I’m constantly seeing Lotus Biscoff desserts, I haven’t made one in a long while but I feel like I should.
So here we are…a chocolate Biscoff cake.
THE FLAVOUR OF THIS WAS AMAZING, it was so soft and so fudgy. I truly think it’s the best tasting cake I have made in a while.
Video Tutorial
The fudge icing
The first thing we are going to make is the fudge icing.
The reason why we are making this first is because it needs some time to set up.
Making it is very easy though, you just throw all of the ingredients into a pot and melt them together.
Then you can either let this set in your fridge for a few hours. Or you can make it the day before and leave it to set at room temperature overnight.
Either way works. Personally, I like to just make it the day before and leave it at room temperature. This way I’m not waiting around for the icing to set…I’m sleeping. But either way does work fine.
Here are the ingredients you will need for this:
- Dark chocolate
- Unsalted butter
- Icing sugar – also known as powdered sugar.
- Double cream – also known as heavy cream.
- Salt – just to enhance the flavours.
Do I have to use dark chocolate in the fudge icing?
I know that not everyone likes dark chocolate, I get that.
But dark chocolate works best in this icing. If you use milk chocolate, you won’t have the same thickness and texture.
I don’t think this icing tastes bitter, but if you are worried about it tasting bitter, you can just add more icing sugar,
Just melt all the ingredients together and taste it. If you feel like it is a little too bitter for your liking, mix in some more sugar.
But also remember, you are not eating this icing on its own. It’s going to be added onto your cake, which is already sweet and the Biscoff spread is adding extra sweetness. So you don’t want to make your icing too sweet.
Unless you like that, then go ahead!
The chocolate cake layers
Once your fudge icing has been made, we can move onto making the cake layers.
Not to tickle my own pickle or whatever BUT I LOVE MY CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE.
The cake layers always come out so soft and moist, it’s pretty easy to make and the flavour is great. I love it so much.
This is what you will need to make it:
- Cocoa powder – it’s always best to use unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Instant coffee – this is going to intensify the chocolate flavour.
- Hot water – this is going to hydrate the cocoa powder, which will also intensify the chocolate flavour.
- Oil – this is going to add moisture. Any flavourless oil works, but I always use vegetable oil.
- Buttermilk – also for moisture.
- Eggs
- Plain flour – also known as all purpose flour.
- Sugar – I use a mixture of both white and brown sugar. The brown sugar adds extra moisture and flavour.
- Baking soda
- Vinegar – this is going to react with the baking soda as your cake layers bake, giving you fluffier velvety cake layers.
Ingredients substitutions
I use a few ingredients in my chocolate cake that I usually get asked if they can be left out, or if there are any substitutions for. So let talk about those:
The coffee
Coffee is added to quite a lot of chocolate cakes. All it does is intensify the chocolate flavour, it makes your chocolate cake taste more chocolaty.
If you don’t like coffee, don’t worry, we’re only using a small amount. It is not going to make your cake taste coffee flavoured.
But with that being said, if you wanted to leave it out, you absolutely could. The cake will still taste great without it.
The oil
Most cakes need some kind of fat, this is usually either butter or oil.
Butter adds flavour to cakes, whereas oil adds a lot of moisture.
But when it comes to chocolate cakes, chocolate is an intense flavour. When you add chocolate to something, chocolate is the main flavour you taste.
So I feel like butter doesn’t add any extra flavour to chocolate cakes, because the chocolate flavour takes over.
Which is why I prefer to just use oil, so that I can get that extra moisture. Again any flavourless oil works but I always use vegetable oil.
If you wanted to use butter though, you could.
In the recipe card below, I’ve said to use 200ml of oil. If you want to use butter, use 200g of it and melt this before using it.
The buttermilk
This is another ingredient that I use for moisture.
If you didn’t have buttermilk, plain natural yoghurt is the best substitute. This is what I use most of the time, I never have buttermilk in my fridge.
Or you could make a buttermilk substitute by mixing together 120ml of whole milk and 1/2 a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar. Leave this aside for 10 minutes, then you can use it.
But actual buttermilk or plain yoghurt are the best 2 ingredients to use.
The vinegar
The last step in making the cake batter is to mix some vinegar with baking soda, then you whisk this into your batter.
This is something that is typically done when making red velvet cakes.
Essentially as the cakes bake, this vinegar will react with the baking soda, which will give the cakes an extra lift, leaving them with a fluffier velvety texture.
I like this texture, so I wanted my chocolate cake to have this texture too.
I use white vinegar, apple cider vinegar works great too. If you didn’t have either, lemon juice could also be used.
Decorating the cake
Once the fudge icing has become thick and spreadable, and the cake layers have been baked and have cooled completely, you can finally put the cake together.
All I did was fill the cake layers with some of the icing and some Biscoff spread.
Then to decorate, I covered the cake with the icing, added some Biscoff spread on top, then covered the sides with some crushed Biscoff biscuits.
You can decorate this however you want, I didn’t do much to my cake, I just wanted to eat it.
But once it has been decorated, you can finally dig in!
Here are a few more cake recipes you might also like:
Chocolate
Biscoff Cake
Ingredients
- For the fudge icing:
450g dark chocolate
200g unsalted butter
150g icing sugar
580ml double cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
- For the chocolate cake layers:
50g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant coffee
80ml hot water
200ml vegetable oil
120ml buttermilk
4 eggs
200g plain flour
125g granulated sugar
125g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons white vinegar
- Extras:
1 jar of Biscoff spread (I used smooth but crunchy works too)
Plus some crushed Biscoff biscuits to decorate (this is optional)
Directions
- Making the fudge icing:
- In a pot, add all the ingredients for the icing.
- Place this pot onto medium heat and keep heating, whiles stirring, until all the chocolate and butter has melted and you have a smooth mixture.
- Pour this through a sieve, then leave it in your fridge to set, you want it to turn into a thick spreadable icing. This could take a few hours. OR you could also make this icing the day before, then leave it to set at room temperature overnight.
- Making the cake layers:
- Start by pre-heating your oven to 180c/350f. Also grease and line two 8 inch cake tins.
- In a large bowl, add the cocoa powder, instant coffee and hot water. Whisk these together.
- Add the oil, buttermilk and eggs into this. Whisk until combined.
- Now add the flour and both sugars, whisk just until you get a smooth batter.
- In a small separate bowl, add the baking soda and pour the vinegar over this. This will start bubbling, just give it a quick mix and then whisk this into your batter.
- Pour this into your prepared cake tins, then bake at 180c/350f for around 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Once baked, leave to cool completely.
- Putting the cake together:
- Once your icing has become thick and spreadable, and your cake layers have cooled completely, you can put the cake together.
- Place one cake layer down onto a board, spread a layer of the icing on top of this, then pipe a border of the icing around the edge the cake. Add a layer of the Biscoff spread in the middle of this. I recommend melting your Biscoff spread in your microwave for a few seconds before using it. You don't want it to be too runny, you just want it to be a little more soft and spreadable.
- Add the second layer of cake on top.
- Leave this in your fridge for about 20 minutes so that the Biscoff spread in the centre can set up a bit, this will make it easier to decorate.
- Now you can decorate however you want. I just covered the whole cake in the fudge icing, added some more Biscoff spread on top, then covered the sides with some crushed Biscoff biscuits.
- Cut into it and enjoy!
