Easy Chocolate Cake

Easy Moist Chocolate Cake Recipe with Ganache

This easy moist chocolate cake is one of our favourite homemade cakes. It is rich, generously sized and covered with a simple chocolate ganache.

I make it for birthdays and for weekends when I know the house will be busy. And as you can see from the image, you do not need any fancy cake-decorating skills to make it look good, which is exactly my kind of cake!

An Easy Homemade Chocolate Cake

The cake is made from scratch using ordinary baking ingredients. Although the mixture is unusually runny, it bakes into two wonderfully moist chocolate cake layers.

The texture is soft and almost muffin-like, while the dark chocolate ganache makes it feel like a proper celebration cake.

A Simple Chocolate Birthday Cake

There is no complicated decorating involved. Once the cakes are completely cool, sandwich them together with chocolate ganache and spread the remainder over the top and sides.

The ganache does not need to look perfectly smooth. A few generous swirls make this easy chocolate cake look homemade and inviting.

How Much Does Homemade Chocolate Cake Cost?

When I originally calculated the cost of this cake using own-brand ingredients, it cost £1.86 to make. Cut into 12 generous slices, that worked out at approximately 15p per slice.

Ingredient prices have increased since then, so it will cost more to make today. However, baking a large chocolate cake at home can still cost considerably less than buying 12 individual slices from a café or tearoom.

It is a good example of how we can continue to enjoy lovely food while being sensible with our household budget.

Storing Your Chocolate Cake

Keep the finished cake covered and refrigerated because the ganache contains fresh cream. Take individual slices out of the fridge shortly before serving so the cake and ganache can soften slightly.

This is a generous cake, but whether it actually lasts for several days is another matter. I have found children breaking into the fridge late at night for an extra slice more than once.

Serve it on its own or with ice cream, cream or chocolate sauce. But it is a great cake to keep fresh for many days once stored in the fridge! Be sure to comment below if you have any questions.

 

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Making Ganache

Chocolate ganache is traditionally made by heating the cream in a saucepan and then adding the chocolate, or by melting both together over a very low heat.

I prefer to place the chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. The bottom of the bowl should sit above the water rather than touching it.

The gentle heat melts the chocolate into the cream without placing the ingredients directly over the heat. It takes a little longer, but there is much less chance of the chocolate catching or the cream overheating.

I started using this method because it is easier for beginners, but it is still the way I make ganache now. Chocolate and double cream are not cheap ingredients, and this simple method reduces the risk of wasting them.

Once the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the heat and leave the ganache to cool until it is thick enough to spread.

This recipe is not my own. It is from a BBC chocolate cake recipe which you can find here. I have shared the steps and practical notes I use when making it for my own family.

Chocolate Cake

This is one of the easiest cake to make-just be sure to follow the steps carefully!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 6 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Servings: 12 slices

Course: Dessert

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

The Chocolate Cake

• 225 g plain flour
• 350 g caster sugar
• 85 g cocoa powder
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 eggs
• 250 ml milk
• 125 ml vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 250 ml boiling water

Ganache Topping

• 200 g chocolate dark or milk or a mix of both is fine
• 200 ml cream

Method

 

The Cake Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4.
2. Grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins.
3. Add all the cake ingredients except the boiling water to a mixing bowl.
4. Mix until combined.
5. Gradually add the boiling water.
6. Mix until smooth.
7. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins.
8. Bake for 30 minutes.
9. Check that a skewer comes out clean.
10. Leave the cakes in the tins to cool completely.
11. Remove the cooled cakes from the tins.

Make the ganache

1. Break the chocolate into a heat proof bowl.
2. Add the double cream.
3. Place the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water.
4. Stir until the chocolate has melted.
5. Remove from the heat.
6. Leave to cool and thicken.
7. Refrigerate until spreadable, if needed.

Assemble the cake

1. Spread some ganache over one cake.
2. Place the second cake on top.
3. Spread the remaining ganache over the top and sides.
4. Leave the ganache to set before serving.