Chocolate Magic Custard Cake will blow your mind with its look and taste. One cake batter results in 3-layered cake.Don’t worry about the runny batter, it will bake up perfectly!
Here is another bad-ass chocolate cake! Once you have the first slice, you must know that you are ready for the second or even third! Are you obsessed with chocolate but don’t want one of those dense desserts since you don’t want to gain the pounds you’ve just got rid of? This fool-proof Chocolate Magic Custard Cake is what you need!
After making Zesty Magic Custard Cake, I was dreaming of its chocolate version. I thought it would be a super twist to add some cocoa powder into the batter to get an amazing chocolate cake as a result. Well, I saw that Todd and Diane had already tried it and theirs looks just how I wanted. So it was a must for me to try it! It becomes just as yummy as the zesty version and now I’ve started to think of other versions with fruit such as cherry, strawberry or other berries. I need to experiment first and then I can share the result with you.
I must warn you that the center of this chocolate custard cake is very soft, so it might crack when slicing or removing from the baking pan, but this makes it even more tempting. Just saying’
We love it when it is chilled about an hour or even more. You feel like you are eating chocolate ice cream in the form of a cake. YUM!
The best part of this chocolate custard cake is that it comes together very easily just like the original version. You might have doubts when you just mix up the ingredients. It looks too runny that you probably won’t believe that it will really bake up as it looks in the pictures here. The consistency of the batter is really liquidy, but don’t worry, it will bake just perfectly.
If you’ve already tried my firts version, you know it will. If you haven’t given it a try yet, choose either this chocolate custard cake or the zesty one and see what’s the magic. I’m sure both will become your ultimate sweet treat on special occasions as it is easy to make these and they look like they are bought from a good pastry shop.
Serves 6
One cake batter turns into a 3-layered cake. It will be your ultimate chocolate cake for special occasions.
15 minPrep Time
1 hrCook Time
1 hr, 15 Total Time
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Ingredients
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/4 cup sugar
- 110g butter (1/2 cup), melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup and 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 cups milk, lukewarm
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 320F (160C).
- Grease a 8x8 inch baking pan and line it with parchment paper.
- Separate egg whites and yolks.
- Beat egg whites in a bowl until stiff and put aside.
- Whisk egg yolks, vanilla extract and sugar until creamy.
- Add melted butter and mix for half a minute.
- Add the flour and unsweetened cocoa powder. Mix with a whisk until incorporated well.
- Pour the milk gradually and continue whisking.
- Add in the egg whites, one third at a time and gently stir with a whisk. Don't overmix, just stir until combined.
- Pour this runny batter into the baking pan and bake for 60 minutes.
- The centre of the cake will still be jiggly when removed from oven.
- Let it cool for about half an hour and then remove from the pan. When it reaches room temperature, chill it at least for an hour.
- Slice it in the size you like and dust with powdered sugar right before serving. You can garnish it with fresh fruit too.
- Keep it in refrigerator until you finish it all.
Notes
I used a 24x17x6cm rectangular pan for this cake. You can see it in the video. If you have a similar pan, use it. This cake doesn't rise, so keeping this in mind, you can choose another type of pan. A square pan works fine too.
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HURT ME! I need this N O W! Sharing. 🙂
This looks incredible. Thanks so much for the recipe. Pinning it now!
WOW! Your bars look amazing, Zerrin!!! I must make them for my chocoholics 🙂
Thanks Liz! This cake is really a hit for chocolate lovers!
This looks amazing!
Wow! These cakes look amazing, they just made me crave some chocolate
Your recipe is missing/omitted several ingredients that are mentioned in the instructions : Egg (amount of eggs to usein this recipe) & Vanilla/Vanilla Powder (amount to use in this recipe).
Thank you Donna! I was trying to fix the recipe plugin and I must have made a mistake when pasting the ingredients. I’ve just added the missing items.
What type of extract? The recipe doesn’t say. Thanks!
Hi Diana! It is vanilla extract. I’ve corrected the recipe. Thanks for the heads up!
How many eggs??
Thank you Amy for asking! There was an issue about the recipe plugin and I must have deleted some ingredients by accident when trying to fix it. I’ve just added them.
How much milk?
It’s written in the recipe Chris.
Could you sub a gluten free flour you think? As it’s a fairly dense cake and usually the trouble with GF is falling. Any thoughts on this? Coconut flour maybe?
What is 110g of butter?
Sheena, a block of butter weighs 454 g (1 pound), so 110 g of butter is approximately 1/4 of a block of butter, or 1 stick if you are in the US.
Thanks Ashley for clarifying!
so why isn’t the butter listed as 1/2 cup like the other ingredients?
Any idea how to make this at high altitude? Looks amazing but I don’t want to waste the ingredients. Thanks!!
Never had an experience about baking at high altitude. I hadn’t even heard about it until I received your comment. Sorry.
I would like to know how many calories this has?
I followed this exactly, and it looked nothing like the one in the picture. After adding the milk, I “gently” stirred in the egg whites. It became a gloppy mess. When I poured it into the pan you could see the big lumps all over, and the batter was a greyish-brown. When it was finished baking, it looked like bread that had been soaked in liquid. It would help to have pictures of what the batter should look like as it’s being assembled.
Hi Lisa, sorry to hear that the recipe didn’t work for you. I really don’t know why since I make this cake quite often with this recipe. It is supposed to be very runny before putting it in the oven, almost as runny as milk. I don’t know why yours was greyish, could it be because of the cocoa powder you used? I will take the photo of the batter next time for you and update this post.
I had the a simiular problem with the recipe. Mine wasn’t greyish but you can see the egg whites lumps. It is runny. But it doesn’t look like your picture. The color turn out just like yours but the egg whites didn’t mix up very well. Were you suppose to use a beater and beat the egg whites in the wet mixture?? Just wondering.
I must have over mixed the egg whites or something, as my mixture was also full of lumpy egg white. It was not grey but it was not runny. It is in the oven now. Am hoping it turns out okay.
I had the same problem as the other commenters. Are we perhaps beating the egg whites too stiff? Or are we supposed to incorporate the beaten egg whites more thoroughly into the chocolate mixture?
Would you mind updating this recipe, perhaps with pictures for each step? Or maybe clarify how the eggs are supposed to be beaten? Should they be stiff peaks or soft peaks? Or when we mix it in, should we mix until completely combined?
Same problem with my effort regarding the egg whites being like chunks of islands floating in a sea of chocolate milk. Mine is still cooling, but the lumps stayed on top. I beat the egg whites until stiff, and so maybe that is the problem. What is your definition of stiff?
110g butter, melted?! What is 110g???
110 is equavelent to 4 ounces butter. Melt it first in a pan, let it cool and then add in the mixture.
Just look it up on Google?
110 g butter is about 8 tablespoons of butter or one stick (1/2 cup)
Yes, I was wondering why the rest of the ingredients were in cups and then there was this gram entry.
Well, we use gram as a measurement for butter here in Turkey, That’s why. But you are right, I should have given the cup or tablespoon equavelent to it. Thanks for giving it here.
Hi, does anyone have any thoughts about the size of pan to be used here? I have so many baking pans I can’t fit them in my cupboards, and I don’t have anything that is even close to 17 cm by 30 cm. Also, how deep should the pan be? It’s hard to tell from the photo exactly without anything else to put it in perspective, but the squares look like they are prob 1.5-2 inches high??
Thanks!
I used a 12X7-inch pan with a depth of 2 1/2 inches. This cake doesn’t rise, so just put it in a pan that suits the amount of mixture.
Hi. How much is a cup in grams? Would be helpful if metric measurements were included so that the rest of the world can have a go too.
If the rest of the world could find this recipe, the can use Google.
You can easily convert the measures!
Hiya
When you say sugar do you mean caster sugar or regular granulated sugar?
K
Hi Kate, I mean regular granulated sugar.
Wow, just took this out of the oven & had to sneak a bite — wonderful.!.
Seems several folks couldn’t get it right. You did a wonderful thing by posting this and I for one do appreciate it. I’m diabetic so used Splenda, and it’s great. Thank you for the recipe.
Peace to you Zerrin…
So happy to hear that the recipe worked for you! Thank you for sharing your experience with us here and letting us know that splenda works fine in this recipe.
Cheers from Turkey!
Thank you! So many negative comments, I scrolled looking for positive ones like yours. Mine is in the oven now! I hope I did it right.
Thanks for sharing your choco majic custard cake recipe going to bake on sunday for the kids..
Hello Zerrin, I love this recipe and the cake made my mouth water soo Yummyyy. Do you mind if I share your post in my blog? If you want please just say it to me and I will remove it.
Thanks for asking. No problem as long as you give a link to my post.
How long do you cook it for? thanks
Hi Faye, bake it for 60 min.
What kind of cocoa did you use, natural or Dutch-processed? Btw love your photos:)
Just regular unsweetened cocoa powder. I don’t know what Dutch-processed cocoa is. We don’t have it in Turkey.
Made this today but mine is much lighter in color. How do I get a rich dark brown color??
It could be due to the cocoa powder you used. I used a quality unsweetened cocoa powder.
The thing is that a lot of North Americans use the term cocoa for what we in Europe say is hot chocolate powder. It’s pure cocoa powder, fry’s or Cadbury’s.
I just made this and it ended up separating into two layers; a yellow custardy layer on the bottom and a dark chocolately layer on top. Any ideas why?
Delicious cake! And I don’t care for chocolate! I made this cake yesterday before I read all the comments. Though delicious, my cake was lighter because my cocoa was not very dark. I have another in the oven now using a much darker cocoa. I think one of the issues with the egg white is due to the fact that we are used to folding in egg whites. This cake requires the egg whites to be blended in. BTW, the cake was so good, it never had the opportunity to be refrigerated…can you say gobble, gobble, gobble?
Can I use this recipe to make cupcakes instead of a cake?
Never tried it. I’m not sure how it will turn out in the form of cupcakes since it is a bit jiggly.
I have made this several times now and everyone loves it! Thanks so much for sharing such a fabulous recipe!!!!
Double this and put in 9×13 pan. Yum!
I just made this & it separated out to 3 layers: a light thin bottom, a light custard middle & a chocolate cake like top. It tastes delicious but looks nothing like the picture. I used Hersheys cocoa which is a good quality cocoa. Wish it looked like picture
Can this be made with oil instead of butter/margarine?
Never tried it with oil, but I think it doesn’t work as great as butter or margarine. You know these two hold things better.
Hi Zerrin … Thanks for a fabulous recipe, can’t wait to try i. I’ve made a wonderful vanilla magic cake but not a chocolate – this sounds amazing! Also, congratulations on your great website, as well as congrats on your patience in answering questions. I use recipes from all over and simply google conversions, especially ounces to grams or Fahrenheit to Celsius … I find it’s generally a simple task for anyone to do for themselves. Good on you for sharing your great recipes.
Yeah I agree, such patients answering questions about conversions. I just google conversions as well.
Just made this today. Read through the recipe and thought “It can’t be that simple!” but it turned out perfectly! Thank you so much! It’s incredible. 🙂 Will have to hunt down a darker cocoa powder however as mine didn’t turn out as dark as yours, unless there’s a way to incorporate my favourite dark chocolate into it somehow without messing with the chemistry of the recipe too much
.
Do you think that a gluten free flour, something like coconut flour could be substituted as I have wheat allergy?…..
I was excited to make this cake, but the finished product looked NOTHING like your picture. It doesn’t taste bad , but looked similar to bread pudding. Also had a problem FOLDING the egg whites into a batter that is very nearly a liquid.
Hi, I was really excited to make these yesterday. Made them and they were pretty gross to be honest. They had a flan like texture which was quite bland and were light in colour. None of the family really liked them at all. Would definitely not make them again. Lovely pictures though!
wow, I can’t believe these comments, I’m super glad I never shared a recipe online lol! I’m thinking there are a lot of people who are just not following the recipe correctly or are not good bakers. Geesh! Making right now and even if they don’t turn out, I would never comment like this on someone’s blog.
Hi Patty! Well, I love to hear people’s thoughts about my recipes even if they are negative. I try to help people here, so all comments are so valuable for me. I try to understand what’s wrong and what could be done so that everyone can get the same good result. Such things improve my cooking and baking skills too. So if you aren’t happy with the recipe, please feel free to share your thoughts here. Cheers!
Hi! Your pictures look amazing. Is it possible to half this recipe if I’m making it for less people? Would the results be the same?
Of course you can use half of it. You should use a smaller baking dish then.
awesome, Thanks! Forgot to ask, for the melted butter, is it melted into liquid form or soft room temperature?
Melt it into liquid form and let it cool.
What kind of sugar you added to it? Granulated or powdered? 🙂
I used granulated.
You mentioned in the blog that now you wanted to try other flavors such as cherry and strawberry. Have you tried any others yet? I think cherry would be fantastic.
No Linda, I haven’t tried them yet. I’d love to hear the result if you try first.
just like to check is this really bake for 60 minutes?
Yes, it bakes for 60 min.
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Would this work with white chocolate? That would be delicious!!
Hi Ruth, never tried it with white chocolate. I used dark cocoa powder in this recipe, so I’m not sure how we can make it with white chocolate. Would love to hear the result if you try.
My friend and I made this cake, and I’m sorry to say it turned out horrible. It makes a cake that is a lot like a chocolate flan. Very eggy, and not at all like the gooey, delicious photos. I used quality unsweetened cocoa, and followed the temperature instructions. However, it came out greenish in color in the middle. Sorry to say I definitely won’t be making it again.
Very sorry to hear that. Could that be the egg whites? They should be stiff before adding it into the batter. And you shouldn’t overmix it, just stir a few times. Maybe I must add this warning in the instructions. I hate when a recipe doesn’t work for me too. Sorry again for the result you had.
Custard does have a flan like texture and eggy flavor. The recipe is called “Chocolate Custard cake” so I would assume the flavor is slightly eggy, like custard is.
Very disappointing. Picture does not represent actual recipe. It is very light brown. Not worth washing the dishes. I much prefer hot fudge cake that makes a cake and pudding and is dark chocolate.
Thanks for posting this recipe. I did try it though the after product came in layers where the custard was followed by a rubber like layer. Could it be I made a mistake in folding in the egg whites or was it kept in for the entire 60 minutes and not taken out at 50 minutes. Your advice on this would be much appreciated.
Sorry for my late reply. My son is sick and I was busy with him. As for your question, if you exactly add the egg whites as described in the recipe, it’s probably because of the baking duration. Your oven might bake faster, so 50 minutes would be better.
I’m willing to bet that most people having technical difficulties with this recipe are overlooking one key and important thing, your notations of “room temperature” throwing cold milk or cold eggs into this kind of dish can screw it up since it’s basically a custard. You want everything the same temperature so it cooks evenly, separation happens when one ingredient sets before the others can catch up. Just hypothesizing, I am a professional pastry chef and will give this recipe a go myself and post the results.
Thank you for sharing your opinion here. Well, I’m not a professional chef and I’m just sharing what has worked for me. I’m really sorry for those who had bad experience with this recipe. But sometimes I just don’t know what the problem is. You could be right about your hypothesis on “room temperature”. Would love to hear the result of a professional pastry chef here. Hopefully it helps others too.
I just made this tonight and it is YUMMY. Tastes like hot chocolate!
What is the size of the pan used, in inches? Sounds like 12 x 7 or something….but that’s a strange size….I’d like to do a 13 x 9, and serve more than 6
13×9 is fine. I used a rectangular pan but you can make it in a 9×9 square pan too.
Where can I find the Zesty version of this recipe?
I shared the link in the post indeed. If you can’t view it, see it here please: http://www.giverecipe.com/zesty-magic-custard-cake.html
It may look like the pictures when it comes out but it is disgusting. Tastes bland and the texture is rubbery. Do not waste your time or ingredients making this!
Delicious!!
Has anybody found a solution to the egg whites on top? They baked into a bland top on the cake that I just cut off. The rest was delicious. Has anybody tried leaving out the whites entirely?
I really want the crusty top like in the pictures.
This was GREAT!!
I threw in a little extra cocoa powder than what the recipe calls for to compensate for not having a better quality brand, used an 8 x 8 glass pan, and baked for 70 minutes. Doesn’t look nearly as dark as the pictures, but takes amazeballs!!
Happy to hear that you loved it! The dark color could vary depending on the brand of cocoa powder you use. Thanks for sharing your experience here.
I consider myself a very good baker/cook. I followed this recipe exactly as stated. Not even close to the picture. It was horrible! I just don’t get all the positive comments! I must be missing something!
My postitive comment was because it still tasted really good, despite not being as dark as the pic (due to different cocoa powder). If it tastes good, I don’t care what shade of brown it is. Did yours still taste good at least?
Made these for a party and they are AWESOME!!!!! Serious rich chocolate flavor! Mine didn’t look as good as yours, they weren’t as dark…the colors sort of separated into a dark brown, then a lighter brown and then the top was darker. But they tasted AMAZING! Everyone who tried them loved them.
Hi Laurie, I’m so happy to hear that you loved it! Isn’t it really magical to have three layers in the end? The color difference is probably because of different cocoa powders. Mine was really dark. Thank you so much for sharing your feelings here. Cheers!
Why cant i find the recipe?
Hi Michelle! Sorry, there was a technical problem yesterday. Now you can see the recipe.
Have you ever made it with a sweetener other than sugar? Spcifically Steevia exctract?
No Ginny, I haven’t. I’d love to hear the result here if you happen to try it.
Recipe looks amazing! Would it work with some sort of non-dairy milk like soya milk or almond milk?
The picture looks good, but there are so many questions about what to do. Has anyone actually made this cake? Seems like everyone is having problems. Let me know before I make a mess of it like everyone else has.
Good Lord – Some of these questions–I wonder if some of these people can even can figure out how to turn the oven on.
OK. I’ll start by saying I got really nervous thinking I wasted effort & ingredients when I read some reviews (I read while it was in the oven already). It turned out fine! Not too rich & an interesting texture. It had the egg white bumps some referred to but they baked in. Once baked & sprinkled with the powdered sugar it looked right. Not a pretty color before baking. Definitely distinctive texture layers. It ended up looking pretty close to the picture I re beat the whites right before combining since once set aside as directed, they appeared too liquidy. Less creamy than flan, bottom layer closer to a firmer jello. Bottom line, don’t fear this recipe. Everyone enjoyed it and I’m a frequent baker but no pro! Reminded me of flourless versions. I used an 8×8 glass pan & refrigerated overnight. Hope this helps! Give it a try 🙂
Hi Leslie! So happy to hear that you’re pleased with the result you had. And thank you so much for sharing your experience here with us. Hope you inspire other readers too!
I just tried this recipe and did not get the results are shown in the pictures. 🙁
I’m wondering what I did wrong.
Is this recipe supposed to be prepared using an electric mixer? Just getting into cooking and having invested in one yet.
It’s in the oven and I’m excited to see the results but from what I’m smelling now I can tell something yummy 🙂 thank you so much for this recipe
Looks great! Any idea if a non dairy milk could work, like coconut milk or almond milk? I need to avoid dairy. Thanks!
Never tried the recipe with a non-dairy milk. So I don’t want to mislead you.
Great, mine is in the oven & looking just like the other commentors, lumpy & weird. I know what “stiff” egg whites should look like & stirring a “few” times, as directed resulted in a lumpy crazy runny batter. Have a feeling gonna be an epic fail & waste of time & food
Ok the egg white maybe shouldn’t be beat sooo stiff & it takes more than a few strokes to mix it. Mine came out a lumpy, not soupy concoction. Baked it anyway & tastes pretty good but very runny in the center & kinda cake like around the outside with some custard here & there. Might try again with some tweaks.
Yum! I made this and it was delish! It is not too sweet either. I gave my husband a bite of mine and he cut his own piece a few minutes later. If the hubby likes it is truly a success! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
I would like to double this recipe and make it in 13*9 inch dish. Could you please let me know if this is possible and what my increase in ingredients would be.
Hi Lasanthi, I have never tried changing the amount of ingredients. If I have to double the recipe, I would use 2 separate pans and make two batches of the same recipe.