A mouthwatering Greek style chocolate cake recipe (Sokolatopita) with ingredients you already have in your kitchen!
Greek style Chocolate cake ingredients
One thing all Greek chocolate cake recipes have in common is moistness. Some recipes use a syrup for the cake and top with glaze, while others use only syrup.
With this chocolate cake recipe I tried to keep it really simple and easy. All you have to do is whisk all the ingredients together and bake. No stand mixer or special equipment is required.
Also this is a slightly lighter version with no eggs or butter in the chocolate cake. So for the batter all you need is flour, cocoa powder, sugar and water! Of course if you have at hand some vanilla extract and orange zest you can add them for that bit of extra flavor.
Pro Tip: You could also use self rising flour instead of all purpose flour and baking powder.
Greek chocolate cake in a pan
Prepare the coating for the Chocolate cake
Instead of preparing both syrup and glaze, I preferred coating the cake with a chocolate sauce, which is actually melted dark chocolate with butter and a bit of milk.
Use a fork to make some holes on the cold cake and then pour the hot chocolate sauce. This will enable the sauce to penetrate the cake and soak in, just like using a chocolate syrup! The best part? Because its slightly thicker, its so much more indulgent!
Pro Tip: Keep in mind not to over-bake the cake to keep it fluffy and moist.
Chocolate sauce for Greek Chocolate Cake (Sokolatopita)
How can this greek chocolate cake (sokolatopita) be stored?
There are two enemies to keeping your greek Sokolatopita fresh. Air and heat. This cake can last for about 4-5 days after baking if you keep it stored in an air tight container and on the top shelf of your fridge.
Just remember take it out of the fridge for 30 minutes before serving to allow it to gently come to room temperature. If you like it hot, serve it in plates and pop them in the microwave for 20-30 seconds on full heat. The chocolate will melt and the cake will release its moisture making it super soft!
What about freezing? If you want to prepare this greek chocolate cake ahead of time, you can freeze it. I prefer to make the cake, let it cool down completely, wrap the cake and the baking tin in cling film and store in the freezer. The day you want to serve it, take it out from the fridge, let it defrost and prepare the chocolate sauce.
What to serve it with?
Sokolatopita (Greek chocolate cake) is commonly served warm with vanilla ice cream. So If you have prepared the cake ahead of serving time, cut in pieces and warm it a little bit. Enjoy!
Love chocolate? You will also love these…
If you like me love a chocolate, take a look at my other heavenly recipes!
Mosaiko recipe – a greek chocolate and biscuits log, that needs no baking!
Karidopita with chocolate – a walnut and chocolate cake infused with syrup and covered in a delicious chocolate ganache!
To prepare this Greek chocolate cake add in a large bowl the flour, baking powder, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Whisk well using a hand whisk to combine the ingredients.
In the same bowl add the water, vanilla essence and orange zest and whisk well to form a cake batter. Be careful to scrape the flour from the bottom of the bowl.
Butter a 22×30 cm baking dish and pour in the chocolate cake batter. Bake on preheated oven at 170C/340F for about 30 min.
Remove the chocolate cake form the oven and let it cool for about 1-2 hours.
Prepare the sauce. In double boiler add the chocolate in small pieces, the milk and butter and stir with a spatula until the chocolate melts and the ingredients combine.
Use a fork to make some holes on the top of the chocolate cake and pour over the chocolate sauce.
Serve while still warm with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!
I’d like to travel with this cake to surprise my husband’s Greek family. Can this be left out, and for how long? Any suggestions on how to serve it 1.5 days after making it? Room temp?
This cake is a revelation, like this is the only chocolate cake recipe a person needs. Would be easy to make vegan. Contrary to what the recipe says, I ate some cold from the fridge and it’s good that way too, like what I would imagine a really good Little Debbie-style snack cake would be. Not dry at all like I feared. One thing I notice is that the flavor of chocolate lingers in your mouth. This is some serious chocolate. I used a fresh can of cocoa and I suspect that helps in a recipe so simple.
I don’t know what I have done wrong here – I followed the instructions (converting cups to grams to make it and using self raising flour instead of all purpose like it says you can).
Consistency is more like play doh than a cake batter! It’s in the oven now and not feeling hopeful at all, seems very wrong!
you can’t convert cups to grams verbatim. the baker has to test the recipe and do the conversion. a cup of flour doesn’t equal a cup of cocoa in grams. find a conversion table or just use someone else’s recipe who’s not too lazy to convert to metric
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(517 votes, average: 4.68 out of 5)
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One and a half cups of cocoa seems too much.
Most recipes will have half to 3/4 cup.
Also , did they use a 240 ml cup for this?
Hi Rekha! I used a 250ml cup for the recipe. For the cocoa powder anything between 1 1/4 cups to 1 1/2 cups will work!
I’d like to travel with this cake to surprise my husband’s Greek family. Can this be left out, and for how long? Any suggestions on how to serve it 1.5 days after making it? Room temp?
can this recipe be used for cupcakes?
Of course! But you’ll need to make some frosting too!
Do you have to add the orange zest?
If doubling up what size tin would you suggest?
Oh and time/temp in oven please!
This cake is a revelation, like this is the only chocolate cake recipe a person needs. Would be easy to make vegan. Contrary to what the recipe says, I ate some cold from the fridge and it’s good that way too, like what I would imagine a really good Little Debbie-style snack cake would be. Not dry at all like I feared. One thing I notice is that the flavor of chocolate lingers in your mouth. This is some serious chocolate. I used a fresh can of cocoa and I suspect that helps in a recipe so simple.
Hi there, is it correct that this cake does not have any eggs in the recipe?
No eggs, no good cake!
I don’t know what I have done wrong here – I followed the instructions (converting cups to grams to make it and using self raising flour instead of all purpose like it says you can).
Consistency is more like play doh than a cake batter! It’s in the oven now and not feeling hopeful at all, seems very wrong!
you can’t convert cups to grams verbatim. the baker has to test the recipe and do the conversion. a cup of flour doesn’t equal a cup of cocoa in grams. find a conversion table or just use someone else’s recipe who’s not too lazy to convert to metric
it would be exponentially easier to measure in grams and liters. baking is not a guessing game