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Triple chocolate cake on a cake stand.
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5 from 5 votes

Triple Chocolate Cake (VIDEO)

Chocolate lovers will drool over this triple chocolate cake recipe, made with mouthwatering chocolate sponge cake, creamy chocolate whipped ganache frosting, and a decadent chocolate ganache drip.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Waiting time8 hours
Total Time8 hours 45 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 6
Calories: 1124kcal
Author: Katalin Nagy

Ingredients

For the chocolate sponges (Makes 3 x 6 inch /15cm sponge cakes)

  • 170 g All purpose flour any low protein content flour eg. pastry flour can work too.
  • 45 g Cocoa powder unsweetened, dutch processed
  • 120 g Granulated sugar
  • 120 g Brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon Baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • 70 g Vegetable oil
  • 2 Eggs room temperature
  • 165 g Milk room temperature
  • 120 g Coffee freshly brewed strong coffee, room temperature

For the Whipped Chocolate ganache frosting

  • 300 g Dark Chocolate good quality semi sweet chocolate eg. Callebaut 811 Dark chocolate callets
  • 300 g Heavy Cream 36% fat - to heat up
  • 4.5 Gelatin sheets  1.7g / sheet so overall 4.5*1.7g=7.6g gelatin
  • 450 g Heavy cream 36% fat - use it cold

Chocolate ganache drip

  • 50 g Dark chocolate good quality semi sweet chocolate eg. Callebaut 811 Dark chocolate callets
  • 50 g Heavy cream 36% fat
  • 5 g Unsalted butter

Instructions

Start with the whipped chocolate ganache frosting

  • Semi-melt chocolate (eg. Callebaut 811 Dark chocolate callets) in the microwave.
  • Soak gelatin sheets in cold water while heating the first part of the cream (300g) just until simmering.
  • Squeeze excess water from the gelatin sheets and stir them into the hot cream. Then, pour the warm cream over the chocolate, let the two sit for a minute then stir and/or blend together.
  • Pour in cold cream (450g) and stir together. Then, place the chocolate ganache into a shallow bowl or container and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top. Refrigerate overnight (8 hours).
  • The next day, gently whip it for a 1-2 minutes. Do not over whip as it can become greasy. Use it to fill and frost the cake immediately or the cream is more on the soft side, chill it for an hour or two.

Make the chocolate sponges

  • Heat the oven to 200°C or 425°F (no fan) and prepare 3 15 cm (6 inch) round cake pan with parchment paper.
  • With an Electric hand mixer whip together the wet ingredients for 1-2 minutes: room temperature egg, oil, sugar, coffee and milk.
  • Sift dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt.
  • Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients then fold just until combined.
  • Divide batter equally into three cake pans with the help of a Digital scale.
  • Place baking pans into the oven and reduce oven temperature to 180°C / 356°F (no fan). Bake for 25-30 min or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
  • Cool the chocolate sponges on Cooling rack. Chill them in the fridge before assembling the cake.

Assembling the cake

  • Measure the frosting (200g in between each layers) then start to build up the layers from the bottom to the top. Once the last cake layer is placed, chill the cake for a minimum of 30 minutes.
  • Crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of frosting and then chill the cake again for another 30 minutes before applying the final chocolate frosting and decorating with the chocolate drip.
  • Make sure to leave some frosting to decorate the top of the cake.

Chocolate ganache drip

  • Heat cream until simmering, pour the warm cream over the chocolate and let the two sit for a minute then stir, then stir in butter until smooth. Let it come to about room temperature.
  • Pour the ganache into a piping bag, make a very small hole in the piping bag. Test the chocolate ganache texture on a plate or glass. It should not be too runny (too warm) and it should not be too thick neither (too cold), but just at the right consistency that is related to being just at the right temperature.
  • Once the cake is well chilled apply the chocolate ganache drip on top of the cake. Then, pipe the remaining frosting on top as decoration.
  • Serve the cake fresh or store it refrigerated for 2-3 days.

Video

Notes

INGREDIENT NOTES:
  1. Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy.
  2. All ingredients for the chocolate cake must be at room temperature to properly emulsify: eggs, milk, coffee etc.
  3. Do not skip the salt as it will balance the sweetness of this cake
  4. Good quality chocolate (eg. Valrhona, Callebaut) will make the best whipped chocolate ganache.
  5. Use high fat content heavy cream (36%). 
  6. You can easily substitute 4,5 gelatin sheets by using the same amount of gelatin powder (7.6g). For agar-agar, follow conversions according to the package instructions.
TECHNIQUE NOTES:
  1. Make sure you read my Expert tips section above to maximize your success. A short recipe alone is not able to cover all the necessary details, and science behind baking. Consider this recipe more like an in-depth tutorial, literally the only recipe you will ever need to make delicious chocolate sponge cake.
  2. Do not overbake your sponge layers as that will result in a dry texture. Use the toothpick test to check if your cake is ready.
  3. Cool the cake completely on a wire rack. This will help the cake not break when it’s fully cooled and can be removed from the pan.  
  4. Make sure you do not attempt to use the ganache before it sets, respect the 8 hours of chilling time.
  5. When whipping up the ganache, you have to be super gentle. Either use your stand mixer on low speed for about 1 minute, or even better if using a less powerful electric hand mixer for 1-2 minutes. Chocolate ganache can be very easily overwhipped, in which case, the cream will curdle and turn greasy .
  6. If at any point the frosting gets soft or the cake gets unstable, place it into the fridge to chill then only after continue.

Nutrition

Calories: 1124kcal | Carbohydrates: 98g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 77g | Saturated Fat: 47g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 21g | Trans Fat: 0.05g | Cholesterol: 212mg | Sodium: 537mg | Potassium: 787mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 59g | Vitamin A: 2127IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 244mg | Iron: 10mg