Triple Chocolate Layer Cake

A slice of three layer chocolate cake on a plate with white, milk and dark chocolate layers.

4.91 from 30 votes

This triple chocolate layer cake is a three layer cake featuring white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate sponges stacked with luscious vanilla marshmallow fluff buttercream. It's rich, soft and a treat for chocolate lovers looking for something a little different.

Prep Time45

Cook Time30

Total Time1 15

Course: Baking, Cake, Dessert

Cuisine: World

Servings: Slices

Calories: 712kcal

Author: Jane Coupland

Equipment

3 x 6-inch sandwich cake tins Please note: this recipe uses 3 x 6-inch circular cake tins. If you are using standard 8 inch tins please see my notes below.

Ingredients

For the Cakes

180 g Butter or baking margarine (softened)
180 g Caster sugar
3 Eggs large, free-range
5 tablespoons Milk
180 g Plain flour (all purpose flour)
2 teaspoons Baking powder
50 g White chocolate finely chopped
50 g Milk chocolate finely chopped
50 g Dark chocolate finely chopped
½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon Ovaltine (chocolate malt powder)
1 ½ Tablespoon Cocoa powder

For the buttercream

125 g Butter softened
250 g Icing sugar
125 g Cream cheese full fat
1 teaspoon Vanilla bean paste
150 g Marshmallow Fluff original

Decoration - 1 Cadbury's flake (or 40g chopped/ grated milk chocolate)

½ Cadbury flake or 15g grated/ flaked milk chocolate
100 g Chocolate buttons Cadbury make white, milk and dark chocolate buttons now

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 (either in a microwave or using the bain-marie method. Set aside
50 g White chocolate , 50 g Milk chocolate, 50 g Dark chocolate
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
180 g Butter, 180 g Caster sugar, 3 Eggs, 5 tablespoons Milk
Add 3 tablespoon of milk and beat again. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix well
180 g Plain flour, 2 teaspoons Baking powder
Divide the cake batter equally into 3 small mixing bowls
Bowl 1: Fold in vanilla extract.
Bowl 2: Fold in sieved Ovaltine & ½ tablespoon milk.
Bowl 3: Fold in sieved cocoa powder and 1 ½ tablespoons milk.
½ teaspoon Vanilla extract, 1 Tablespoon Ovaltine, 1 ½ Tablespoon Cocoa powder, 5 tablespoons Milk
Now add the melted chocolate to each bowl by stirring 1 tablespoon of cake batter into the chocolate first, then folding it back into the main bowl as follows:
Bowl 1: Requires the white chocolate: stir 1 tablespoon of the vanilla batter into the white chocolate then fold it back into the bowl of vanilla batter.
Bowl 2: Requires the milk chocolate: stir 1 tablespoon of the Ovaltine batter into the milk chocolate then fold it back into the bowl of Ovaltine batter.
Bowl 3: Requires the dark chocolate: stir 1 tablespoon of the cocoa powder batter into the dark chocolate then fold it back into the bowl of cocoa batter.
Transfer the batters to the prepared baking tins.
Bake all three cakes for approximately 20-22 minutes until they spring back when lightly pressed or a skewer comes out clean.
Let the cakes rest in the tins for 2 minutes, then remove them 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 bean paste into a large bowl and beat until smooth
125 g Butter, 250 g Icing sugar, 1 teaspoon Vanilla bean paste
Beat in the cream cheese until smooth, then mix in the marshmallow fluff
125 g Cream cheese, 150 g 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/ flaked chocolate and chocolate buttons if desired
½ Cadbury flake, 100 g Chocolate buttons

Notes

Be accurate when measuring ingredients out: Pay careful attention to measures for the best results when baking cakes. I advocate the use of digital scales (and grams) over the cup system.
Use the correct sized baking tins: This recipe requires 6-inch tins not 8-inch tins.
Always grease & line the baking tins: Even if they are meant to be non-stick, it's much easier to get the baked cakes out of the tins when they have been greased (base and sides) and lined with baking parchment (base only).
Heed my advice (below) for adding melted chocolate: Use room temperature ingredients, avoid letting the chocolate cool too much and stir a little batter into the chocolate before combining it with the rest. These steps help ensure a smooth, even batter without the chocolate seizing.

How To Stop Melted Chocolate From Seizing In Cake Batter

Each layer of this three layer chocolate cake contains real melted chocolate, which gives it an incredibly rich flavour. However, melted chocolatecan sometimes seize when added to cake batter if it is not handled carefully.

A few readers have mentioned this issue, so here are my best tips to help you avoid it:

Use room temperature ingredients: Cold ingredients are the most common caise of seiezed chocolate. If the batter is too cold, the chocolate can start to set as soon as it is added.
Work fairly quickly: Chocolate that cools too much after melting becomes harder to mix smoothly. I usually melt it just before I begin to mix the cake batter so it has around 5 minutes to cool slightly while I work.
Temper the mixture first (important step): Do not pour melted chocolate straight into the batter. Instead, briskly stir one tablespoon of batter into the chocolate first, then fold this mixture back into the main bowl of batter.This helps balance the temperatures and prevents the chocolate from seizing.

Keep these three steps in mind and your chocolate should incorporate smoothly each time.

Cake Tin Sizes - Adapting For 8-Inch Tins

This recipe uses 3 x 6 inch circular cake tins. If you wish to use standard 8 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.

Nutrition