Triple Chocolate Cake

This ultra moist triple chocolate cake recipe is naturally sweetened from the cake to the frosting! It features three fluffy chocolate sponges, a luxurious dark chocolate ganache filling, and a soft and light chocolate buttercream. Perfect for any kind of celebration or when that chocolate craving overtakes you.

Table of Contents

• An ultra moist triple chocolate cake recipe
• Main ingredients in triple chocolate cake
• What makes this chocolate cake so moist
• How to make triple chocolate cake
• How to make a triple layer cake
• Tips for making this recipe perfectly
• More refined sugar free cake recipes

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An ultra moist triple chocolate cake recipe

Since it’s Naturally Sweet Kitchen’s third blogiversary, I figured what better way to celebrate than with a decadent triple chocolate cake!

This cake is super moist and features three different varieties of chocolate: velvety chocolate sponges, rich dark chocolate ganache filling, and a soft and airy chocolate ermine frosting. It’s seriously the ultimate chocolate cake recipe.

Although it sounds complicated, I assure you that this cake is very easy to pull together and can be done in stages if you have some extra time.

If you’re a chocoholic and you don’t love this recipe, I’ll be quite shocked.

Main ingredients in triple chocolate cake

Each key ingredient in this triple chocolate cake recipe has a role to play. It’s important that ingredients are not substituted (unless noted) or the end result will not be the ultimate moist cake! Here’s what you’ll need:

• Plain flour: I use regular all-purpose flour for this recipe and find it works beautifully to provide a light and fluffy crumb.
• Cacao powder: The depth of raw cacao gives the sponges and buttercream its rich chocolate taste.
• Coconut sugar: The main natural sweetener of the cake – using coconut sugar lends a deep rich flavour while keeping the sponges refined sugar free.
• Rapeseed oil: What keeps this cake extra moist and light is using oil instead of butter. Butter weighed the cake down too much and created a dense sponge.
• Eggs: In a cake, the eggs provide the main structure as well as lend the cake moisture and richness. We’re using 2 large eggs in this recipe.
• Hot strong coffee: Did you know that coffee actually enhances the flavour of chocolate and makes the sponges more flavourful?
• Dark chocolate: Wouldn’t be a triple chocolate cake recipe without some actual chocolate! We’re using dark chocolate to create the ganache filling as well as melting some down to flavour the frosting. Tip: the higher the cocoa percentage on your chocolate, the less sugar in the bar.
• Agave syrup: We’re using agave syrup for the frosting because it’s the most neutral in flavour of all the natural sweeteners and doesn’t overpower the flavour of the chocolate.

Other Ingredients

Aside from the above ingredients, we’ll also need a few extra things to make this triple chocolate cake recipe:

• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Sea salt
• Espresso powder
• Vanilla extract
• Milk
• Greek yoghurt
• Double cream

What makes this chocolate cake so moist

Chocolate cakes are notorious for being too dry, but that’s typically a result of not using enough fat and liquid components to increase the moisture. Cocoa and cacao powder can dry out a cake, so you need to compensate with the other ingredients.

In this triple chocolate cake recipe, we’re using a combination of rapeseed oil, eggs, Greek yoghurt, milk, and hot coffee to give the sponges their tender, light crumb.

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How to make triple chocolate cake

This cake is an incredibly easy recipe to bake. Prepping the batter shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes and it bakes up in around the same time. The hardest part is waiting for the layers and ganache to cool so you can frost! Here’s how to make it:

1. Preheat the oven and grease, line, and lightly flour three round baking tins.
2. Sift together the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together.
3. In a large bowl, combine all the wet ingredients – except the coffee – and whisk until smooth.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Mix until all the dry ingredients disappear then slowly pour in the coffee while whisking.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the three prepared baking tins and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the centre of the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow the cakes to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn them out onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely before assembling and frosting.

Full details are in the recipe card at the end of this post.

How to make a triple layer cake

Although it may seem more intimidating, crafting a triple layer cake isn’t any harder than making a double layer cake. It’s simply a case of adding on an extra sponge and ensuring you divide the frosting evenly between all the layers. Here’s the basic method:

1. Place one cake layer on a serving plate or stand. Spread any fillings on top of the cake layer, then top with at least 60ml (¼ cup) of frosting.
2. Carefully stack your second cake layer on top of the frosting. Repeat the filling and frosting.
3. Stack your third layer on top and crumb coat your cake.
4. Place the cake in the fridge to set for 20-30 minutes to lock in all the crumbs.
5. Frost the entirety of the cake and decorate as you wish with piping and extras.

Tips for making this recipe perfectly

• Preheat your oven and prep your tins ahead of mixing the batter.
• Make sure all of your frosting ingredients are at room temperature for best results. This will ensure a fluffy frosting that doesn’t curdle or split.
• When baking the sponges for this triple chocolate cake recipe, place two tins on the middle rack and one on the lower rack in the oven for best results. The lower rack cake may have to cook approximately 2 minutes longer than the middle rack cakes, but check all three at the 24-minute mark.

More refined sugar free cake recipes

Best Vanilla Cake
Natural Red Velvet Cake
Black Forest Cake
Coffee Layer Cake
Chocolate Sheet Cake
Mandarin Orange Cake
Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cake
Carrot Cake
Apple Chai Cake
White Chocolate Raspberry Ripple Cake

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If you make this recipe, let me know by snapping a picture and tagging me on Instagram @naturallysweet_kitchen. I love seeing your creations and sharing them in my Stories. Or let me know you love this moist Triple Chocolate Cake recipe by leaving a comment and rating below!

5 from 2 votes

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Triple Chocolate Cake (Refined Sugar Free, Ultra Moist)

This ultra moist triple chocolate cake recipe is naturally sweetened from the cake to the frosting! It features three fluffy chocolate sponges, a luxurious dark chocolate ganache filling, and a soft and light chocolate buttercream. Perfect for any kind of celebration or when that chocolate craving overtakes you.

Category Cake, Dessert

Cuisine American, British, Canadian, French

Keyword moist chocolate cake, triple chocolate cake

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Author Amanda | Naturally Sweet Kitchen

Ingredients

Cake

• 200 g plain flour
• 65 g raw cacao powder
• 325 g coconut sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp espresso powder
• 120 ml rapeseed oil
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
• 120 ml milk, room temperature
• 110 g Greek yoghurt, room temperature
• 240 ml hot strong coffee

Ganache

• 150 g quality dark chocolate, chopped roughly
• 200 ml double cream

Frosting

• 250 ml agave syrup
• 300 ml milk
• 50 g plain flour
• ¾ tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 300 g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 65 g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1 ½ tbsp raw cacao powder

Method

Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF) and grease, line, and dust with cacao powder three 20cm (8 in) cake tins.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cacao powder, coconut sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, egg, vanilla, milk, and yogurt until well combined.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Mix until all the dry ingredients disappear – the batter will be very thick.
5. Slowly pour in the hot coffee, whisking continuously until incorporated.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the 3 prepared tins and bake for 24-27 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached. Place the tins on a wire rack and allow the sponges to cool completely in the tins.

Ganache

1. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Pour the cream into a small saucepan and place it over a medium-low heat. Stir continuously until the cream reaches scalding (little bubbles appearing at the sides).
2. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 1 minute. Whisk together until smooth and set aside to cool.

Frosting

1. Make the pudding first by adding the agave syrup, milk, flour, and salt to a medium saucepan. Place the pan over a medium heat and whisk well to dissolve the flour. As the mixture heats up, keep whisking to prevent it sticking to the bottom.
2. Once it starts to bubble, keep an eye on it and keep whisking. It will eventually begin to thicken. Once it reaches a thick pudding consistency, remove the pan from the heat and decant the pudding onto a large platter. Spread it out evenly and let it cool to room temperature before starting the next step.
3. To make the frosting, add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Whip the butter on medium-high speed until fluffy and pale. You may have to stop and scrape down the butter from the sides of the bowl a few times.
4. Once the butter is pale, turn the mixer to a low speed and start adding your cooled pudding mixture one tablespoon at a time. After adding all the pudding, turn the mixer up to a high speed and give it a good whip up for 30-60 seconds or until fluffy.
5. Turn the mixer down to medium and add in the vanilla extract, melted chocolate, and cacao powder and keep whipping to incorporate it throughout. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and give the frosting a good scrape up to make sure all the butter was incorporated from the bottom of the bowl.

Assembly

1. Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread a layer of ganache and then top with buttercream. Repeat with remaining layers and crumb coat the cake. Chill for 20-30 minutes to lock in the crumbs.
2. Complete the outer layer of frosting. Place the remaining frosting into a piping bag fitted with a ruffle nozzle (Wilton #2D) and then pipe small ruffles around the edges of the cake. Top each ruffle with chocolate sprinkles and press chocolate sprinkles into the sides of the cake if desired.

Notes

• This cake will keep covered and refrigerated for up to 4 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
• The sponges can be made separately, up to 24 hours in advance. Keep the sponges covered and refrigerated until assembly.
• You can make the frosting pudding up to 2 days in advance, just be sure to store it in the fridge. Let it come to room temperature and stir it well before adding to the butter.
• Never crumb coated a cake before? Watch this video for a demonstration.