Call Me Cupcake

Sweet food & photography

By 48 Comments

Chocolate cake with chocolate chip mascarpone filling and chocolate fudge frosting

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Spring is nowhere to be seen, which also means there is no produce yet. Chocolate to the rescue! I don’t mind at all, although I do long to see the first rhubarb stalks at the market. Sooner than later, I hope. But for now, I have chocolate and that’s pretty great.

This chocolatey beauty of a cake is perfect for anyone who loves chocolate as it’s super rich and moist, made with chocolate from Tales chocolate. The chocolate bar, “Gamla Stan” is created to tell a story of Stockholm’s Old Town with a sculptural map on the bar itself, but also through the flavour and taste experience. This is their first chocolate bar, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next! They’re sold at selected Designtorget stores in Stockholm and they also have an online shop with worldwide shipping, in case you yourself would like a small piece of Stockholm!

I rarely buy 85% chocolate because I tend to think it’s too strong for me, but I was so wrong! This one is smooth and fruity, perfect to eat as is, and also wonderful for baking. It looks good, it tastes good, and it’s also organic, fair trade and additive free. I mean, what more could one wish for?

As for the cake, I had one piece the day I made it, and one piece the day after and I must say it keeps getting better and better. I gave the leftovers to my mom, and she’s been eating it for a few days now. She says it gets even better, especially with a little sprinkle of salt.

*This post was made in collaboration with Tales chocolate. All opinions are as always, my own 🙂

Chocolate cake with chocolate chip mascarpone filling and chocolate fudge frosting

Makes one 8-inch cake, serves 10-12

Ingredients

Chocolate cake

  • 200 g (~1 3/4 sticks) salted butter
  • 125 ml (1/2 cup) milk
  • 240 g (1 2/3 cups) all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 68 g (2/3 cup) cocoa powder
  • 315 g (1 1/2 cups) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. flaky salt
  • 2 medium eggs
  • 150 ml (2/3 cup) sour cream
  • 125 ml (1/2 cup) hot coffee

Chocolate chip mascarpone filling

  • 250 g mascarpone
  • 2 tbsp. powdered sugar
  • 150 ml (2/3 cup) heavy cream
  • pinch of salt
  • 80 g (2.8 oz) dark chocolate (85%), finely chopped

Chocolate fudge frosting

  • 100 g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate (85%), chopped
  • 175 g (~1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, softened
  • 150 g (1 cup) powdered sugar
  • 4 tbsp. (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
  • 2-3 tbsp milk or heavy cream
  • 4 tbsp. (1/4 cup) sour cream (can be omitted, but tastes really nice with the chocolate)
  • flaky salt, to sprinkle

Instructions

Chocolate cake

  1. Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Butter two 20 cm (8-inch) cake pans and dust them with flour or cocoa powder.
  2. Melt the butter, add milk and set aside to cool.
  3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, sugar and salt. Add the butter mixture, eggs and sour cream to the dry ingredients and beat until just smooth.
  4. Add the hot coffee and stir until smooth (batter will be quite liquid at this point).
  5. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans. Bake the cakes on the lowest rack for 22-26 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
  6. When cakes are completely cool, split them in half using a serrated knife.

Chocolate chip mascarpone filling

  1. In a medium bowl, beat mascarpone and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the cream and salt and beat until mixture thickens. Stir in the chopped chocolate.

Chocolate fudge frosting & assembly

  1. Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool.
  2. Beat butter, powdered sugar and cocoa powder until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and beat until smooth. Add milk or heavy cream and sour cream and beat until incorporated. If frosting feels loose, put the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes.
  3. Place the first cake layer on a plate or cake stand. Spread with a layer of mascarpone filling. Repeat with remaining layers.
  4. Spread the chocolate frosting on the top and sides of the cake using an offset spatula. If you have chocolate frosting left over, feel free to pipe it on top of the cake. Sprinkle with flaky salt.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Oh Linda! I saw these pictures on Pinterest and knew straight away they were yours 🙂 You have such an authentic style! And how cute are these chocolate bars?!

    Reply

    • Aww thank you Bea, that means a lot! I know, aren’t they pretty?! And honestly the chocolate is amazing, and I tend to think 85 is way too dark.. but it totally works in this one! x

      Reply

  3. Linda, those swirls are absolutely perfect. So uniform too. Beautiful, delicious photos and always a pleasure to browse.

    Happy day to you.

    Reply

    • Thank you so much, Lisa! I adore chocolate swirls.. perfect imperfection sort of. Wishing you a lovely day!

      Reply

  5. Thank you for great pictures and beautiful cake. I have some questions:
    It’s not a biscuit dough, is it? and it’s not necessary to beat for a long time?
    I am from Russia and we have different types of sour cream – 10%, 15%, 20%, 30% – fat. What is good for this recipe?
    Thanks)

    Reply

    • Hi Kris! There’s no biscuit dough in this recipe, no 🙂 I’m assuming you’re thinking about chocolate chip cookies?
      I’d say 10% or 15% is a good choice. Thank you for your comment!

      Reply

  8. Hej!
    Tänkte göra denna, ser så god ut!! Men jag undrar vad sour cream och heavy cream är? Måste göra denna tårta perfekt, till min underbara mamma! Så fina bilder, jag blir verkligen inspirerad att ta såna här fina bilder på tårtan jag ska göra, lägger mig upp bilder på denna på min blogg och taggar dig! Tack för receptet!

    Reply

    • Hej! 🙂 Sourcream är gräddfil och heavy cream är vispgrädde. Så fint att du ska baka den till din mamma 🙂 Ska bli så roligt att se resultatet!

      Reply

  10. HII love this recipe soo much i’m actually searching for a cake recipe for my birthday and i want to make this but unfortunately the sour cream is not available in my country can I use something else fresh cream maybe?

    Reply

    • Hi Faiza, sorry for the late reply! Thick yoghurt (greek or turkish style) would probably be your best option 🙂

      Reply

  12. Oh! It looks so good!

    I hope you are working on another book? It makes me happy to know there is a new one in the works ? xx

    Reply

  13. Hej

    Jag gjorde précis den här kakan, men den blev inte lika hög som på bilden. Det star baking powder I receptet, är det bikarbonat eller bakpulver?

    Reply

    • Hej Linda! Undra vad det kan vara… Det står baking soda i receptet, och det är bikarbonat. Använde du samma storlek på formen, dvs. 20 cm?

      Reply

  15. I’ve been following your blog for a while and love the look of all your cakes. I’ve just done a trial run of this one for my parents 40th wedding anniversary at the weekend and I think they will love it! Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate – you can’t go wrong really!

    Reply

    • Wow, 40 years!! That’s amazing, they deserve chocolate cake! 🙂 You’re so right about that, chocolate is always a good idea. Hope they enjoyed it!

      Reply

  17. Hey Linda, i love your recipes & photography soo much you are much talented ?
    I would love to know what kind of camera & lenses have you used in this recipe photos and what was the camera setting
    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Thank you so much for your kind comment! 🙂 I use a canon 5d mark II and I think I shot this with a 24-70 2.8 lens. I usually shoot with the aperture at 2.8 with that lens and then adapt the other setting for that. Hope that helps!

      Reply

  18. Hej!
    Gjorde denna tårta för ett tag sedan, och den blev supergod! Tack för det.
    Tänkte upprepa succén, men en av gästerna är laktosintolerant. Kan man byta ut mascarpone osten mot något annat?

    Reply

    • Hej Sorana!
      Vad roligt att höra! 🙂 Tack för din kommentar! Du kan göra egen laktosfri mascarpone om du har tid och ork, jag har ett recept i min pajbok, men det finns även ett här: http://matmatmat.se/hemmagjord-mascarpone/
      Du skulle också kunna köpa laktosfri cream cheese. Det blir ju inte riktigt samma, något syrligare, men sannolikt jättegott ändå!

      Reply

  20. Hi,
    I just wanted to double check that this recipe calls for salted butter, since unsalted is usually the norm for cakes. Thanks.

    Reply

    • Hi Jaclyn, sorry for the late reply!
      Yes, I always use salted butter in my recipes. It’s what I grew up with, and salted butter is the most commonly used in Sweden. Feel free to use unsalted and add salt to your liking!

      Reply

  21. If I want to make this cake, but leave out the mascarpone filling and just put more frosting as the filling, do you think I’d need to double the frosting recipe or would there be plenty?

    Reply

  22. I have made this cake several times now, it’s is my new favourite chocolate cake for any occasion. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

  23. Made this on thanksgiving and it was a HUGE hit! My dad asked me to make it for every holiday. Thank you for making a new tradition!!

    Reply

  24. I am salivating looking at this yummy cake!! One quick question: the icing in the middle layers is white, did you use white chocolate of 85%? Just making sure! Praying it will look pretty and taste yummy, as I know yours does:)
    Dee

    Reply

    • Glad you like it, Dee!! I used dark chocolate for the middle layer, chopped, so the icing stayed white. 🙂 Hope that helps! x Linda

      Reply

  25. Made this for my birthday cake – was amazing and rich! Thanks so much for the recipe. I added a layer of ganache under the mascarpone as well, which was quite nice. Currently eating leftovers for breakfast…

    Reply

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