Grandma’s Fanciful Fudge Cake – A Double Chocolate Fudge Cake Recipe

Grandma’s Fanciful Double Chocolate Fudge Cake has a swirl of cream cheese filling that turns a regular chocolate cake to a fancy dessert. No one will ever know this decadent dessert starts with a boxed cake mix.

Old Fashioned Fanciful Fudge Cake

Isn’t it great how a recipe can remind you of someone you love? This cake was our Granny’s recipe. Our aunt recently shared the recipe with Barbara, and it took us back to a time when Granny would make this for family gatherings.

With very simple ingredients, this chocolate cake has a creamy filling that is a nice surprise when you cut into it. The moist texture and rich flavor is a hit with all. My kids are obsessed with this cake. It’s perfect for special occasions but I’m known to make this on a regular weekend.

I’m that mom who sends homemade treats for dessert in my kids’ lunchboxes. It’s my love language.

Double Fudge Cake with Cake Mix

The best part is that this fanciful fudge cake is make with a cake mix and pre-made icing.

We all know that quick-fix recipes are all the rage, and we guess our granny was a pioneer with this updated cake mix recipe. While Granny had recipes for homemade brownies, fudge sauce and more, she would be the first to tell you to use a can of frosting to top this delicious cake!

Ingredients for Double Chocolate Fudge Cake

• Granulated Sugar
• Margarine (or butter), softened
• Milk
• Vanilla Extract
• Cream cheese, softened
• All Purpose Flour
• Large Eggs
• Devil’s food cake mix
• Water
• Vegetable oil
• Chocolate frosting

How to Prepare Easy Chocolate Fudge Cake

Step by Step Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease and flour 13×9-inch pan, or use a nonstick spray with flour.
3. In a small bowl, stir together sugar, margarine, milk, vanilla, cream cheese and flour until smooth and creamy; mix in eggs until completely incorporated.
4. In a large bowl, blend cake mix, water, oil and 3 eggs until moistened; blend at a higher speed for 2 minutes.
5. Pour half the batter in the greased cake pan; pour filling over batter, and then pour the remaining cake batter over top. Use a knife to make swirls in the batter.
6. Bake until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Allow the cake to cool completely on a wire rack before adding the can of chocolate frosting to the top of the cake.

Full ingredient amounts and baking instructions for double fudge cake are at the end of this post in the recipe card.

Recipe FAQs

• This recipe calls for a devil’s food chocolate cake mix.
• While we remember the cream cheese layer in the middle of grandma’s cakes, ours tends to fall closer to the bottom, but it’s just as delicious!
• We suggest swirling the cream cheese throughout the cake. You can pour half the batter in pan. Top with the filling mixture. Pour the rest of the batter on and bake.
• Granny noted that the filling goes together easier if the cream cheese and margarine are at room temperature.
• Need a new birthday cake recipe, this one looks great with candles on top!

Recipe Variations

• Use any flavor of dry cake mix that you wish. German chocolate, chocolate fudge, yellow, etc.
• The flavor of pre-made frosting could also be changed.
• For the chocolate lover, add chocolate chips that have been coated in flour to the cream cheese layer.
• Make these a double fudge cupcake.
• I’ve used heavy cream instead of milk.
• Use butter instead of margarine, if desired.

Other Recipes from our Grandmas

Barbara and I have been extremely blessed to have a legion a wonderful, strong women who helped shape our lives from childhood through adulthood. Two of those women were our grandmothers. They truly were the heart of their families.

Below is a photo of our Grandma K with our grandpa before she was our grandma! Doesn’t she look cute in her hat! Our Granny H hated getting her photo taken so we have very few photos of her!

I think of their kitchens as the souls (and backbones) of the farms where they raised their children and spoiled their grandchildren (and great-grandchildren).

Our Granny H raised eight children (five sons) so just imagine the food she had to fix on a daily basis for that brood. The kids spent much of their day milking cows, doing farm chores, as well as going to school and getting into trouble like kids tend to do. The cake we are sharing today is her recipe.

Many of the recipes we share on These Old Cookbooks come directly from our grandmas or are inspired by them. While our grandfathers (and father) farmed the land, milked cows and raised livestock, our grandmothers’ food nourished our bodies and souls.

Here are a few other recipes directly from our grandmas’ cookbooks:

• Grandma’s Butterscotch Pecan Rolls
• Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
• Grandma’s Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
• Grandma’s Homemade Brownies

As you can see, they liked to spoil us with sweets!

Other Cake Mix Recipes

While we love from-scratch recipes, but we also love grabbing a boxed cake mix to get a dessert in the oven quickly. Here are some of our favorite dessert recipes featuring cake mixes.

• Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls
• Yellow Cake Mix Gooey Bars
• Pistachio Coffee Cake
• Pumpkin Crunch Dessert
• Cake Mix Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
• Sunrise Cinnamon Coffee Cake Loaves
• Lemon Bites

Pantry Staples

• Devil’s Food Cake Mix
• All Purpose Flour
• Vanilla Extract
• Vegetable Oil
• Chocolate Frosting

This is a sponsored post written by us on behalf of The Glass Barn which is funded by the Indiana Soybean Alliance. All opinions are 100% our own.

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