Triple Chocolate Sponge Cake Recipe

When it comes to delicious desserts, they don't come much more decadent than this rich and fudgy triple chocolate sponge cake. From the kitchen of Tasting Table recipe developer Jennine Rye, this cake is a real winner if you are looking to make an opulent, chocolatey statement, and it makes an ideal choice for birthdays, wedding anniversaries, or any time you want an excuse to celebrate.

While this cake definitely takes a little more effort, the results are well worth the time and care it asks for. The chocolate sponge is surprisingly light and tender, and the inclusion of yogurt in the cake batter helps to keep the crumb wonderfully moist. The thick buttercream filling is laced with just enough coffee to enhance the flavor of the chocolate without being noticeable itself, adding plenty of creamy richness without being too sweet. The top of this cake is smothered in white, milk, and dark chocolate, melted and then marbled together with the help of a clever hack involving a plastic soda bottle, and finished off with a little more frosting and a few sprinkles. So whether you are approaching a birthday for the chocolate-lover in your life, or just fancy something extra special, why not make this triple chocolate sponge cake recipe and indulge!

To begin this triple chocolate sponge cake recipe, first, you will need to gather the ingredients. For the cake sponges, you will want flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, low-fat yogurt, and salt. To mix up the chocolate frosting, you will need butter, cocoa powder, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, some cooled coffee, and a little milk. To decorate the sheet cake, you will want white, milk, and dark cooking chocolate to help achieve the marbled top, some more butter, and a few sprinkles for the finishing touch.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Whisk together the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and the sea salt.

Beat the butter and sugar on a high setting for 2 to 3 minutes until light and creamy.

Mix in the eggs and the vanilla extract.

Fold in half of the flour and cocoa powder mixture.

Mix in the yogurt.

Fold in the remaining flour and cocoa powder.

Transfer the cake batter to a lined 13x9-inch baking sheet and spread out evenly.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the sponge comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and cool completely, for at least one hour.

Once cooled remove the cake from the tin.

Use a wire cutter or bread knife to slice the sponge in half.

To make the chocolate frosting, beat the butter with half the cocoa powder and half of the confectioners' sugar.

Mix in the vanilla and the cooled coffee.

Mix in the rest of the confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder.

Mix in the milk to loosen the frosting a little.

Spread ¾ the chocolate frosting over one half of the cake sponges.

Layer the other sponge half on top of the frosted sponge.

To begin the top layer, break up the white, milk, and dark chocolate into separate bowls.

Add 2 tablespoons butter to the bowl containing the white chocolate, and 1 tablespoon butter each to the bowls containing milk and dark chocolate.

Melt the bowls of chocolate in increments in the microwave on a low setting, stopping to stir the chocolate every 20 seconds until no lumps remain.

Using the base of a plastic soda bottle, take turns pouring a little of each type of chocolate onto the bottle allowing it to flow out over the top of the sponge.

Once all the chocolate has been used up, remove the plastic and gently tip the cake from side to side to spread the chocolate about and cover any remaining uncoated areas.

Place the cake into the fridge for 10 minutes to allow the chocolate to harden.

Transfer the remaining chocolate frosting to a piping tube fitted with a 2D piping nozzle.

Frost the top of the cake, going around the edges and using a circular motion to create a frosting border.

Scatter the sprinkles over the frosting.

Serve.

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This rich and fudgy triple chocolate sponge cake is bound to be a hit, but if you are looking for ways to mix things up, there are plenty of options available to you. A simple way to make a big difference to this cake is to use a different type of frosting between the layers of sponge. This recipe uses a classic buttercream, but cream cheese frosting will add a tangy note to complement and counter-balance the sweetness of the chocolate, or, if you simply can't get enough chocolate in your cake, why not whip up some chocolate ganache using your preferred type of chocolate? To really go all out, you could make three different bowls of ganache using white, milk, and dark chocolate to mirror the marbled topping.

For some different flavor options, you could add more coffee and turn this into a mocha cake, finished off with chocolate-coated coffee beans as decoration. The inclusion of nuts in the filling or as a topping is another direction you could explore, after all, who doesn't love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter or hazelnuts? Alternatively, you could add freshness and color to this cake by decorating the top with an assortment of fruit and berries. 

While cooking is very much an art, baking is often considered to be a science. So, when you are baking a cake, you will want to don your white lab coat and channel your inner alchemist, because this is chemistry. It is particularly important to be exact when measuring out ingredients for a cake, because precision can be the difference between a perfectly light and tender cake crumb and a dense, dry cinderblock of sponge. As well as this, the temperature of the cake ingredients you use will impact how well they combine. Always make sure that your butter and eggs are at room temperature for the best results. Speaking of butter, how you cream the butter and sugar together for your batter matters. The longer you beat it, the more air is introduced into the mix and the fluffier the resulting sponge will be, so don't be tempted to speed past this step.

Once the batter is ready, you will want to make sure that your oven is correctly at temperature. The temperature of your oven is crucial to making sure the chemical reactions involved in producing the perfect sponge can take place, and an oven thermometer can help you to check that your oven is at the temperature it claims to be. Finally, avoid the temptation to open the oven door during the baking process, as doing so will lower the temperature in the oven and could impede the chemical process that turns batter into a perfect, fluffy sponge cake.

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