This white chocolate mud cake is stupidly moist, ridiculously rich, and somehow still easy enough to pull off on a random Tuesday.
It's my go-to whenever I get handed cake duty for a birthday or a wedding, right up there with my Chocolate Mud Cake and Caramel Mud Cake.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
✅ Recipe Name: White Chocolate Mud Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream
🕒 Ready In: 20 minutes prep + 1 hour 45 minutes baking + cooling time
👪 Serves: 16 serves
🍚 Calories: 726kcal per serve
🥣 Main Ingredients: white chocolate, butter, caster sugar, flour
📖 Dietary Info: easily halved, freezer-friendly
⭐ Why You'll Love It: a fool-proof, low-and-slow mud cake with a smooth homemade buttercream, perfect for birthdays, weddings or just because.
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This recipe is single-handedly THE best cake recipe I have ever used! I made it several times over several months before my brother's wedding to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and it's now my go-to any time anyone lets me choose the cake flavour.
- Nikita
My favourite thing about this cake is that it doesn't ask much of you. You melt, you mix, you wait (impatiently, in my case). If you're building out a proper cake rotation, try my Caramilk Mud Cake or Oreo Mud Cake next, or grab my How To Make Buttercream guide if frosting isn't your strong suit.
Jump to:
Why You're Going To Love This Recipe
- Melt and mix - no creaming, no fancy technique, just a saucepan and a whisk.
- Genuinely one of the most-loved recipes on my site. Over 200 five-star ratings and counting, including plenty of readers who've used it for wedding cakes.
- Freezer-friendly, so you can bake it well ahead of a big event.
- Dress it up with raspberries and coconut for a party, or leave it plain for a laid-back Sunday slice.
Mud Cake Ingredients
Simple pantry ingredients, but a couple are worth getting right.
Note: Scroll to the recipe card at the bottom for the ingredient quantities and full detailed method.
- White chocolate - use a good quality baking chocolate or a block you'd actually eat, not cheap compound chocolate. It melts smoother and won't split on you, and since white chocolate is the whole flavour here, cheap stuff really shows.
- Full cream milk gives the best moist result. Swap to a lower fat milk and the cake will still work, but it won't be quite as rich or moist.
Variations
- Wedding or tiered cake: plenty of readers have used this as a base for tiered and wedding cakes. Bake it in advance, freeze it well wrapped, then ice closer to the day.
- Fold fresh raspberries through the batter or scatter them on top for a fruity contrast to all that sweetness.
- Two-layer cake: double the cake batter, split between two tins, and add an extra layer of buttercream in the middle.
- Swap the white chocolate buttercream for a raspberry buttercream, or a simple chocolate ganache if you want less sweetness.
- Want the chocolate version instead? Make my Chocolate Mud Cake.
How To Make White Chocolate Mud Cake
Six steps, most of them just waiting.
Note: Scroll to the recipe card at the bottom for the ingredient quantities and full detailed method.
- Step 1: Prep your tin. Preheat the oven to 140°C fan-forced (325°F), then grease and line the base and sides of a 23cm round cake tin.
- Step 2: Melt it low and slow. Melt the white chocolate, butter, caster sugar and milk together in the microwave on 50% power, stirring every minute, until smooth. Set aside to cool.
- Step 3: Add the dry ingredients. Whisk through the plain flour, self-raising flour, eggs and vanilla extract until just combined.
- Step 4: Bake. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 1 hour 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely in the tin.
- Step 5: Make the buttercream. Melt the white chocolate and cool to room temperature. Beat the butter until pale and creamy, add the icing sugar a tablespoon at a time, then slowly beat through the cooled white chocolate.
- Step 6: Ice the cake. Once the cake is completely cool, turn it out onto a serving plate and spread the buttercream over the top and sides.
Recipe Tips
- Low and slow is non-negotiable. Mud cakes need a low oven and plenty of patience. If it's browning too fast, loosely cover the top with foil and keep baking.
- Wait until the cake is completely cool before icing it; otherwise, your buttercream will slide right off.
- Storage: keep it at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4-5 days. Skip the fridge; it dries mud cakes out fast.
- Freezing: wrap the cooled, un-iced cake in plastic wrap, then foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight before icing. Frosted leftover slices also freeze well in an airtight container.
- Frosting too thick to spread? Beat through a splash of milk until it loosens up.
- New to buttercream? My How To Make Buttercream guide walks through the basics.
White Chocolate Mud Cake FAQs
It's a long bake at a low temp, so the top can catch before the middle's done. If it starts getting too dark, loosely lay a piece of foil over the top and keep baking until a skewer comes out clean.
Yes, and quite a few readers have. One even tested it several times before using it for her brother's wedding! Bake and freeze the layers ahead of time, then ice closer to the event once fully defrosted.
Store it at room temperature in an airtight container, not the fridge, or it'll dry out. It'll keep for 4-5 days. To freeze, wrap the cooled un-iced cake well and freeze for up to 3 months, then defrost overnight before icing.
Just beat through a small splash of milk until it loosens to a spreadable consistency. Add it a little at a time so you don't overdo it.
Definitely. A few on top for decorating won't change how you store it. But if you're layering raspberries through the middle of the cake, keep it in the fridge instead because of the extra moisture, then bring it back to room temp before serving.
More Mud Cake Recipes You'll Love
Once you've mastered the low-and-slow method, there's no stopping you. Here's a few more mud cakes worth trying:
White Chocolate Mud Cake
Ingredients
- 200 g white chocolate broken into pieces
- 350 g unsalted butter
- 590 g caster sugar
- 375 ml (1 ½ cups) milk
- 300 g (2 cups) plain flour
- 100 g (⅔ cup) self-raising flour
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract or essence
- 200 g white chocolate broken into pieces
- 250 g unsalted butter
- 250 g icing sugar
Instructions
Conventional Method
- Preheat oven to 140 degrees celsius (fan-forced). Grease and line the base and sides of a 23cm round cake tin and set aside.
- Place the white chocolate, butter, caster sugar and milk into a microwave-safe bowl. Melt on 50% power, 3-4 minutes (stirring every minute) until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.
- Whisk through the plain flour, self-raising flour, eggs and vanilla extract.
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean (see notes).
- Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin before removing to a serving plate.
- Once the cake has completely cooled, make the buttercream by melting the white chocolate (on 50% power, 2-3 minutes in the microwave - stirring every 30 seconds). Allow the chocolate to cool to room temperature.
- Using hand-held beaters, beat the room temperature butter until pale, smooth and creamy. Add the icing sugar (1 tbs) at a time and continue to beat until completely combined.
- Very slowly beat through the cooled (room temperature) white chocolate until smooth, creamy and spreadable (see notes).
- Spread the buttercream over the sides and top of the mud cake.
Thermomix Method
- Preheat oven to 140 degrees celsius (fan-forced). Grease and line the base and sides of a 23cm round cake tin and set aside.
- Place the white chocolate, butter, caster sugar and milk into the Thermomix bowl. Melt for 6 minutes on 50 degrees, Speed 2 (or until completely melted). Allow to cool.
- Insert the butterfly, and add the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix for 10 seconds, Speed 3.
- Add the plain flour and self-raising flour and mix for 10 seconds, Speed 3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and repeat for a further 10 seconds or until combined.
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean (see notes). Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin before removing to a serving plate.
- Once the cake has completely cooled, make the buttercream by melting the white chocolate in a clean and dry Thermomix bowl for 3 minutes on 50 degrees, Speed 2. Allow the chocolate to cool to room temperature.
- In a clean and dry Thermomix bowl, insert the butterfly and add the chopped room temperature butter. Beat for 1 minute on Speed 4, or until pale, smooth and creamy. While the blades are still turning on Speed 4, add the icing sugar (1 tbs at a time) and continue to mix until completely combined. Slowly add the cooled white chocolate through the MC hole and mix on Speed 1 until smooth, creamy and spreadable (see notes).
- Spread the buttercream over the sides and top of the mud cake.
Anna says
Hi, can I use this recipe for cupcakes, if so how many will I get out of a batch? Thank you 🙂
Lucy says
Hi Anna, you could! I personally haven't done so, so can't give you any tips sorry! Let me know how you go!
Carly says
Hi, do you think I can double the icing recipe in the thermomix if I’ve done 2 cakes?
Lucy says
Hi Carly, I'd recommend doing them one at a time as it will mix better!
Mikaela says
Hello! How would you recommend I turn this into a gluten free cake?
Lucy says
Hi Mikaela, I haven't personally tried that but I would start with a straight substitution for GF flour and see how you go!
Leetal says
Hi there! First of all, this is an amazing cake and is my absolute favorite so thanks for posting. Have you tried cooking this in 2 pans and then stacking with icing in middle like your chocolate mud cake (also amazing)? If so how long do you bake it for? Thanks
Lucy says
Hi there! Thank you so much! Yes I have and it works great! The time it takes will really depend on your individual oven and the size of the cake pans you're using.
Shelley Gosling says
Would it be just as perfectly delicious if I replaced white chocolate for milk or dark chocolate?
Lucy says
Hi Shelley, for a chocolate mud cake, you can't beat this one: https://bakeplaysmile.com/favourite-chocolate-cake/
Jaimee says
I made this cake a couple of weeks ago. Cooled completely and froze as per instructions. I Will be taking out of the freezer tomorrow to ice with the buttercream. Do I then keep at room temp overnight to be consumed Saturday afternoon? Thank you!
Lucy says
Hi Jaimee, store it in the fridge overnight but make sure it comes completely to room temp before serving (otherwise it will be dry!)
Sarah Norton says
Is it possible to make the mixture and put in the fridge overnight?
I need to cook 4 cakes but only have one cake tin and don’t want to be up all night!
Lucy says
Sure!
Karen says
Hi Jamie,
How can I adjust this for a 6" tin?
Wendy says
Why so much sugar 590 grams. Is this correct please
Lucy says
Hi Wendy, yes that's correct. Mud cakes require a large amount of sugar.