Everyone should have really good Basic Chocolate Sponge Cake in their repertoire and this is mine! It’s a recipe you can quickly learn off by heart and it is infinitely adaptable – use it to make 1 large cake, 18 small cupcakes or 12 large cupcakes; add different flavours, toppings and fillings; or use it as the base of a trifle!
A chocolate cake recipe to know off by heart!
I believe everyone should have a good basic chocolate cake recipe they know off by heart, and this is mine.
In fact, it’s the one I was taught to make as a very small child and so I’ve been making it for over 40 years!
It will make 1 large cake, 18 small cupcakes or 12 large cupcakes.
If you double the recipe, you can then make 1 large Chocolate Traybake Cake.
Alternatively, you can use this easy chocolate cake as the base of a trifle.
(This cake is the chocolate version of my ever-popular Basic Sponge Cake – see that recipe for more ideas on how to adapt this basic recipe with other flavours.)
How to make a basic chocolate sponge cake
A basic chocolate sponge cake is so easy to make!
All you need to do is beat butter and sugar together, then mix in the eggs one at a time. Next, stir fold in self-raising flour and cocoa powder.
Put the mixture in a prepared cake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool, and serve dusted with cocoa powder.
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
How to adapt a basic chocolate sponge recipe
There are lots of ways you can adapt this basic chocolate sponge cake recipe.
You could:
- Make cupcakes (12 large or 18 small), instead of 1 large cake
- Make 2 x 1lb loaf cakes or 1 x 2lb loaf cake, instead of a round cake
- Top with a simple chocolate buttercream made from icing sugar and butter, and decorate with chocolate sprinkles – a bit like THIS
- Cut it in half, sandwich together with chocolate buttercream and dust the top with icing sugar to make a Chocolate Victoria Sponge Cake
- Cut it in half, sandwich together with fresh whipped cream and dust the top with icing sugar
- Double the recipe to make a Chocolate Traybake Cake
- Use the cake as the base for a Trifle
- Decorate with mini eggs and cream eggs to make a Chocolate Easter Cake or Easter Chocolate Traybake Cake
Easy Chocolate Traybake Cake
How to store Chocolate Sponge Cake
To keep it fresh, store this Chocolate Sponge Cake in an airtight cake tin.
How long will Chocolate Sponge Cake keep?
A basic sponge cake will keep for up to a week, if kept in an airtight container. (Though it will taste at its best in the first 2-3 days.)
If it gets a bit stale, use it as the base for a homemade trifle!
Can you freeze Chocolate Sponge Cake?
Surprisingly, sponge cake freezes really well! However, you should freeze the cake BEFORE decorating it.
Once completely cold, wrap the cake first in a double layer of baking paper and then in a double layer of foil. Properly wrapped, the cake should keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Basic Chocolate Sponge Cake
Ingredients
- 175 g butter softened (see Note 1)
- 175 g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs (must be room temperature)
- 175 g self-raising flour (AKA self-rising flour)
- 40 g cocoa powder sieved
- Cocoa powder or icing sugar for dusting (optional)
Instructions
- Pre heat your oven to 180C / 160C fan / gas mark 4 / 350F. Grease 1 x 18cm (7inch) round cake tin with butter. Put a circle of baking paper on the bottom of the tin and grease the baking paper. (There is no need to fully line the tin.)
- Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy looking. (See Note 2.)
- Add one egg and beat until combined. Repeat with the other eggs, adding them in one at a time.
- Add in the flour and cocoa, and fold them in gently.
- Put the mixture in the prepared cake tin and spread the mixture evenly over the base of the tin. Level the surface with a spoon or spatula.
- Put the cake tin in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes. When it’s ready, the cake should be pulling away slightly at the sides. To be sure it’s done, push a skewer (or a teaspoon handle if you don’t have a skewer) into the cake. If it comes out clean the cake is done. If it comes out covered in mixture pop the cake back in the oven for a couple more minutes and check again.
- When the cake is ready, remove from the oven and let is sit in the tin for 5 minutes, then gently run a knife around the edge and turn it out onto a wire rack to cool.
- Serve dusted with cocoa powder (or icing sugar).
Notes
- I much prefer the taste of a cake made with butter, but the problem with butter is that, if it has been in the fridge, it is rock solid! However, I learnt a very simple trick from the amazing Mary Berry… Fill a bowl with lukewarm water (the temperature of a very little baby’s bathwater). Chop the butter into 1cm cubes. Drop the cubes into the water and leave them for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, tip the water out. (I use my hand to stop the little butter cubes coming out with the water.) And voila! You should now have perfectly soft butter.
- You can absolutely make this cake with an electric mixer if you prefer, simply put all the cake ingredients in a large bowl and mix with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes until it looks like cake batter. However, I prefer to do things the old fashioned way (with a wooden spoon and arm power!) and so I have given you my traditional method above.
- Suitable for freezing (undecorated cakes only.)
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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