January 27, 2023
Chocolate cake for two! (Small Batch Bakes)
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A deliciously easy chocolate cake for two with a simple chocolate sponge, chocolate ganache frosting and more!
This beautiful bake is a ‘small batch’ cake that is perfect for two… yes, it serves four slices, so I don’t know about you but I always want two slices of a cake just for myself so…
Valentines
Valentines day is one of those things that I feel kind of unsure about these days… I love the idea of a day about love, but I often find the things you can buy for it are rather overpriced and sometimes a bit mediocre… whereas, if you make something homemade for it?! It’s amazing.
I always think homemade gifts for whatever time of year are brilliant, especially if they are edible. I am always here to produce delicious recipes suitable for all sorts of occasions, and baking desserts is the key to a lot of peoples hearts.
I always align valentines and chocolate together, so sorry if you don’t… but this delicious chocolate cake for two is the ideal valentines treat for you and a loved one (or even a friend!)
Recipes for two
Sometimes its really hard to make a recipe fit only making two portions, and yes… like I have said above, this technically makes four slices. However, you’ll love the first two slices so much you will want the other two as well, and it lasts several days – so it still works as a cake for two.
My microwave brownies and microwave cookies for two are easy recipes if you want something quick within five minutes, or even my cookie dough desserts are super luxurious if you want to go down the cookie route.
This small batch chocolate cake for two is so easy and it’s perfect for valentines – one layer of chocolate cake heaven with a luxurious chocolate ganache topping… what more could you want?!
Chocolate cake
I have several different chocolate cake variations on my blog now, and I love them all.
- You have the simple chocolate Victoria sponge style cake with 5 ingredients; butter, sugar, flour, eggs and cocoa powder
- You have the chocolate fudge cake which is super indulgent but relatively hard to scale down too much due to how many ingredients there are
- And oil based chocolate sponge cakes such as with my mini egg loaf cake
I decided because this cake really does have to be small that an oil based sponge was best as it would keep the moisture in the sponge, and be super easy to mix up without even needing a mixer or that much effort.
It uses a mix of self raising flour AND baking powder for a super light texture, with cocoa powder for the chocolate base. I used light brown soft sugar for a delicious flavour, and then egg, vanilla and oil for the ‘wet’ ingredients. I used vegetable oil, but sunflower oil works really well, also.
Ganache
When it comes to the topping, to make sure it was still quite luxurious because of the valentines theme, I went for a deliciously chocolatey chocolate ganache. It almost seemed silly not to!
I wanted to do a classic mix of dark chocolate and milk chocolate to have a balance of richness and sweetness – as it works so well with the oil based chocolate sponge underneath.
I just melted my dark chocolate, milk chocolate and double cream together until smooth and then poured and slathered it onto the cooled sponge.
Tips & Tricks
You can decorate your chocolate cake for two however you like, I just went for some fresh berries and freeze dried raspberries because it looks pretty, and chocolate and strawberries are a valentines match made in heaven.
I used a simple 6+ cake tin for this cake.
The cake lasts for 2-3+ days at room temperature, or can freeze for 3+ months.

Chocolate Cake for Two!
Ingredients
Cake
- 75 g self-raising flour
- 25 g cocoa powder
- 100 g light brown soft sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 60 ml vegetable oil
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 50 ml whole milk
Decoration
- 60 g dark chocolate
- 60 g milk chocolate
- 60 ml double cream
- strawberries
- freeze dried raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180ºc/160ºfan and line a 6" round tin
- Add the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and baking powder to a bowl and whisk together
- Add the oil, egg, vanilla and milk and mix until smooth
- Pour into the tin, and bake for 25-28 minutes, or until baked. Leave to cool fully in the tin.
- Add the dark chocolate, milk chocolate and cream to a bowl and heat on a low heat in the microwave, stirring often, until smooth
- Pour over the cooled cake carefully and decorate with fresh fruit or whatever you fancy
- Let the ganache set slightly for about 30 minutes and then ENJOY!
Notes
ENJOY!
Find my other recipes on my Recipes Page!
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J x
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Hi
Just made this cake for 8 inch Tin and doubled all ingredients
Except the light brown sugar (only put in 100g by mistake 😞
Will cake be ok please ?
How will it impact please ?
Thankyou so much
Hi Jane, I baked this for Valentine’s Day and it was absolutely gorgeous! Thank you for all you do! Love these small batch bakes. Can’t wait for the next one 🤗
Hi
Just baked this and the centre of the cake was uncooked so I left in longer but then the edges burnt .. what do you think went wrong ?
Did you definitely use the correct ingredients and tin size? If not that can be the cause, or it can be the oven temp needs checking x
So the self rising flour has baking powder in it! So we are adding an additional 1/2 tsp of it?
Made this lovely chocolate cake for Valentine’s Day , so easy too .
The cake was very moist , tasted delicious not too rich & sickly definitely recommend and making again thank you
Hi Jane, I want to make this chocolate cake for 2 but I only have a 5 inch or a 7 inch tin. Which should I use?
Hi! I love the dark look of the ganache on this cake and need a similar looking finish for a two tier cake I am making. Does the ganache also freeze well? Thank you for all your gorgeous recipes ❤️
Hiya! Yes it does, it will just set the ganache x
Amazing! I just need a bigger recipe it was so moist and delicious!!
Could I use this in a 4 x 3” tin?
Hi Jane, I would like to turn this cake into a red velvet cake (sponge only). What’s the ratio of cocoa powder to red food colouring do you recommend for the recipe please? Thank you
You can find all red velvet info on any red velvet bake on the blog!
Could you use semi skimmed milk instead of whole milk?
Hiya! I always recommend using whole milk for the best results. Hope this helps! x
Hi I was just wondering if you weigh your eggs to make the same weight as the flour etc same as some of the other cakes you use. And the medium eggs you use what they weigh if I were to bake the cakes the only eggs I can get hold of are small ones as I live out in the sticks practically and only have local farms shops etc. Many thanks for your time.
Hiya! Yes this would be fine! Enjoy! x
Hi,
Could I increase the ingredients if I wanted to bake it in an 8 inch tin? By 1/4 more? How much should I increase the cooking time? Thank you.
I made this today but only had an 8″ tin so the cake was a little shallower but still turned out good.
Thank you for getting me back into baking x
I loved the ganache! But the cake was not right. I almost felt like it was missing an ingredient like hot water or coffee — the batter was thick like brownie batter. It tastes like chocolate bread instead of chocolate cake. More crumbly then moist. And I also had that sort of mushy center even though I think it was almost over baked. I did weigh all of the ingredients. But I think I must have used all purpose flour instead of self-rising. That could be the problem. I will have to try it again.
Hiya! Yes, using the wrong flour could definitely impact the bake1 Let me know how your second attempt goes! x
I don’t own a microwave would I heat up the chocolate and cream on the hob? Love your recipes
Hiya! Yes this should be fine! Enjoy! x
Sponge came out looking great, but on eating it was almost mushy, squishes under pressure like undercooked bread etc. I cooked it until the skewer came out clean and it came away from the sides of the pan though. Any ideas on why Jane?
Hiya! Was the cake still making a bubbling/crackling sounds when it came out? If so, this means it was likely underbred. Hope this helps! x
Can you use milk chocolate for the ganache. I’m not keen on dark chocolate. Thank you. X
Hiya! This would make the ganache very thin, so you would have to increase the quantity by 1/2. Hope this helps! x
Hiya, I only have a 12″ tin. Would simply doubling the quantities work? X
Hi Jane, would it work if the recipe was doubled and then split between two 6″tins?
Hiya! Yes, this should be fine! Hope this helps! x