Rich Chocolate Truffle Layer Cake Chocolate Cake With Truffle Cream Frosting is rich, elegant, and easier than it looks. You get a moist chocolate loaf, filled and frosted with silky truffle cream, then finished with glossy ganache. The crumb is soft and airy, the chocolate flavor deep and balanced. Follow my steps and cooling cues-this cake always works.
At a glance
Recipe name: Chocolate Cake With Truffle Cream Frosting
🕒 Ready in: 2 hours 25 minutes
⏲️ Prep time: 15 minutes
🍳 Bake time: 70 minutes
❄️ Cooling/Chill: 60 minutes
👪 Servings: 10 slices
🥄 Calories: ~718 kcal per slice
🥘 Key ingredients: butter, eggs, flour, cocoa, dark chocolate, mascarpone-free truffle cream (custard + butter + chocolate), ganache
👩🏻🍳 Taste & texture: deep chocolate, sweet, moist crumb, silky cream, glossy ganache
📖 allergen info: contains gluten (wheat), milk (dairy), eggs. No: peanuts, tree nuts (if chocolate is peanut and nut-free), fish, crustaceans, soy (check chocolate label), celery, mustard, sesame.
⭐ Difficulty level: Medium - classic cake batter, a quick custard (truffle base), assembly, and simple ganache. Timing/cooling matters.
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Moist Chocolate Layer Cake With Ganache
I adore chocolate, but only when it's done right: moist crumb, true cocoa taste, and a clean finish. This cake delivers. It starts with a simple loaf-no fuss, just good butter, eggs, and cocoa. Then we dress it up with a lush truffle cream made from custard, butter, and real dark chocolate. Rosettes on top, a kiss of ganache in the center, and you've got bakery looks with home-kitchen ease.
It's the cake I bake for birthdays, coffee dates, and "just because" afternoons. Tested many times, always a hit, never dry. Trust the process: chill when I say chill, and you'll slice perfect layers.
This recipe is adapted from the Dutch blog Zoet en Verleidelijk.
What Do you Need?
he exact amounts are in the recipe card below.
Ingredients Chocolate Cake
- All-purpose flour: structure; sift for a fine crumb.
- Baking powder: lift and lightness.
- Cocoa powder (unsweetened): regular/Dutch-process; sift to avoid lumps.
- Fine sugar: standard granulated works; superfine dissolves faster.
- Salt: enhances chocolate flavor.
- Unsalted butter (room temperature): for aeration and a tender crumb.
- Eggs (L, room temperature): bind and add richness.
Chocolate Truffle Cream and Chocolate Ganache
- Whole milk: creamy base.
- Vanilla extract: vanilla extract gives deeper flavor, easily make this vanilla extract. You could substitute for a vanilla bean).
- Egg yolks: thicken and enrich.
- All-purpose flour: quick, stable thickener for custard.
- Sugar: for balance.
- Dark chocolate (≥70% cocoa): quality matters; smoother texture, clean snap.
- Unsalted butter (room temperature): whips in for a silky, pipeable cream.
- Confectioners' sugar: smooth sweetness; no graininess.
- Heavy cream: brings sheen and soft set.
- Chocolate (milk or dark): your choice; dark for bold, milk for mellow.
How to Prepare?
The full, step-by-step method is in the recipe card below.
- Bake the loaf: Cream butter/sugar, add eggs, fold in dry mix, bake until set. Cool completely.
- Cook quick custard: Heat milk/vanilla; whisk yolks, flour, sugar; temper, thicken, cover, and cool.
- Make truffle cream: Melt chocolate; whip butter with confectioners' sugar, beat in cooled custard, fold in chocolate. Chill briefly.
- Assemble & finish: Slice cake into three layers, fill, and frost with truffle cream and pipe rosettes.
- Prepare the ganache and let it cool.
- Dot each rosette with cooled ganache.
Top Tips
- Room-temp ingredients = better rise and smooth emulsion.
- Don't overmix flour-stop when just combined to keep the crumb tender.
- Cool completely before slicing or frosting; warm cake will melt cream.
- Chill the cream 10 minutes for neat piping (not longer, or it firms too much).
- Sharp serrated knife for tidy layers; wipe blade between cuts.
Did you make this delicious recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram! I love to see what your creation looks like and regularly share the most beautiful photos of you! Did you like this recipe? Then leave a rating on the recipe card! Your feedback helps other home cooks and me enormously.
Need more inspiration?
- You can find video recipes on my YouTube channel.
- And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest, so you can easily find them again next time!
📖 Recipe
RECIPE CARD
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons Dutch unprocessed cocoa
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1¾ stick butter, unsalted
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 eggs, size L
Chocolate Truffle Cream
- 1 cup milk, whole
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 egg yolks
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2¼ sticks butter
- ½ cup confectioners sugar
- 5¼ oz. dark chocolate, >70 % cocoa, finely chopped
Chocolate Ganache
- ¼ cup cream
- 1¾ oz. Milk Chocolate, milk or dark, finely chopped
All my recipes are written both in Metric (gram / ml) and US Customary (cups / pounds). Here you can select which type of amount you would like to see.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to
350 °F or 320 °F. Line a 10.5 × 3-inch loaf tin with parchment. - In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt.1½ cups all-purpose flour, 1½ teaspoons baking powder, 2 tablespoons Dutch unprocessed cocoa, ⅛ teaspoon salt
- In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar on high for 3 minutes until pale and fluffy.1¾ stick butter, 1 cup sugar
- Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.4 eggs
- Add dry ingredients; mix on low just until combined.
- Spoon batter into the cake tin; level the top.
- Bake 60-70 minutes until a skewer comes out dry. Cool 10 minutes in tin, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Chocolate Truffle Cream
- Heat milk and vanilla in a saucepan until steaming.1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a bowl, whisk egg yolks, flour, and sugar for 2-3 minutes until pale.2 egg yolks, 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, ¼ cup sugar
- Temper: slowly whisk hot milk into yolks.
- Return to saucepan; cook over medium-low, whisking, until thick and bubbling, about 2 minutes.
- Spread onto a plate, cover the surface with plastic wrap, and cool to room temperature.
- Melt dark chocolate gently (bain-marie or microwave on low power); cool slightly.5¼ oz. dark chocolate
- Beat butter with confectioners' sugar on high for 1 minute until creamy.2¼ sticks butter, ½ cup confectioners sugar
- Beat in cooled custard until smooth.
- Fold in melted chocolate until fully combined. Chill 10 minutes for a pipeable consistency.
Assemble cake
- Slice the cooled cake horizontally into three even layers.
- Place the base layer on a board; spread a ¼-inch layer of truffle cream.
- Add the middle layer; repeat. Top with the final layer.
- Coat sides and top with a thin "crumb coat" of truffle cream.
- Pipe rosettes on top (star tip, e.g., Wilton 1M). Chill while making ganache.
Chocolate Ganache
- Heat cream to just boiling; remove from heat.¼ cup cream
- Add chocolate; stir until smooth and glossy.1¾ oz. Milk Chocolate
- Cool 10 minutes; transfer to a small piping bag (tiny round tip, like a Wilton 002 piping tip).
- Pipe a small dot of ganache in the center of each rosette. Chill to set.
Notes
- Mocha: Add ½ teaspoon espresso powder to cake batter and truffle cream.
- Orange-chocolate: Add 1 teaspoon orange zest to cake; swap vanilla for orange extract.
- Hazelnut finish: Press toasted chopped hazelnuts onto sides (check allergens).
- All-dark look: Use dark chocolate for both cream and ganache.
- Fridge: Up to 5 days, loosely covered.
- Freezer: Up to 2 months, double-wrapped; thaw in fridge overnight.
- Serve: Best slightly chilled; rest 10-15 minutes at room temp before slicing for clean cuts.
Nutrition
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