A light, yet fudgy chocolate poke cake is made richer by pouring a jar of hot fudge over top before adding a thick layer of chocolate mousse-like frosting to make an AMAZING Easy Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake.
Start with a box mix of chocolate cake and add simple ingredients to make a super easy yet super memorable moist chocolate fudge cake. The hot fudge adds even more moist, fudge flavor to every bite and an easy chocolate mousse like frosting is what keeps you coming back for more!
Triple Chocolate Cake
What makes this simple chocolate cake so amazing? A box mix. We’ve just doctored a box mix chocolate cake with sour cream and pudding to make the BEST triple chocolate cake we’ve eaten!
One of our family favorites for a chocolate birthday cake and most popular recipes on Pinterest is our Best Rich and Moist Chocolate Cake. We took the chocolate chips out of that cake and replaced them with a fudge sauce and mousse-like frosting.
The chocolate chips in our other cake make it more dense in addition to being rich and moist. This is a lighter chocolate cake that is just as rich and super moist.
I think of our Box Mix Turtle Cake, Marble Chocolate Cream Cheese Bars, and Snickers Bar Cake and realize how much can be done to step up your game with a box mix and make an impressive cake!
Our Pistachio Pudding Cake has a light, creamy frosting with only three ingredients, a box of instant pudding, a container of whipped topping and milk. We decided that it would be super easy to make a chocolate version.
I love mousse, but I can’t wait for it to set up in the refrigerator and don’t have the energy to fuss with it. This chocolate mousse frosting so easy my 11-year-old son made it for this cake. So, it’s the perfect easy topping for a triple chocolate fudge cake!
This cake satisfies my chocolate cravings well! When we crave a really chocolatey cookie these Triple Chocolate Fudge Cookies are the best!
Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Recipe
We recently had a family party and I took along our Pina Colada Cake which was well recieved. My father-in-law loves sweets. So it was odd to me that he didn’t take a big piece of cake.
He has given me a couple very popular recipes like Homemade Ice Cream and Sweet Potato Souffle and made my Sour Cream Cookies a couple of times. He knows how to cook and loves pretty much anything sweet.
Instead he looked at me and asked if I could bring something chocolate the next time I came. Then a sister-in-law asked for a chocolate cake with a layer of fudge sauce. Then a brother-in-law said that I should add a nice chocolate mousse frosting. With the inspiration given to me, all I had to do was come home and develop the recipe.
Thinking about our how pretty our Chocolate Spice Cake is and how rich these amazing Texas Brownies and candy bar cakes like our Heath Bar Cake and Milky Way Cake are I realized that fudge flavors were missing from our list of chocolate desserts.
Ingredients Needed:
- Box of Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
- Eggs
- Sour Cream
- Warm Water
- Vegetable Oil
- Small Box of Instant Chocolate Pudding
- Jar of Fudge Sauce
- Whipped Topping
- Small Box of Chocolate Fudge Instant Pudding
- Milk
- Chocolate Sprinkles – optional
How to Make Moist Triple Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.
- Use an electric mixer to combine cake mix, eggs, sour cream water and oil.
- Stir in small box of chocolate pudding and mix well.
- Pour into pan and bake for 30 – 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out fairly clean.
- Allow cake to cool a bit and then poke 24 holes with a wooden spoon.
- Follow the instructions on the jar of fudge sauce to heat it enough to pour evenly over the cake.
- Allow cake to cool before spreading frosting on the cake because a warm cake will cause the whipped topping to melt.
How to Make Easy Chocolate Mousse Frosting
To make the chocolate mousse frosting mix 3/4 cup of milk with a small box of chocolate fudge pudding. Since this is significantly less milk than usually the consistency will be a bit more bumpy than smooth. As long as the ingredients are mixed together well that is okay.
Then fold in Cool Whip or whipped topping. This makes a lighter, creamier, mousse like consistency. The mixture will still not look very smooth, but it tastes so delicious!
Sample a bite and make your decision based on taste more than looks. To make the icing look prettier we add chocolate sprinkles on top of the cake.
Tips For Making A Simple Chocolate Cake
- Remove cake from oven and cover with foil
- Sour cream helps amplify the moist texture in every bite
- Follow directions and measure ingredients carefully, don’t estimate measurements
- Hot fudge sauce will likely have to be heated to pour over the poke cake – follow directions on the jar and watch closely during the heating process
- Be sure not to over bake the cake
- The pudding will make the cake jiggle more in the center, as long as a toothpick is fairly clean or only has a couple of tender crumbs on it the cake is done baking. Even if the center still jiggles a little bit when being picked up. If the toothpick has any liquid or batter on it when removed from the cake you need to keep baking because it will be too moist to enjoy.
- This cake takes longer to bake than a typical box mix cake because of the added ingredients, but keep a close eye on the cake and check every 5 minutes towards the end of the baking time to prevent burning.
- Can save time and purchase a can of icing
- This recipe can be made into cupcake or a double layer cake by using two 9 inch cake pans.
Other Chocolate Dessert Recipes to Enjoy:
- Smores Dessert Cake
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake
- Moist Chocolate Bundt Cake
- Neopolitan Cheesecake Brownies
- 3 Musketeers Cake
- Triple Layer Chocolate and Butterscotch Brownies
- Chocolate Syrup Brownies
Printable Easy Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake Recipe
Easy Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 box Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3.4 ounce box instant chocolate pudding mix
- 1 jar fudge sauce
Frosting
- 3.4 ounce box chocolate fudge instant pudding mix
- 8 ounces whipped topping defrosted
- 3/4 cup milk
- 3 tablespoons chocolate sprinkles optional
Instructions
Cake
- Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish and preheat oven to 350°F.
- Mix cake mix, eggs, sour cream water and oil together.
- Stir in small box of chocolate pudding, pour into pan and bake for 30 – 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Poke 24 holes with a wooden spoon.
- Follow the instructions on the jar of fudge sauce to heat it enough to pour evenly over the cake.
- Cool before spreading frosting on the cake.
Frosting
- Mix pudding and milk until thick.
- Fold in whipped topping and spread on cake. Add sprinkles if desired.
Notes
- Remove cake from oven and cover with foil
- Sour cream helps amplify the moist texture in every bite
- Follow directions and measure ingredients carefully, don’t estimate measurements
- Hot fudge sauce will likely have to be heated to pour over the poke cake – follow directions on the jar and watch closely during the heating process
- Be sure not to over bake the cake
- The pudding will make the cake jiggle more in the center, as long as a toothpick is fairly clean or only has a couple of tender crumbs on it the cake is done baking. Even if the center still jiggles a little bit when being picked up. If the toothpick has any liquid or batter on it when removed from the cake you need to keep baking because it will be too moist to enjoy.
- This cake takes longer to bake than a typical box mix cake because of the added ingredients, but keep a close eye on the cake and check every 5 minutes towards the end of the baking time to prevent burning.
- Can save time and purchase a can of icing
- This recipe can be made into cupcake or a double layer cake by using two 9 inch cake pans.
Equipment
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To celebrate pre-baptism, I made this for youth group and it was really good. When I went to the store to get the ingredients, I missed the requirement of 2 puddings, so I only bought one. I did not want to go back to the store so I just made the frosting with vanilla instant pudding instead. Turned out to be a mistake gone right. It doesn’t look as good as yours but its pretty darn good. thank you for sharing
Love this variation! Glad you all enjoyed it. Thanks so much for letting us know!
Can I make the cake ahead of time freeze the cake and frost it the day of eating?
Hey there! I haven’t tested this, but I think if you got it fully defrosted that should work fine. Hope you love this recipe as much as we do 🙂
Hi there! I was wondering if the small package of chocolate pudding is supposed to be the snack pack 4pk packages for your recipe? Also for the frosting, is the choc. Instant pudding from the jello pkg? I’m confused. Ty
Hey there! Great questions, thanks for asking! Both are a 3.4 ounce of instant pudding mix. Hope you enjoy the recipe as much as we do!
Delicious!! A new household favorite!
2 questions though! Any replacement for sour cream or could you just skip that ingredient? Also, should this be stored in the refrigerator?
Hey There! Thanks for your kind review! I have not tested it, but I wonder if using Greek yogurt would work in place of sour cream? Yes, I would store this cake in the refrigerator to extend the life of the frosting. So glad you love the cake!