The Best Chocolate Drip Cake Recipe Ever

Maybe it’s the Best Chocolate Drip Cake Recipe Ever Ever

My daughter Kelly just created this super moist fun-to-eat cake. The Best Chocolate Drip Cake Recipe Ever…Ever. She mashed together several recipes that she loved and this wonderful, delectable drip cake resulted. After baking two cakes and taking one cake to two parties over the weekend, she (and the cake eaters) deemed the recipe a resounding success.

Check out this video for all the fun details:

4.9 from 65 reviews

The Best Chocolate Drip Cake Recipe {Ever}

Easy Cake Recipe combined with a perfect Chocolate Butter cream recipe, topped with a Ganche Drip, and topped again with lots of eye popping candies

Author: Kelly Mackie

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 cup milk, buttermilk, almond, or coconut milk
½ cup vegetable, canola oil, or melted coconut oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1½ cups butter (3 sticks), softened
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
5 cups confectioner’s sugar
½ cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Ganache

10 oz. (283g) Chocolate (Semi-sweet or Dark) We used Ghirardelli chips
10 oz. (283g) Heavy Cream

Candy Topping

Your choice of combination of malted milk balls of varing sizes, peanut butter cups of varying sizes, pirouette cookies (your choice of flavor), wafer cookies, coated nuts, sixlets, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate kisses

Instructions

Cake

Set oven to 350º F and preheat.
Ready three 6-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray or buttering and lightly flouring.
Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder in a large mixer bowl. Use hand or stand mixer to combine well.
One at a time add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed to low and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter until well combined.
Divide the cake batter evenly between the three prepared cake pans.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the chocolate cake comes out clean. Do not over bake.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire baking rack.
Cut off dome on all the layers so the cake will stack flat.
Put cake layers in fridge to cool. At this point, you can also store layers in fridge for up to a week or in freezer for 3 months by wrapping each layer in plastic wrap separately.
Notes: Yes the cake batter is supposed to be thin prior to baking.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Add cocoa to bowl of stand mixer. Whisk through to remove any lumps.
Cream together butter and cocoa powder until smooth.
Add sugar and milk to cocoa mixture by adding 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar followed by about a tablespoon of milk. After each addition has been combined, turn mixer onto a high speed for about a minute. Repeat until all confectioner’s sugar and milk have been added.
Add vanilla extract and mix well.
Is frosting too dry? Add more milk, a bit at a time until it reaches the right consistency. Frosting too wet and won't hold it's form? Add more confectioner’s sugar, a bit at a time until it reaches the right consistency.
On a cake turntable, place a silicone mat on top to minimize the cake board slipping while frosting. Then top mat with a cake board.
Place dollop of frosting in center of cake board and spread out before placing first layer of (cooled) cake on cake board. This will act as a glue to keep the cake layers from moving around.
Frost cooled cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. Using a 3.25 oz disher style ice cream scoop (dispenses product quickly and easily by simply pushing down on the side press with the thumb), use one full scoop of buttercream frosting for each frosting layer.
With a flat or offset spatula evenly spread buttercream out to edges, allowing excess to hang over edge (this excess will be used for crumb coat layer.)
For top layer of cake, flip layer upside down and stack. This is done to ensure any loose cake is sealed facing the inside of the cake and the clean, flat bottom faces out for a clean finish.
Crumb coat cake (thin layer of frosting to keep crumbs in) and chill in fridge for 15-20 mins.
Pro tips: a. If it is hot outside and you have room in your freezer, stick the cake in the freezer instead. This ensures the buttercream will be extra firm and those crumbs don’t come loose. b. Scoop out one scoop of buttercream onto a small plate to use as your well during the crumb coat process. This ensures you don’t accidentally taint all of buttercream with crumbs.
Take cake out of freezer/fridge and frost outside layer. Use a bench scraper for a smooth finish or a texture comb for a cake with some extra oomph. (If using a texture comb, use more frosting when applying final layer to make sure the comb doesn’t scrape down to the bare cake).
Freeze/refridgerate entire frosted cake for 20 minutes so you can apply the ganache with confidence!

Chocolate Ganache

Place your chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl.
Pour heavy cream over the chocolate and place in the microwave for 1 minute.
Remove and stir. Microwave for 30 seconds more and when the chocolate has melted almost completely, allow it to sit for 1 minute more before stirring. Stir until you've reached a silky smooth consistency.
Note: If your chocolate hasn't melted after the 1½ minutes, simply microwave in small 10-15 second increments until it has nearly completely melted. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth.
To apply the ganache, use a spoon to make drips along the outer edge. Working quickly, spoon additional ganache to top of cake to cover and spread evenly with an offset spatula.
Place cake back in fridge/freezer for 5 mins so the ganache firms up and buttercream doesn’t get melted under the heat of the ganache.

Candy Topping

Top your cake with the candy. Make sure to cut some elements in half. Use other elements to create height. You can also place some elements at the base.

Serving

Serve at room temperature. Cake is safe to store on counter-top for 3-5 days. If in warmer climates/summer weather, store cake in fridge for up to a week. When serving, remove cake from fridge 1 hr before to allow to come down to room temp and ensure you don’t serve a sweaty cake. Just like a stick of butter, buttercream frosting needs time to soften to be best enjoyed.