Caramilk Fudge Cake

Nothing beats a rich, moist fudge cake, and this Caramilk Fudge Cake takes it to the next level. With a melt in your mouth caramelised white chocolate sponge, topped with a Caramilk chocolate ganache frosting; this is the perfect cake for Caramilk lovers everywhere! A quick, no-fuss recipe that takes just 15 minutes to make.

If you can’t get enough of super, easy cakes and crave that smooth creamy, caramel flavour of Caramilk chocolate, then this is exactly the cake you want!

Whether it’s for birthdays, parties, any reason to celebrate or just a dessert, you can guarantee it will go down an absolute storm – it’s the most perfect celebration cake!

Trust me, just like my decadent chocolate fudge cake, this Caramilk version is bound to become a firm favourite. And if you need a little extra more convincing to give it a go, then here’s three more reasons…

• Perfectly rich and moist with that sweet caramel Caramilk flavour – it will satisfy the biggest sweet tooth
• Insanely decadent Caramilk fudge frosting – sweet and creamy, it’s so good you’ll want to eat it with a spoon
• Super simple, no special skills required – just bake, cool and frost, it really is that easy

Ready to try it out?

Ingredients and substitutions

Check out my shopping list for ingredients and equipment

I utterly love the super simplicity and versatility of this Caramilk fudge cake, just throw everything into one bowl and whisk it up. Here’s what you’ll need…

For the cake

• Caramilk Chocolate – If you can’t find Caramilk then you can use Caramac chocolate instead; alternatively swap for white chocolate which you can caramelise for a similar flavour – find out how to do so on Great British Chefs
• Plain Flour or All-Purpose Flour – You can also use self-raising flour, just leave out the baking powder
• Unsalted Butter – Unsalted gives you more control of how much salt you have in your recipe, just add a pinch of fine sea salt. You can also use slightly salted butter if you prefer
• Eggs – Remember if you keep your eggs in the fridge, let them come up to room temperature before using them. Take them out of the fridge about 15-30 minutes before you’re ready to start baking
• Caster Sugar or Superfine Sugar – For this Caramilk fudge cake, I prefer to use Billingtons golden caster sugar as it adds a little extra caramel flavour. However a white caster sugar works just as perfectly
• Full-fat Milk or Semi-skimmed Milk
• Baking Powder

For the frosting

• Caramilk Chocolate – Again swap for Caramac chocolate if you can’t get hold of Caramilk
• Unsalted Butter
• Icing Sugar or Powdered Sugar
• Double Cream or Heavy Cream

Recommended ingredients

Substitutions

If you can’t get hold of Caramilk chocolate, or if you’re like me and you’ve eaten it all before you get round to making the cake, you can easily switch out the Caramilk with white chocolate instead. You won’t get that caramel flavour but you’ll get a rich, smooth vanilla fudge flavour instead.

I love using a Swiss white chocolate like Menier white chocolate if substituting as it gives the perfect balance without being overly sweet.

Equipment you will need

When you’ve got your ingredients all together, you’ll need a few things to make the cake with. These are the exact tools I use in my kitchen…

• 8-inch cake pan or two 8-inch sandwich tins – I swear by Masterclass tins, they’re heavy duty, last for ages and give a perfect bake. I’ve had mine for over 15 years!
• Large mixing bowl
• Handheld mixer – This Breville handmixer is my new favourite piece of kit I love the softening function if your butter isn’t quite up to room temperature
• Rubber spatula
• Baking Parchment
• Angled Palette Knife – One of my essential pieces of equipment
• Large Saucepan
• Digital Kitchen Scales

How to make Caramilk fudge cake

Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card

This recipe is super easy and ready for the oven in 5 simple steps! Here’s everything you have to do…

The Caramilk cake

• Melt together the Caramilk chocolate and butter in a medium saucepan over a gentle heat. Alternatively blitz in the microwave in 30 second blasts until the chocolate is almost melted, the heat will melt the remaining chocolate
• Beat together the melted mixture, caster sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl until well combined; this should take 3-4 minutes. Add the milk and whisk again.
• Add the plain flour and baking powder to the mixture – and whisk everything together with a hand held mixer until well combined, smooth and glossy
• Pour the cake batter into a lined cake pan or split across two sandwich pans
• Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes until springy on top and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean, then turn out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting

Runny cake batter? Don’t panic, this is 100% completely normal for this type of cake; that’s what gives you the rich, slightly dense, fudge cake texture. Just pour into your cake tins, you won’t even need to level it off!

The Caramilk fudge frosting

• Add the Caramilk, butter and double cream into a large saucepan
• Place the saucepan over a medium heat and gently heat the ingredients until they have all melted. Stir the melted ingredients until well combined
• Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the Caramilk mixture into a large bowl. Add the icing sugar and whisk together until thick and smooth.
• Allow the mixture to completely cool at room temperature until the mixture is silky and spreadable
• Slather the frosting over the top of the cake and spread with angled palette knife, then cut yourself a good slice!

TOP TIP: To decorate the frosting with mini Caramilk curls, use a vegetable peeler and scrap along the thin edge of the chocolate

Tips for success

Although this is an easy recipe, here are a few of my top tips for making this fudge cake, no-fail everytime…

• Weigh your ingredients – This is always my number one top tip and it that will change every single bake you make – digital kitchen scales are your new Best Friend! Did you know that a 1 cup of flour could give you 150% of correct measurement so investing in a set of scales can drastically improve your baking results!
• Use room temperature eggs – And this is my second best top tip. Adding cold eggs to your cake batter mix can cause it to curdle, so get your eggs out of the fridge 10-15 minutes before you start baking. It also makes the eggs easier to whisk and gives them lots of volume, helping keep your cake light and fluffy
• Make sure your butter is soft before using – If the butter isn’t quite soft enough, when you mix the ingredients together you’ll end up with butter lumps in the batter. Test the softness with your finger – it should leave an indent in the top of the butter, but if it goes straight through you butter is too soft
• Want a firmer frosting? – If you want a thicker consistency to your Caramilk ganache frosting, then pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes before using. It will still be spreadable but firmer to use. Don’t leave it in the fridge for too long otherwise you won’t be able to spread it easily and you risk tearing the top of the cake
• Swap for a whipped vanilla buttercream – If it’s too much Caramilk for you and you want to balance the richness a little, why not swap out the Caramilk frosting for a light whipped vanilla buttercream, just like the one I use to top my vanilla tray bake cake

FAQs about Caramilk fudge cake