in my time, all combined together. My drip cakes so far have been one tone in frosting (such as my Oreo drip cake), but when I mashed the idea with my neapolitan cake, I knew I had a winner.
Decorating it is slightly faffy to explain, but in reality it’s much easier than it sounds. The key is starting with a simple crumb coat of plain buttercream before adding the flavoured layers. Trying to go straight onto sponge with three different flavours can get messy very quickly.
Once you have that base layer chilled and smooth, the rest is just piping and scraping. It’s one of those cakes where patience pays off. Take your time and it all comes together beautifully.
Chocolate
Some people can say ‘ you can’t taste the difference between the milk and dark layers’, but that tends to be because you’re using the incorrect chocolate. I use my favourite chocolate in the recipe as I love baking with it and its tastes deeeeelicious!
Dark chocolate wise, I prefer to stick to 80%+, but 70% will do. Milk chocolate tends to come in at about 35% usually, so there is quite a difference. White chocolate isn’t even really chocolate!
I decided to use slightly less cake mix in comparison to my other cakes, with only 350g of everything in comparison to 400g, because the chocolate gives extra weight to the mix.
It also makes the cakes slightly heavier, which is why I used the baking powder in this beauty. This is optional, but cake with chocolate in always turns a bit more madeira like (particularly the dark chocolate sponge)!
Bake
Baking wise, it’s hard to get definitive layers because the outsides of the cake brown somewhat, which is why I went for surrounding the cake in frosting, so that it’s obvious that there are three flavours! When you cut into the cake however, you get the definition!
One of the main ‘issues’ with this bake, is the pure amount of bowls that are required. It’s slightly mad, but having to melt chocolate basically SIX times is a bit much. However, a bit of washing up never hurt anyone, and having a dishwasher is even better. I personally think a bake like this is completely and utterly worth all the washing up, as its one of the most satisfying bakes to look at, and eat.
Decadent drip
The drip is what takes this cake from impressive to dramatic. A mix of dark and milk chocolate with double cream creates a silky ganache that flows beautifully down the sides. It shouldn’t be too hot or too thick, you want controlled drips, not chocolate waterfalls.
Pipe carefully around the edge first to create the drips, then fill in the top and spread evenly. Let it set slightly before piping any leftover buttercream on top. The contrast between matte buttercream and glossy ganache is so satisfying. Finish with chocolate curls for the ultimate triple chocolate statement. At this point, there is absolutely no confusion about what flavour this cake is.
Tips & tricks
- I use supermarket own chocolate for all three layers, I wouldn’t recommend stuff like Galaxy or Dairy Milk for the milk layers – just go with the cheap!
- This cake lasts for 3-4 days at room temperature!
- For this Cake I used:
- These piping bags for the buttercream
- These piping bags for the drip
- This cake turntable to make decoration easier
- This Scraper for the buttercream
- This dark chocolate
- This milk chocolate
- And this white chocolate
- You can just slather the buttercream on in any which way, but I have tried to describe it as best as possible. You basically want the buttercream of each flavour, to match each sponge, and then wipe round so its all smooth!
Triple Chocolate Cake!
Ingredients
Cake
- 350 g unsalted butter
- 350 g caster sugar
- 7 medium eggs
- 350 g self raising flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 125 ml whole milk
- 100 g dark chocolate
- 100 g milk chocolate
- 100 g white chocolate
Buttercream
- 350 g unsalted butter (room temp)
- 750 g icing sugar
- 85 g dark chocolate
- 85 g milk chocolate
- 85 g white chocolate
Drip Ganache
- 75 g milk chocolate
- 75 g dark chocolate
- 150 ml double cream
Decoration
- Chocolate curls
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat your oven to 180ºc/160ºc Fan, and line three 8"/20cm cake tins with baking parchment.
- Melt your dark, milk and white chocolates carefully, and leave to cool whilst doing the cake mix!
- In a stand mixer, or a large bowl, beat together your butter and sugar until light and fluffy and lovely!
- Add in your eggs, baking powder, and flour, and milk and beat again until combined well.
- Split the mixture between three bowls, and to each bowl add one of the melted chocolates - mix until smooth.
- Add your dark chocolate mix to one tin, your milk chocolate to another tin, and the white chocolate to the last tin.
- Bake the cakes in the oven for 35 minutes, or until baked through - check with a skewer to make sure they're done!
- Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, and then take out and leave to cool fully on a wire rack!
For the Buttercream
- Melt your dark, milk and white chocolates carefully, and leave to cool whilst doing the buttercream!
- Beat your butter on its own for minute or two, to soften it and loosen it.
- Add in your icing sugar 1/3 at a time, and beat fully after each addition - you shouldn't need to add any liquid in!
- Take out about 150g of buttercream and leave separate. (This is for a crumb coat)
- Split the rest of the mixture evenly between three bowls, and just like the cake mix, add each chocolate to its own batch of buttercream.
- Mix fully, until delicious.
Assemble
- I started with my dark chocolate sponge on the bottom, and spread about 2tbsp of buttercream onto the cake.
- My milk chocolate cake went second, and the white on top!
- Use the spare buttercream to make a crumb coat around the cake and to make it smooth!
- Add each flavour of buttercream to a large piping bag, and pipe rings around the cake - I did two layers of buttercream for each layer of cake (this is so hard to describe)
- Once the three flavours are on the cake, scrape around the cake just like you would other drip cakes, and smooth it all over! Be careful when you are doing it as you'll be able to save the rest of the buttercream for piping!
Ganache
- Add your chocolates and cream to a microwave proof jug/bowl, and heat for 30 seconds. Stir well, and microwave on 10 second bursts till the ganache is smooth, stiring each time.
- Add your ganache to a piping bag and snip a small amount off the end of the piping bag
- Pipe drips down the side of the cake, and then fill in the top and spread it over.
Decoration
- Leave this to set for a minute, and then pipe the rest of the buttercream on top as decoration!
- I finally sprinkled on some triple chocolate curls!
Notes
- I use supermarket own chocolate for all three layers, I wouldn't recommend stuff like Galaxy or Dairy Milk for the milk layers - just go with the cheap!
- This cake lasts for 3-4 days at room temperature!
- For this Cake I used:
- These piping bags for the buttercream
- These piping bags for the drip
- This cake turntable to make decoration easier
- This Scraper for the buttercream
- This dark chocolate
- This milk chocolate
- And this white chocolate
- You can just slather the buttercream on in any which way, but I have tried to describe it as best as possible. You basically want the buttercream of each flavour, to match each sponge, and then wipe round so its all smooth!
Hi Jane! I was wondering if it would be possible to do this as a 10inch cake? If so what quantities would I need? Would it be harder to put together if it is a lot larger?
Thanks!
I wouldn’t say it’s impossible to do – I find 12″ cakes the most annoying and that’s just because they are heavy! I think 10″ sponges are completely doable. I would use 1.6x the recipe for a 10″ x
Hi Jane,
I had a question in regards to the drip on this cake, is it just pure chocolate or is it a ganache as in some of your other recipes it’s a ganache for the drip. If so what is the difference between using ganache and pure chocolate.
Thankyou
This is purely chocolate – you can use a ganache, or you can add a touch of oil, or just use plain chocolate. Chocolate tends to set firmer, but can be easier (As some people struggle with ganache being too thin as too much cream is used) xx
Hi Jane,
I was just wondering is it necessary to use two different piping bags or is it okay to just use one type?
I always just recommend what I use for best results for me.. what you use is up to you!
Hi Jane, I am going to be making this cake this weekend. I am just trying to understand how to do the buttercream on the sides. I think I understand what you are saying regarding piping two rings for each layer of cake. On one of your pictures I can see the slice of cake cut out. As you look at the top I can see three lots of buttercream piping. Is that what it would look like on the side? But obviously two dark,two light, two white. I hope you understand what I mean. Thanks in advance Ian.
Watch my mini egg drip cake video as it’s basically the same, but with colours – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_90UUxvN50o&t=174s x
Thanks Jane. Yes that was exactly what I thought you meant and the video was a great help. The cake turned out fantastic thanks.
Hi jane, love your recipes. Looking to bake this at the weekend. I was just wondering, what piping tip do you use for the decoration on the top? And is there a reason you just used milk chocolate for the drip and not a ganache like you’ve used on your other drip cakes? Is using just milk chocolate ok for a drip? I’m worried it will go to runny or will it work just the same?
Thank you xx
For the top you can just use a disposable piping tip and cut the end off, or a round tip – and as long as you can melt it without burning it, I just chose to use milk chocolate. Ganache works differently without dark chocolate (different ratios) and I just preferred it this way but you can do whatever!
That’s great thank you. I’m quite new to baking so apologises if this is a silly question.. so on a previousl drip cake your recipe used milk & dark chocolate with double cream for the drip but this one you’ve just used milk chocolate only for the drip. What’s the difference in adding the double cream? Do they both drip the same with or without cream added? X
Hey! So yes as I’ve said without the dark chocolate I just used milk and liked it. The consistency can vary depending on many factors, whether thats the brand of chocolate, cocoa content, cream, etc!. You just need to do what you think you would prefer to do. Both methods work for me, which is why they are different. x
Hey Jane! You’ll see lots of my comments I love baking and your recipes but I’m always wanting to make sure I am baking the best way I can. Is there a way to do this cake without the dip could I just use the amounts but do it as a standard 3 layer cake we love lots of icing in our house? Any tips helpful xx
Hey! I’m not sure I quite understand – do you just want icing in-between the layers and not the drip bit? xx
Yes that’s exactly what I want it’s for my Grandads Birthday. Sorry for the terrible explanation of what I’m after. Would it be ok making it like this?
Oh okay yeah you’d definitely be able to just make a layer cake with it! x
I made this recipe and it was amazing, I was just wondering if you could make these into cupcakes instead? Would anything need to altered?
It can, but you’d need less ingredients (unless you want a lot of cupcakes). Typically a batch of 12 cupcakes uses 150g of sugar/butter/flour/eggs xx
I want to make a 4 layer, 8 inch version of this, just using milk chocolate, for my son’s birthday. Would you just use 300g milk choc, and double the recipe? I’m trying to work out ratios 🙂 Thank you xx
I would use a 500g mix of cake, and 400g milk chocolate! x
Can I ask.. I want to do 2 8inch tins off white choc sponge how would I work out the ingredients please.
Cake was easy to make, decorating went ok until the chocolate drip part!! The chocolate did not drip. I usually use ganache I wish I did now. My chocolate was warm enough and I used a piping bag. Upsetting as the cake was for a special occasion.
Melted chocolate will always drip well on it’s own, unless the chocolate is burnt slightly (so thickens itself) or you use something such as dairy milk which can be too thick. It’s best to use a basic milk chocolate or cooking chocolate!
Hi Jane,
I don’t have a pallet knife or cake scraper for decorating like you used in your mini egg drip cake video, do you think using a baking spatula with the same technique would work alright? Also, do you recommend putting the cake in the fridge to set during any of the decorating stages?
Thanks! (Love your recipes)
To get the perfect finish, you so need a scraper – a spatula works, it just won’t be as smooth! and you can do yes!
Hi Jane! My family aren’t fans of buttercream so I’m looking for alternatives. Could I use mascarpone frosting? Or maybe you have other suggestions? Thanks in advance!
For this it’s best to use the american style buttercream, but you could try ganache instead?
Jane, I’ve made 4 of your amazing cakes so far and every one has turned out fab so I planned to make this cake for my partners birthday. I planned a head and stuck to the exact recipe! However, the buttercream was un-spreadable! I did every single thing by the book and ended up with the whole thing in the bin as the buttercream tore the cake apart! Where did I go wrong? I’m completely disheartened as it’s the eve before his birthday without a cake 🙁
That can happen for a few reasons – the best thing to do would be to beat it for longer and add in a little whole milk or boiling water – it’s nearly always saveable! X
Hi Jane! I hope you’re well. I was thinking of making this cake soon. I have 8 inch/20cm cake tins, however they are not shallow at all. I was just wondering if you could possibly share the link to get your cake tins with me please? Thanks. 😊
As long as they are the same width, using deeper tins is fine! X
Hi Jane
I wanting to make this cake using 2x 8″ tins and leaving out the white choc layer.
What would be the adjusted ingredients please? This would be the ingredients for the cake, buttercream and chocolate for both cake and buttercream.
Thank you 🙂
I would use 2/3 of the base recipe – so maybe 250g of flour/eggs/butter/sugar and then split those to add the chocolate and bake into the two tins! And then use 2/3 of the buttercream in the same way!
Hi Jane
All your recipes are absolutely fantastic!! I have tried a few and hopefully on Sunday I will make this amazing triple chocolate cake 😋😍
Just wanted to ask one question. Could you tell me if it is possible to make this recipe with Fresh cream instead of buttercream? And if yes are the measurements of the frosting going to be the same??
Hiya – sorry I’m not sure I understand. Do you mean to make a ganache? or just use whipped cream? as the measurements are going to be different to a buttercream.