Learn how to make a beautiful Triple Chocolate Ombré Cake from scratch! Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate combined into one delicious cake.
Find the step-by-step recipe including ingredients and instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. Video as additional content available (does not provide any additional information to the written recipe).
Triple Chocolate Cake Layers
For the cake layers, you need three 8″ (20cm) baking pans. Cut out 8″ parchment paper circles for the bottoms of the pans. You can lightly grease the sides of the pans, but I prefer to cut parchment paper stripes for the sides.
When the cake is baked and cooled, invert the pan, and the cake will come out easily. Then remove the paper and voilá.
For the three chocolate layers we need just one cake batter and divide it into three before adding the chocolate. To have three equal amounts of batter I recommend using a kitchen scale. You don’t need to worry then that the cake layers are different in height, texture, and baking time.
The cake batter is made of flour, baking powder, salt, butter, oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. I added butter and oil to have the best of both worlds. Butter adds a great flavor to the cake and oil a great texture.
After dividing into three add melted dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate.
Triple Chocolate Buttercream
For making the chocolate buttercream, beat softened butter until very creamy. Then sift in powdered sugar and beat until fluffy and creamy. Add a bit of salt to cut down the sweetness.
Then divide buttercream into three equal batches and add dark, milk, and white chocolate. Stir until super creamy.
NOTE: Please use just high-quality chocolate or couverture for the cake and the buttercream. The taste of the chocolate is very dominant in the cake and especially in the buttercream. The better the chocolate is, the better the cake is. The same is true in the other direction.
Now we have three chocolate cake layers and the prepared buttercream. Let’s bring this all together.
Place the first cake layer on a cake turner or cake stand. I was long, long thinking about whether the dark or the white chocolate layer should be the first. It is beautiful either way. In the end, I decided to start with the dark chocolate layer, as you can see.
When you start with the dark chocolate layer as I did, spread dark chocolate evenly on top of the cake. Reserve buttercream for the sides. If you want to make a naked cake, then spread all of the buttercream on top.
Lay milk chocolate cake layer on top and spread with milk chocolate buttercream. Repeat with the white chocolate layer.
If you don’t like a naked cake, spread the rest of the buttercream on the sides of the cake. I did this by spreading one color after another around the sides with an offset spatula and leveled it at the end with the offset spatula.
Don’t worry, if the colors mix up a bit. I think it is even more beautiful when the colors go into another where they meet.
If you make this Triple Chocolate Ombré Cake recipe, leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #alsothecrumbsplease on Instagram! Would love to see your snap!
You may also like No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake, Fudge Brownie Ice Cream Cake, Fresh Cherry Cake, Almond Peach Galette.
Learn how to make a beautiful Triple Chocolate Ombré Cake from scratch! Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate combined into one delicious cake. With video!
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (300g)
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup butter (113g)
- 1/2 cup oil (120ml)
- 1 cup granulated white sugar (200g)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 vanilla beans* (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
- 1 cup buttermilk (240ml)
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate, melted and cooled (85g)
- 1/2 cup milk chocolate, melted and cooled (85g)
- 1/2 cup white chocolate, melted and cooled (85g)
- 1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature (339g)
- 3 cups powdered sugar (360g)
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate, melted and cooled (85g)
- 1/2 cup milk chocolate, melted and cooled (85g)
- 1/2 cup white chocolate, melted and cooled (85g)
Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line the bottom and the sides of three 8" (20cm) baking pans with parchment paper. Lightly grease the sides of the pan with butter or oil that the paper sticks to the pan. Set aside.
In a medium bowl combine flour, salt, and baking powder and stir to combine. Set aside.
Make the triple chocolate cake layers: In a large mixing bowl with a stand or handheld mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat butter, oil, and sugar until creamy for about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Alternately add dry ingredients and buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Stir just until combined. Divide batter into three bowls equally (use a kitchen scale for accurate results). Add dark chocolate to one batter and stir to combine. Transfer to one prepared baking pan. Repeat with milk and white chocolate. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Don't overbake or the cake will be dry. Let cool to room temperature.
Make the triple chocolate buttercream: Beat butter on medium-high speed until soft and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add powdered sugar and beat on medium-low speed until fully combined and smooth. Stir in salt to combine. Divide batter into three bowls equally (use a kitchen scale for accurate results). Add dark chocolate to one buttercream and stir until creamy. Repeat with milk and white chocolate.
Assemble the cake: Cut a thin layer off the tops of your cakes to create a flat surface if needed. Place the dark chocolate cake layer on a cake stand, turner, or serving plate. Spread the dark chocolate buttercream evenly on top of the cake. Reserve about 1/4 for the sides. Place milk chocolate layer on top and spread with milk chocolate buttercream. Again, reserve about 1/4 for the sides. Repeat with the white chocolate layer. Frost the outside and the sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. For best results, spread one color after another around the sides with an offset spatula and level with the offset spatula in the end. Chill 4 hours in the fridge. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge up to 2 days.
Recipe Video
*First, cut off the straight end of the vanilla bean. Then place the tip of your knife below the curled end and cut the vanilla bean through the middle of the bean lengthwise with a sharp knife. Although you don't need to cut it all the way through, it's ok when you do so. Then open the vanilla bean and scrape out the flavorful seeds with the back of your knife. Just use the seeds.
I’m planning to make this cake for my sons birthday, per is request. Can I use Ghirardelli baking chocolate or do I need to use regular chocolate bars found in the candy aisle?
Yes, you can use Ghirardelli baking chocolate for the batter. You could also use it for the frosting if you like the taste of it when eaten plain. If you prefer the taste of another chocolate more, I would go with another one for the frosting since the chocolate flavor determines the flavor of the frosting. I hope that helps!
Hi Sabine,
thank you so much for this recipe! I made it for my birthday and it turned out great. OMG. Sooooo chocolatey! My friends loved it and one of them even asked me about the recipe. It’s foolproof and easy.
Darina ❤️
Hi Darina,
Thank you so much for your nice feedback! I’m happy that you like the cake as much as we do. It’s a fantastic birthday cake for sure. Happy belated birthday.
Sabine 🙂
The wife made this for my birthday. It turned out great. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!
I’m making this a day before its going to be served and will be traveling with it. Do you recommend refrigerating it before or will it be okay room temperature. Also, it might be exposed to warmer temperatures.
I would suggest to store it in the fridge as long as possible and don’t let it too long exposed to warmer temperatures because the buttercream will get soft and greasy. Maybe you can store it in a cool box while traveling, that would be the best. Hope that helps!
I have never made a layered cake before and usually am terrible at baking; my cakes usually come out dense and flat no matter what 😅 but this recipe is amazing, the cake tastes phenomenal and it’s pretty much a foolproof recipe as long as you actually follow the recipe!!
Do you think it would work to adapt different flavours with the base of this recipe? It just turned out to be such a nice light, fluffy cake I’m not sure if I want to turn to any other recipes haha
I’m so happy that you had success with this recipe, Alice! Thank you so much for your feedback. You can look through my cake category and you will find other incredibly moist and delicious cakes in different flavors. If you mastered that one, you will master the other ones too! 🙂
Hey Sabine,
I haven’t made this recipe yet because I was wondering what the percentage of cocoa was in the dark chocolate you used? I’m planning on using Lindt chocolate bars and I saw they had 70%, 80%, 99% etc. What do you recommend?
Hey Evangeline, I also use Lindt a lot and go for dark chocolate between 50 – 70 % cocoa. 70% is my favorite though. Hope that helps.
I made this for my mom’s birthday and was pretty happy with how it turned out! Everybody raved about how delicious it was. I only wish that the layers were thicker as my cake came out looking a little flat. The only adjustments I made were adding a little espresso powder to the dark chocolate layer and topping the cake with fresh raspberries. Yum!
Hello Sabine,
I have used your recipe more than once, all I can say is it has never let me down. I’m currently studying Culinary Arts although I really do love pastry. Your recipes have been a great boost to me.
It deserves a 5 star since I got a 5 star from my friends and family.
Thank you.
Hi Magdalene, Thank you so much for your nice feedback and kind words! I really appreciate it! That sounds interesting. Best of luck to you. Sabine
Hey, I’m really interested in baking that cake but my family doesn’t like american buttercream (I guess it’s that one because of the high amount of powdered sugar), would it be possible to make another buttercream that is less sweet the same way as the recipe says with adding the melted chocolate at the end? for example a swiss meringue buttercream? I’m still a bit new to buttercream
I personally did not try to make swiss meringue buttercream with chocolate. I’m not sure if the frosting would be stiff and smooth after adding the chocolate. You could try a chocolate cream cheese frosting instead. Hope that helps!
Hi sabine,
This looks super awesome how much should I make for a 11 inch pan and there should 3 layers .each layer height should be 2 inches .usually for vanilla cake i use 750g of flour.how should i alter this recipe.
Shwetha
Hi Shwetha, to convert from 8″ to 11 ” pans I recommend to double the recipe. Hope that helps. Happy baking!
Can I use this recipe in 9-inch molds instead of 8-inch molds?
Yes, just do 1.5x the recipe.
How many layers do you think this recipe would make if you’re using 6″ pans? And would it ruin the cake if I used darker 8″ pans? I only have light pans in 6″.
I wouldn’t bake this recipe in 6″ pans without a conversion. When the cake layers are too thick it will take a very long time in the oven until it’s baked through and the edges will be dry until the center is done. When using darker pans, the baking time needs to be adjusted. Please check with a toothpick.
HOW DO YOU INCORPORATE THE MELTED CHOCOLATES INTO THE CAKE BATTER WITHOUT IT HARDENING WHILE ADDING IT? THE WHITE CHOCOLATE IS THE WORST.. ALSO, I’M AFRAID THE BAKING POWDER LOSES IT’S FIZZ DUE TO THE TIME NEEDED TO DIVIDE THE BATTER AND ADDING THE CHOCOLATES,.. DO YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS? THANK YOU., IM ON MY 2ND ATTEMPT AND HAVEN’T MADE IT TO THE ICING YET. I MAY HAVE THE SAME TROUBLE WITH THE MELTED CHOCOLATE THERE BUT I DON/T KNOW YET.
Please make sure to use just high-quality chocolate and no chocolate chips. Chocolate chips like the ones in cookies, for example, are not meant to be melted and turn out dry and crumbly. Then you shouldn’t have any problem.
I’m really excited to try this recipe! Can you share what brand/type of chocolate bars you use for each? (Dark/Milk/White)
Course! I used Lindt chocolate for all three. Hope that helps!
I apologize for the possible novice question but I was wondering if the butter for the Cale batter needs to be rom temp? I see the icing states room temp so I thought I would check for the cake. Thank you!
You can use room temperature butter to reduce the mixing time a bit. But it’s not necessary. You can use cold butter as well.
OMG!!! Looks insanely beautiful! Is the chocolate unsweetened or sweetened? I’m afraid there is no unsweetened chocolate available where I live. If I want to use sweetened chocolate by how much should I reduce the amount of sugar? I am not a big fun of super sweet desserts 😛 Thank you <3
You can go with semi-sweet chocolate like 50% cocoa for the dark cake layer. The milk chocolate cake layer contains regular milk chocolate, so sweet one. And the white cake layer contains regular white chocolate. The same is true for the frosting. Hope that helps.
Can you bake all three layers at the same time in one oven?
Yes, that is recommended.
Hey Sabine, thank you for your wonderful recipes, I want to bake this cake for a baby shower, what brand of high quality chocolate bars would you suggest?
Hey Christa, you can’t go wrong with Ghirardelli, Lindt, or Hershey’s. Because I’m currently living in Austria, I bake the most of the time with Lindt at the moment. Hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
😊🤗😍
(:
I was asked to make this cake for a wedding. I need a 12″, 10″ and 8″. Any recommendations for doubling the recipe or maybe 1 1/2 batch for the 10″?
Okay, as I understand that right, you need three different sizes of layers. The bottom layer 12″ followed by a 10″ and on top the 8″, correct? So, I would make the recipe 1.5x times and before you add the chocolate to each layer, I would divide the batter into 25% of the batter for the 8″ layer, 35% of the batter for the 10″ layer, and 40% for the 12″ layer. Hope that helps!
Can you use chocolate chips?
I don’t recommend to melt chocolate chips. They have a completely different texture than regular high-quality chocolate bars.
Hi My grandmother use to make a cake she divided the batter like this only she made it Neapolitan this cake looks like the texture density of her cake
She made five laters can you give any tips with dividing per cake pans.
I would cut each cake layer in half horizontally. Then you would end up with 6 thinner cake layers. You could skip one layer (reserve for cake pops or eat it) or assemble the cake with 6 layers. Hope that helps!
Is semi-sweet chocolate the same as “dark” chocolate. Looks amazing!
Yes, exactly. Thank you so much!
That’s such a beautiful cake. I love how the frosting coordinates with the layers inside.
Thank you so much, Haley! I’m glad you like it!
This cake looks delicious, but im confused about the layers. The directions say use two 8” inch pans but then it says divide batter into dark, milk and white pans. So should it say use 3 cake pans?
Hi Kris, I’m so sorry! Of course, these are three pans. I just corrected it in the recipe. Thank you so much for telling me.