Chocolate cake is a crowd-pleaser, and it’s also versatile as far as the flavorings and fillings that you can add to the cake go.
Here are some flavor combinations that I made when I was doing custom wedding cakes. And yes, you can have a wedding cake that’s chocolate on the inside and white on the outside.
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Classic Chocolate
Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling and chocolate buttercream frosting.
This combination is a classic and will make your wedding guests very excited when they see that the wedding cake is chocolate.
Chocolate Raspberry
Chocolate cake with raspberry filling, either raspberry meringue buttercream or raspberry preserves (or both.)
You can also layer chocolate with white cake and chocolate and raspberry fillings to get the same flavor profile.
Chocolate With Coffee or Kahlua
Layering chocolate cake with Kahlua or coffee-flavored buttercream will give you a deeper chocolate flavor.
My chocolate cake recipe had coffee in it (secret ingredient) and you couldn’t taste the coffee, but it did make the chocolate richer.
You can also make a coffee or Kahlua soaking syrup to infuse the cake with some additional coffee flavor.
Chocolate Hazelnut
Heck yeah, when you can use Nutella in a cake it’s a good day! I used to make Nutella buttercream by adding it to meringue buttercream, and that made a good filling.
I also made a delicious hazelnut cake with chocolate truffle filling, and that was incredibly good, too.
If you want to do a hazelnut meringue buttercream with liquer, Frangelico makes a delicious version of that.
Salted Caramel with Chocolate
Chocolate cake with salted caramel filling and caramel buttercream, oh yes, please. And I have to say that writing this is making me crave chocolate cake.
You can make caramel buttercream by mixing some caramel ice cream topping into meringue buttercream, and combine that with a chocolate layer cake. If you want to add the salt, sprinkle the filling layer with some coarse salt before putting the top layer of the cake on.
Don’t go crazy with it, but having the salt in there will give you just enough to notice but not be too much.
White Chocolate Raspberry
You can do a white chocolate in multiple ways, including having a white chocolate cake, or by adding melted white chocolate into the icing to make a white chocolate filling.
A white chocolate truffle is another option, and is always delicious, especially if you torte the cake and add white chocolate truffle and raspberry preserves as the fillings.
I also used to use white chocolate Godiva liquer in meringue buttercream as a filling, and it was really good.
Mint Chocolate
Chocolate cake with mint in the batter is really good (just add a teaspoon of extract to give it a little flavor), and when it’s layered with creme de menthe meringue buttercream, that takes it to the next level.
Chocolate Peanut Butter
Chocolate cake with peanut butter meringue buttercream filling and chocolate icing on the outside is the best. That’s all.
Chocolate Coconut
Chocolate cake with coconut extract in the batter then layered with meringue buttercream with coconut liquer, or with confectioner’s sugar buttercream with coconut extract.
Layer that with some chocolate truffle filling that has added coconut extract to give it the flavor and you’ll be all set.
Chocolate Orange
Chocolate cake layered with orange marmalade and icing that has orange juice concentrate mixed in for the flavor will give you a nice, bright orange-chocolate flavor.
Chocolate Almond
Chocolate cake with coconut and amaretto meringue buttercreams in alternating layers on the inside of the torted cake will give you a little of all of the flavors in each bite.
You can also do this with a coconut cake and layers of amaretto meringue and chocolate fudge or truffle fillings.
Chocolate Guinness Cake
I have to say that I’m not a beer drinker, but this is one of the best cakes I used to make. For the best flavor, only use the classic Guinness stout.
Bake some of the beer into the batter of the cake by substituting out some of the liquid and replacing it with the stout. Then add layers of Guinness-flavored meringue buttercream, get a fork and the cake and go sit in the corner and eat it by yourself without sharing, it’s that good.
Chocolate Strawberry
Chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream and layers of sliced strawberries inside will reinforce the flavor of the berries without letting the chocolate overwhelm them.
To make the best strawberry buttercream, either use high-quality strawberry preserves to flavor it, or get a strawberry paste, which is highly concentrated.
I used to use the Amoretti fruit pastes, they’re the absolute best flavorings for baking and buttercreams that I found.
Chocolate Cherry
Chocolate cake layered with tart cherry buttercream and chopped and drained maraschino cherries is a fantastic combination.
You can bake the cherries into the batter or layer them on the filling inside of the cake.
Black Forest Cake
Chocolate cake with cherry filling that can be made with real cherries, or Kirsch meringue buttercream.
If you do a Kirsch soaking syrup for the cake, or bake it into the batter, and then ice the cake with a vanilla meringue buttercream, you’ll be able to replicate a traditional Black Forest cake in the form of a wedding cake or a regular layer cake.
Chocolate Pomegranate
This might sound weird, but putting pomegranate juice in the buttercream and layering it with a torted chocolate cake is really good.
The tartness of the pomegranate will be evened out by putting it into the icing, and layering it on the chocolate cake will give you a good balance of tart, sweet, and chocolate.
Chocolate Lime Truffle
Chocolate with lime might sound like it wouldn’t be good, but it is! Lemon doesn’t work with chocolate as far as I’m concerned, but chocolate and lime do pair well.
Make a lime cake with a chocolate truffle filling, or a chocolate cake with meringue buttercream that has lime juice in it for the flavoring.
Chocolate Chai
Chocolate cake with chai meringue buttercream and a chai soaking syrup will give you a nice combination of spicy and sweet.
Chocolate Maple Pecan
Chocolate cake layered with maple-flavored buttercream filling and a layer of chopped pecans on the top of that is a nice combination, but make sure that people know about the pecans.
Some people won’t like the texture, and some people might have allergies, so you want to make it clear that there are nuts involved!
Chocolate Cranberry Orange
Chocolate cake with cranberry-infused buttercream fillings and orange extract in the batter is a nice winter cake flavor.
You can also do layers of cranberry sauce and Grand Marnier buttercream in a torted chocolate cake to incorporate all of the flavors.
Neapolitan
Layering chocolate, strawberry and vanilla cake with fudge and strawberry fillings was a popular option when I made wedding cakes.
Depending on which flavor is your favorite, you can add more of that one in the fillings or in the cake layers to push the balance in that direction.
