Chocolate cake gets an exciting makeover with three distinct chocolate flavours hidden beneath luscious vanilla marshmallow fluff buttercream in this recipe for triple chocolate layer cake. It's a simple but effective concept.
This recipe was first published in March 2016 and updated in May 2020.
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March is my crazy month of birthday cake baking. My record is 4 cakes in the space of just 10 days. That’s a lot of eggs. A lot of icing. A lot of cake. It really is a cake-a-thon. In the midst of this baking madness, this fantastic triple chocolate layer cake with marshmallow buttercream was born for my younger daughter’s birthday a few years back.
We’re talking about three distinct layers of light & bouncy chocolate sponge cake:
- White chocolate & vanilla – sweet & fresh
- Malted milk chocolate - homely, comforting chocolate heaven
- Dark Chocolate – satisfyingly intense
What's not to love about this triple chocolate layer cake?
What Makes This Chocolate Cake So Special?
Yes, this triple chocolate layer cake is essentially a large chocolate cake. But the different layers that reveal themselves once the cake is cut into takes it over the edge. It is far more exciting than a typical chocolate cake.
I'd say this recipe for triple chocolate cake is ideal for any chocolate lover - child or adult. It was a hit with everybody around our tea-table.
One or two people picked out their favourite layers, but most, me included, just fell for the entire bundle.
Then of, course, there's the marshmallow fluff buttercream.
What is Marshmallow Fluff Buttercream?
It's a regular buttercream with the addition of Marshmallow Fluff & vanilla bean paste.
Marshmallow Fluff, if you've not come across it before, is a spreadable marshmallow creme, hugely popular in the US. It is now commonly available in UK supermarkets too - try looking for it in the chocolate spread area.
This marshmallow fluff buttercream is my absolute favourite – you may remember it from my Pumpkin Pie Whoopie Pies. It is everything you could wish for in an icing: sweet, light, fluffy, easy to spread and, without a doubt, a step up from standard vanilla buttercream.
And this marshmallow frosting makes a welcome deviation from the cocoa theme in this decadent recipe for triple chocolate cake.
How do you Make This Cake?
There are three stages to making this fantastic recipe:
- Baking the sponge cakes
- Making the buttercream
- Assembling and decorating the layers
Before we get to the instructions, I'd like to talk about working with melted chocolate. It can be a tricky beast to master.
How to successfully Mix Melted Chocolate into Cake Batter
Each layer of this extravagant triple chocolate cake contains real chocolate. When melted chocolate is added to cake batter, it can have a tendency to cool too quickly and end up seizing before it is fully mixed in.
Occasionally readers write in to tell me that although they enjoyed the cake, they experienced this problem. So I'd like to share a few tips to help you avoid this issue too:
- Use room temperature ingredients - melted chocolate will start to reset if it comes into contact with other colder ingredients, so never use chilled ingredients for this recipe. This is perhaps the main reason chocolate seizes when mixed into cake batter
- Work quickly - chocolate that has cooled too much after melting is the second most likely reason that the chocolate does not mix smoothly into the cake batter, so if you are a slower baker, keep this in mind. I'm a relatively quick baker, so I melt the chocolate before I begin to mix the cake batter. This is so that it can cool for around 5 minutes
- Stir a tablespoon of cake batter directly into the chocolate and then blend it all back into the remaining cake batter. This step really does help reduce the risk of the chocolate seizing when incorporating it into the cake batter since it helps even-out the differences in temperature between the chocolate and the cake batter
Keep these 3 points in mind as you make this recipe for triple chocolate cake and you'll be rewarded with 3 perfectly blended batters.
Making the Cakes
Now we've covered the basics of working with chocolate in cake batter, follow these instructions to make this fantastic recipe for triple chocolate layer cake:
- Grease and line 3 x 6-inch circular baking tins and preheat the oven
- Melt the 3 types of chocolate in separate bowls. Set aside
- Now remember to work quickly
- In a bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, using electric beaters. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition
- Add 3 tbsp of milk and beat again. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix well
- Divide the cake batter equally into 3 small mixing bowls - you can weigh it out for precise division if desired
- For the White Chocolate & Vanilla Sponge:
- Take one of the 3 bowls of the cake batter
- From this bowl, take a tablespoon of the cake batter and quickly mix it into the melted white chocolate
- Gently fold this white chocolate mixture and the vanilla extract back into the bowl containing the rest of the cake batter - remember, this double-action will stop the chocolate from seizing when it is mixed into the cake batter
- Spoon the batter into one of the baking tins and spread it out with a blunt knife
- For the Malted Milk Chocolate Sponge:
- stir an extra tablespoon of milk and the Ovaltine powder into the second bowl of cake batter
- From this bowl, take a tablespoon of the cake batter and stir it quickly into the melted milk chocolate
- Fold this chocolate mixture back into the rest of the cake batter then spoon the batter into another of the baking tins & spread it out
- For the Dark Chocolate Sponge:
- stir an extra tablespoon of milk and the cocoa powder (sifted) into the remaining bowl of cake batter
- Quickly mix a tablespoon of this cake batter into the melted dark chocolate
- Fold this chocolate mixture back into the rest of the cake batter, spread the batter into the last of the baking tins
- Bake all three cakes for 20-25 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly pressed or a skewer comes out clean. Let cool completely on a baking rack
See the recipe card for full instructions.
Please note: the recipe listed is for a three-layer chocolate cake made in 6-inch cake pans. This cake is ideal for serving 8-10 people.
These cake pans are smaller than typical ones, which tend to measure 8-inches. I have included some instructions in my recipe notes for scaling up to large pans.
Make the Marshmallow Fluff Buttercream
These is absolutely nothing complicated in making this buttercream. Simply beat the icing sugar, butter & vanilla paste together until smooth, follwed by the cream cheese. Finally, mix in the marshmallow fluff.
Since this buttercream contains cream cheese, it does need to be refrigerated if it will not be consumed in a few hours.
Either make it in advance, chill and allow to come back to room temperature before using it or use to decorate the cake and refrigerate, again remembering to let it come to room temperature before serving.
Assembling the Cake
Spread a heaped tablespoon of frosting over the white chocolate cake layer, smooth with a blunt knife and top with the malted milk chocolate layer. Repeat to add the final layer of dark chocolate cake.
Once the final layer of cake has been added, carefully spread a thin layer of icing all over the top and sides of the cake - a palette knife is good for this. I find that coating the cake in a thin layer all over helps to seal in the crumbs, especially if you can chill the cake for 20 minutes or so at this point too.
Use the remaining icing to create a thicker layer that covers the cake entirely, then carefully move your cake onto a serving plate and touch up the icing if necessary.
Once you are satisfied, you can add a pattern if you want to. I used the back of a dessert spoon to lift the icing in places to give a rugged appearance.
Decorate with crushed or chopped chocolate if desired.
I knew I was onto a winner for my girl with this recipe for triple chocolate cake. She adores chocolate & marshmallows so to have a multitude of chocolate all stacked up into a birthday cake and then include marshmallow in the icing was like a dream come true for her.
And me, let's be honest.
Have you seen my other triple layer cakes?
- Chocolate & Vanilla Malted Milkshake Cake with Italian Buttercream
- Triple Layer Coffee Cake
- Cinnamon Apple Cake with Salted Maple Buttercream
- Turkish Delight Cake
If you have tried this flourless orange cake recipe please give it a rating below. Don’t forget to share your creations with me on Instagram too - I love to hear how you've got along. Use #littlesugarsnaps and tag me @jane_littlesugarsnaps.
Triple Chocolate Layer Cake
Equipment
- Please note: this recipe uses 3 x 6-inch circular cake tins. If you are using standard 8.5 inch tins please see my notes below.
Ingredients
For the Cakes
- 180 g/ 6 ½oz softened butter
- 180 g/ 6 ½oz caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 5 tbsp milk
- 180 g/ 6 ½oz plain (all purpose) flour (sifted)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 50 g/ 2oz white chocolate - finely chopped
- 50 g/ 2oz milk chocolate - finely chopped
- 50 g/ 2oz dark chocolate - finely chopped
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tbsp Ovaltine (chocolate malt powder)
- 1 ½ tbsp cocoa powder
For the buttercream
- 125 g/ 4 ½oz softened butter
- 250 g/ 9oz icing (confectioner's) sugar
- 125 g/ 4 ½oz cream cheese
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 150 g vanilla Marshmallow Fluff
Decoration - 1 Cadbury's flake (or 40g chopped/ grated milk chocolate)
Instructions
Bake the cakes
- Preheat the oven 170°/ 325°F/ GM3
- Grease and line 3 x 6-inch circular baking tins (note these are smaller than average tins - if you are using 8-inch tins see my notes on how to scale up the recipe)
- Melt the 3 types of chocolate in separate bowls. Set aside
- In a bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, using electric beaters. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition
- Add 3 tbsp of milk and beat again. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix well
- Divide the cake batter equally into 3 small mixing bowls
- For the White Chocolate & Vanilla Sponge: from the first mixing bowl take a tablespoon of the cake batter and stir it quickly into the melted white chocolate. Then gently fold this white chocolate mixture and the vanilla extract back into the bowl containing the rest of the cake batter. This double-action will stop the chocolate from seizing when it is mixed into the cake batter. Gently spoon the batter into one of the baking tins and spread it out with a blunt knife
- For the Malted Milk Chocolate Sponge: stir an extra tablespoon of milk and the Ovaltine powder into the second bowl of cake batter. From this bowl, take a tablespoon of the cake batter and stir it quickly into the melted milk chocolate. Then fold this chocolate mixture back into the rest of the cake batter. Spoon the batter into another of the baking tins & spread it out
- For the Dark Chocolate Sponge: stir an extra tablespoon of milk and the cocoa powder (sifted) into the remaining bowl of cake batter. Quickly mix a tablespoon of this cake batter into the melted dark chocolate, then fold this chocolate mixture back into the rest of the cake batter. Spread the batter into the last of the baking tins
- Bake all three cakes for 20-25 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly pressed or a skewer comes out clean
- Let cool in the tins for 2 minutes, then remove from the tins, peal off the baking parchment from the bottom of each sponge cake and let cool completely on a wire rack
Make the Marshmallow buttercream
- Put the icing sugar, butter & vanilla paste into a large bowl and beat until smooth
- Beat in the cream cheese until smooth, then mix in the marshmallow fluff
Assemble the cake
- Lay the white chocolate sponge cake onto a board and spread a heaped tablespoon of the icing on top, then place the malted milk chocolate cake carefully on top of the layer of icing
- Top with another spoonful of icing, spread it out and add the dark chocolate layer of cake
- Once the final layer of cake has been added, carefully spread a thin layer of icing all over the top and sides of the cake - a palette knife is good for this. I find that coating the cake in a thin layer all over helps to seal in the crumbs. Once you have done this, use the remaining icing to create a thicker layer that covers the cake entirely.
- Carefully move your cake onto a serving plate and touch up the icing if necessary. Once you are satisfied, you can add a pattern if you want to. I used the back of a dessert spoon to lift the icing in places to give a rugged appearance
- Decorate with crushed or chopped chocolate if desired
Paula Roberts
Hi Jane
I have just found your website and absolutely love the look of this cake! I really want to make it for a cake sale at my daughters school but I just wanted to ask your opinion on the icing. I would be making it the day before and icing it so do you think it would keep until the following afternoon? I normally keep them in airtight plastic containers when I do normal buttercream. Thank you for your help! Paula
Jane Saunders
Hi Paula. I don't see why not. I usually end up making mine in advance then storing on the side - I have a large plastic salad bowl I can flip over to cover cakes like this to keep it clean. Failing that if you have a cake box that is tall enough go for that. Hope you enjoy it.
Paula Roberts
Thank you!
Alice Jessuraj
Hi Jane,
I tried this cake and it looks amazing. The white chocolate was perfectly done- soft and fluffy. but the dark choc and the milk ones turned out dry and crumbly. Can you help me understand how I could avoid this
Jane Saunders
Hi Alice, of course I'll try to help. It's really strange that the white came out perfectly but the other 2 were dry and crumbly. Can I first of all check that you made the batter up and divided into 3 before adding the chocolate? Assuming you did that rather than mixing each layer seperately, there are several reasons a cake can turn out dry. Oven temperature can be a big factor - did you bake all 3 cakes together or did the white one go into the oven separately from the other 2. Ovens can be pests if the temperature fluctuates. Another factor can be undermixing of the cake batter - I wonder if somehow the milk and plain cakes were less well mixed than the white chocolate? Another possible reason could be that the milk and plain chocolate cakes spent longer in the oven than the white. My final thought would be the chocolate used - I used regular white, milk and plain chocolate rather than cooking chocolate which tends to have a few different ingredients to normal chocolate. Hopefully one of these reasons will resonate. I hope you'll give this recipe another go too - I'd love you to enjoy it at it's best. Did you find a substitute for the ovaltine?
Alice
This cake looks amazing . I am planning to bake one soon. Can you tell me if there is a substitute for ovaltine
Jane Saunders
Thanks Alice, so please you like it. Ovaltine is a malted chocolate drink - it comes in powder form. Do you have an equivalent product where you are or maybe malted milk powder? I haven't made the cake using malted milk powder but if you substitute it in I think it will work out fine - it may just be slightly lighter than the cake I photographed. I hope this helps - happy baking.
Lisa
I totally fell in love with your beautiful cake and knew I had to make it for my son's 30th birthday! I even ordered 3 new 6" pans so I could make it just like yours. I had trouble with the bake - in fact, I ended up making the cakes twice because my first attempt resulted in 2 of the layers falling into an ugly mess. They baked up quite nicely the second time and left me with quite a showstopper! When the cake was sliced and those beautifully colored layers peaked out from the fluffy marshmallow buttercream, everyone was very impressed. I can't even remember the last time I received so many compliments. The cake baked up a little dense and heavy - not light and fluffy like I expected - so I might have done something wrong the second time too, but the flavor and appearance easily made up for any baking flaws on my part. After reading thru the comments, I think I may have let the chocolate sit too long after melting. I melted the chocolate first as stated in your directions, but I'm not a speedy baker so I took too long to get to the step where I actually used the melted chocolate. It seized up a bit when I mixed the tablespoon of batter into the chocolate, so I probably overworked the batter trying to combine them. The cake was such a hit however, that I'm definitely trying it again! Thank you so much for the recipe and your beautifully tempting pictures. Your photography and staging is as inspired and wonderful as your baking!
Jane Saunders
Hi Lisa, thanks for getting in touch and I'm delighted to hear that you and your family enjoyed the cake. Working with chocolate can be a little tricky until you are used to it. My chocolate tends to sit about 7-10 minutes after I've melted it before I use it. It's important to mix that tablespoon of batter into the chocolate really quickly though (forget about being gentle) so that it doesn't seize. Once you add the mix back to the rest of the batter that is the time to be gentle. It could well be that due to the chocolate seizing the batter was a little over-worked. That would certainly affect the texture of the cake. However, it could be old baking powder (it loses it's potency over time) or a bad batch - I once opened a brand new pack and got to failed bake number 3 before I finally worked out that the problem was the baking powder. A bad batch wouldn't happen often though, so I'd guess that it was most likely a little overworking or old baking powder. Do you know what happened first time around to leave 2 layers messed up?
Thankyou Lisa, for taking the time to comment and for sending me your photos - you did a great job and I'm so thrilled you'll be making it again.
Lisa
Thanks again for all your helpful tips and advice! You are most generous with your time and your knowledge.
I'm not sure what I did wrong the first time to cause 2 fallen layers. I am just going to write it off to trying too hard. I knew that there would be other cakes at this party and I wanted mine to be the star! When I put a lot of pressure on myself to make something "perfect" I usually end up making a mistake or two! 🙂 I am so grateful to you for sharing your stories of an occasional fail. Knowing that someone with your talent and experience doesn't always get it right the first time gives me the courage to shake off the disappointment from a mistake and keep going! You are truly an inspiration on every level!
PS... thanks for bringing up the possibility of old baking powder. Mine isn't past the expiration date, but it's been in my baking cabinet for quite a while. I am definitely testing it before baking anything else!
Jane Saunders
No problem Lisa. Bad baking days are like bad hair days - they spring up on you just when you least expect it and when the bake is more important than usual 🙁 Oh and speaking of baking fails I have a recipe from a very famous baker that I cannot get right - I'm sure it's me, misinterpreting something, rather than the recipe at fault.
Kathy
Cake came out perfectly - thank you for a great recipe! Everyone at my daughter's birthday was very impressed!
Jane Saunders
I'm so pleased it went down well with everybody, Kathy, it's one of my favourites.
Melanie
Just found your wonderful looking cake and am thinking of making it for my husband's birthday or for Easter, but with a regular chocolate buttercream frosting or even a ganache. Can I ask how tall your 6in cake pans are? I am an expat in the US and the only 6in pans I can find are a measly 3/4in tall and your cake's layers look taller than that! I need new 8in pans so while I was ordering thought I'd splash out on 6in too, but not if they are going to be too short. Otherwise we have visitors from home coming soon and I might be able to persuade them to include cake pans in their luggage!
Jane Saunders
Gosh, Melanie, those are short pans. My mum had some like that years ago. My pans are about 1.25 - 1.5 tall ( not able to measure them at the moment). In my notes you'll find suggestions for measures for 8 inch tins but if there's only a few of you it will probably be too much cake to handle (??). Hope you get the pans you need in time to bake it. Thanks for getting in touch.
Lucy Parissi
Jane this cake is totally EPIC!! Beautifully made and photographed I can't believe I haven't come across it before. LOVE.
Jane Saunders
Thankyou - I feel the need to bake it again soon.
Brenda Imler
Made this wonderful cake. Just Epic ! Question? did you use all bakers chocolate, or other. I used candy bars. Was great.
Jane Saunders
Ah thanks so much Brenda - you've made my day.
I typically use Callebaut chocolate in baking these days, but at the time I first made this cake it would have been supermarket own brand - Waitrose to be exact, because their white chocolate melts well, their milk chocolate is decent and they do a lovely Continental dark chocolate that is not too 'dark' for kids tastes. If you find something that works well to cook with, then I say stick with it.
Claudine
Made the cake for my husband!
Did not had the 6 in, just a 8.5, I had too made an half more recipe too have a much more bigger cake!
I had trouble with the chocolate too...It kind of got hard when mixing cake mix with the chocolate so I got all little pieces of chocolate in the mix!
I was almost depress but licking the bowl encoourage me it was sooo good!
The result was really nice even if each of the cake were not as thick as it should be! It was yummy and everyone enjoyed it! Sorry for my bad english!
Jane Saunders
Hi Claudine, I'm so pleased you enjoyed the cake. I'm going to put a note with measurements onto the recipe to help guide people who need to make it in 8 inch tins - that should help.
Re the chocolate going hard, it sounds as if it started to set before you got to mix it in thoroughly. I had the same issue when I made chocolate mousse recently - it was lumpy but still delicious. Ideally, you want to mix the chocolate and the cake batter within 5-10 minutes of melting the chocolate. And similar to mixing a tablespoon of egg whites into melted chocolate when making mousse, it's important to quickly stir a tablespoon of the cake batter with the chocolate to help stabilise the chocolate temperature and stop it from seizing in the cake mix. I hope this helps for the next time you make it.
Amanda
Hi Jane. The 1st of of the sponges is out. I didn't measure the pan as I assumed it was a normal size so the layers are really thin. Lucky it's a tester. But I noticed the white choc layer is holey? Has air holes all through it when I pulled out of oven. Did I over work the batter?
Jane Saunders
Hi Amanda. yes, the recipe is for a smaller than average pan. If you want to bake 2 layers in 8 inch tins, I'd suggest making the entire recipe and dividing between the tins. You'll need to increase the flavourings for the white and malted milk chocolate by 1/3 to do this.
How strange that only 1 layer is affected. I've just googled 'holey sponge cakes' and the suggestion is either too much raising agent (in my experience this also causes the cake to sag) or over working the batter. Apparently long strands of gluten develop causing too much air to get trapped. Since only one layer is affected, this seems the most likely cause.
Amanda
Hi Jane. I was looking at making this for my sons 3rd birthday to take to playgroup. If i leave out the dark Chocolate layer as it may be to much. Will it be to sweet with just the other 2 layers?
Jane Saunders
Hi Amanda. I'm so glad you're tempted by it. Personally, I've never know a child find any cake too sweet. An adult may well prefer to have the serious dark layer in, but for kids I think it would be fine. You could always just frost the top and middle of the cake and leave the sides exposed to cut down on the sweet buttercream if you wanted to.
Amanda
I may make a "tester" first. I never thought of the buttercream. With the cream cheese to cut through the icing sugar is it a sickly sweet buttercream?
Jane Saunders
It is sweet, no doubt, but in a good way with the extra additions of cream cheese and marshmallow fluff. I think of it as posh buttercream - still very sweet but less sickly than normal buttercream.
Amanda
Thanks Jane.
Amanda
Hi Jane sorry to be a pain. I'm in NZ and the supermarket has marshmellow cream not fluff is that OK? I want to make my "tester" one this weekend. Really i just want some without 20 odd kids digging in but let's call it a tester.
Jane Saunders
Hi Amanda - no worries. Um, I'm not familiar with marshmallow creme. I'm in the UK and can buy the American Marshmallow Fluff, which is like a soft, gooey, spreadable version of marshmallows. If Marshmallow Creme is similiar, my guess is that it will probably suffice. I hope that helps.