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I have seen countless recipes for cakes that involve a fudge frosting, a soft, gooey layer of fudge that goes between layers of sponge.

I have yet to find any cake/sweet recipes where traditional fudge, the type you make or buy in blocks, is used as a layer in a cake.

Why is this not done? Does anyone know any recipes?

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    I'd guess it is probably not often done because block fudge is pretty stiff, difficult to make smooth layers with, and it's just easier to work with fudge frosting. That being said, I would not be surprised if somebody somewhere has done it, and it would be really neat to hear about it. Good question :)
    – Megha
    Jan 16, 2017 at 8:54
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    I have a recipe for Muddy River Mocha Brownies which is topped with a layer of fudge. Unlike most cakes/sponges, the brownies are dense enough to withstand the weight of the candy. I suspect that's the reason, that fudge is heavier and more dense than cake, making it difficult to pair with it.
    – Giorgio
    Jan 16, 2017 at 13:49

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Fudge icing is actually not made with fudge believe it or not, often it's a chocolate buttercream but there are other recipes. There are a few problems I can see with using traditional cooked fudge as a cake layer:

  • It is not the right texture for a cake: Imagine you're eating nice fluffy cake and then you run into hard, gummy fudge which welds your mouth shut
  • Fudge would be very hard to work with. You cannot spread it, you'd have to roll it out which would be messy
  • Traditional fudge would not keep the layers together. Part of the role of the filling is to stick one cake layer to another so that they stay put, and pieces stay together when cut and put on a plate. A cake with a hard fudge filling would would be hard to decorate as any sideways pressure on the top cake layer would make it slide, and when cut it would fall apart.
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    Chocolate fudge icing is a chocolate buttercream, but there are also plenty of non-chocolate fudge icing recipes (some are called caramel fudge; ingredients typically; brown sugar, milk, butter, and more cooked than a buttercream). They would seem to be more relevant here, as they're more similar to block fudge in flavour at least.
    – Chris H
    Jan 16, 2017 at 10:48
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    There are certainly many frostings out there @ChrisH, my answer is about why traditional fudge is not a good choice as a filling rather than discussing alternatives, I'll edit to make that clear.
    – GdD
    Jan 16, 2017 at 11:05
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    I just want to point out that there are different recipes for fudge, and "hard and gummy" is more towards the toffee end - soft and almost crumbly (the traditional fudge you get in the UK at least) would work a bit better - so while the three points would still be valid, they'd not be as bad. Scottish tablet or traditional toffee would both be worse at least ;-)
    – Rycochet
    Jan 16, 2017 at 14:24
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    In addition, having a hard fudge layer between cake layers could result in significant additional pressure being used when cutting the cake. This might result the lower layer(s) being compressed (depending on their consistency) during cutting.
    – Makyen
    Jan 16, 2017 at 16:54
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    @Makyen Unless it is the bottom layer... then it't be almost like a thick crust... which might not be too bad at all.
    – Catija ♦
    Jan 17, 2017 at 1:06
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I have to agree with the other answers and comments that traditional fudge could be awkward as a layer in a cake.

However, many Death by Chocolate Cake recipes do use hot fudge sauce between the layers and/or include a fudge brownie layer.

If you really want to do this, go for it. What's the worst that will happen? You have too much chocolate???

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This is certainly doable. But you will have to make the fudge yourself, so you can adjust it to be softer, and maybe even fluffy.

Otherwise, the layer would have to be rather thin, so the point where you could just replace it with some caramel sauce or something and get a better result.

Maybe if you heat the commercial fudge, and mix in something to thin it… I can’t guarantee that it will stay solid though. Also it might brown and stop tasting like you want it.

Anyway, to meta this: It’s basically pure sugar and oil. One of the cheapest, most low-quality things one can use. Why not pick something of higher quality instead and make a great cake? (I find Americans limit themselves to very very few types of ingredients and techniques when making cakes. They’re all nearly the same cake and just look different. Which is why cakes in the US usually are very boring.)

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