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TRIPLE CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE
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4.90 from 29 votes

Triple Chocolate Layer Cake

Chocolate cake gets an exciting makeover with three distinct chocolate flavours hidden beneath luscious vanilla marshmallow buttercream. Simple but effective.
Prep Time45 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 15 minutes
Course: Baking, Cake, Dessert
Cuisine: World
Servings: 10 Slices
Calories: 654kcal

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 tablespoon milk
  • 180 g/ 6 ½oz plain (all purpose) flour (sifted)
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 50 g/ 2oz white chocolate - finely chopped
  • 50 g/ 2oz milk chocolate - finely chopped
  • 50 g/ 2oz dark chocolate - finely chopped
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ tablespoon Ovaltine (chocolate malt powder)
  • 1 ½ tablespoon 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 teaspoon 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 tablespoon 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

    Notes

    Cake Tin Sizes and adapting for larger tins
    This recipe uses 3 x 6 inch circular cake tins. If you wish to use standard 8.5 inch tins, my suggestion is to simply double the recipe. In an ideal world, you would scale up the recipe to bake it using 5 eggs, but that leads to some fiddly measurements. Making double is far easier - just ensure you do not fill your sandwich tins more than ⅔ full with the batter and use the leftover batter to make a few cupcakes. You perhaps will not need to double the buttercream though - I'd suggest making 1.5 times that stated in the recipe.
     
    How to successfully mix melted chocolate into the cake batter
    • 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.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 654kcal | Carbohydrates: 81g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 36g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Cholesterol: 130mg | Sodium: 289mg | Potassium: 247mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 60g | Vitamin A: 1014IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 101mg | Iron: 2mg