Super Fluffy Chocolate Cream Cake Recipe

It's my birthday today! So I made this epic super light chocolate cream cake. Because why not?

I'm really particular with my chocolate cakes, because honestly? I'm not a fan of most of them – shockingly, for a dessert addict. They either have to be super fluffy and light, or balanced with fruit like a Black Forest gateau. 

I originally intended to make the latter this year, but because the shops near me were sold out of canned cherries and I was too lazy to go further afield to find them, I decided on the former type of chocolate cake.

This chocolate cake is made of a cloudy-light genoise sponge, which is made by whisking whole eggs until fluffy. It's then sandwiched with the richest, easiest chocolate whipped cream frosting ever, and topped with a chocolate pudding disc that I set with agar (seaweed jelly).

Check out how I made this on YouTube, too:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients for Chocolate Pudding Topping:

4 tsp cocoa powder
50ml hot water
1.5g agar powder
25g caster sugar
175ml double cream
30g dark 70% cocoa solids chocolate

Ingredients for Genoise Sponge Cake:

6 eggs
215g caster sugar
125g self-raising flour
60g cornflour
20g cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
25g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tbsp milk

Ingredients for Syrup:

50g caster sugar
50ml water
1 tbsp dark rum (optional)

Ingredients for Chocolate Cream:

450ml double cream
55g cocoa powder
85g caster sugar

To Decorate:

100ml double cream, whipped

Method:

1. To make the topping, stir/whisk the cocoa powder and water together and pour into a small saucepan. Sprinkle over the agar powder, bring to a boil, and add the sugar and cream. Bring it back to a boil, drop in the chocolate and stir well until completely melted, and pour into your mould (it made two in my silicone tourbillon mould). Leave to cool to room temperature, and pop in the fridge to chill and set overnight.

2. To make the genoise sponge layers, preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line three 8" round baking tins with baking paper.

3. Place the eggs and sugar together in a very large, heatproof bowl, and set it on top of a pan of just-simmering water. Whisk lightly with a balloon whisk until the sugar is completely dissolved and the egg mixture is warm, and immediately take the bowl off the heat. Switch to an electric whisk, and whisk until the egg and sugar mixture is super thick, foamy and voluminous (about 10 minutes). When you lift the whisk up, there should be a trail that sits on top of the rest of the mixture before sinking in after a few seconds – this is called 'ribbon stage'.

4. Sift in the flours, cocoa and salt, and very gently fold in until just combined, taking care not to knock out too much air. Then fold in the butter and milk, divide evenly between the three cake tins, and bake for 20–25 minutes, or until puffy and a toothpick poked into the centre of one comes out clean.

5. Let the cakes cool completely on a wire rack, and make the syrup by boiling the water and sugar together for three minutes, taking off the heat, then stirring in the rum (or keeping the rum out if you prefer without).

6. To make the chocolate cream, sift the cocoa into the cream in a large bowl, add the sugar, and whisk until it form a thick, pipeable consistency.

7. Remove the cake layers from the tins and remove the baking paper, and level off the tops with a knife if they're a little domed or uneven. Take one layer, stick it down on a serving plate with a little chocolate cream, and brush generously with the syrup. Pipe or spread on more chocolate cream thickly, then repeat with the other two layers, finishing with a thinner layer of chocolate cream on top.

8. Place the chocolate pudding disc on top of your cake, and pipe the whipped double cream around the edge. Finally, pop in the fridge for about an hour to set the cream a little before slicing and serving.

Enjoy, and have fun.