I got it into my head somehow that I needed to find the perfect chocolate cake for my birthday (which is tomorrow), so I spent a good portion of May and June trying out various recipes. And since I was already treating it as a competition, I decided to make this a cookbook showdown and share the results here. I set myself a couple of ground rules for the experiment. Regardless of the volume that each recipe is designed to make, I would scale (if necessary) to bake a single layer in my nine-inch springform pan. I would not make any icing/frosting/glaze, nor would I include any optional add-ins. And I would use as close to the same ingredients as possible for all of the cakes, so for instance I used Ghirardelli baking cocoa for the cakes that called for cocoa, because I didn’t have enough of my good Dutch process cocoa powder for all the recipes. I also followed the method in each recipe as closely as possible, even when my normal habit would be to do things slightly different (e.g. one recipe called for using a wooden spoon, where I likely would have used a whisk or my hand mixer, so I used the wooden spoon). Check out our previous Cookbook Showdowns, including pineapple upside-down cake, pumpkin pie, and buttermilk biscuits. Crumb: basically, what’s the texture like? For these purposes, this includes mouthfeel, but I will not be using that word again thank you.Chocolate Factor: this is a sort of je ne c’est quoi judgment of how chocolate-y the cake is.Children: I chose this for the alliteration, yes, but also it was convenient for me to have my kids (ages 12 and 16) rate each cake. Crumb: This cake is somehow both dense and light, which: ??? But it works really nicely. Chocolate Factor: The flavor is very rich, and undeniably chocolate — and even if I hadn’t baked it, I would know there was as much coffee in here as chocolate, which in this case is melted unsweetened chocolate. I might like the balance a bit more in favor of chocolate. Just a smidge. Children: Both rate this cake 4.5/5 and after several more bites one upped it to 5/5 and one lowered it to a 4/5 My rating: 4/5 Crumb: This is the only of the four cakes that uses butter, which results in a denser (but not hard) crumb. It was on the dry side as well, but I can’t be sure whether that’s the recipe or if it was my fault — I think I left it in the oven for five minutes too long. Chocolate Factor: This cake has both cocoa powder and (melted) bittersweet chocolate in the batter. Somehow it does not, however, taste particularly chocolate-y. This is a mystery to me. Children: one 4/5, one 3/5 My rating: 3/5 Crumb: I don’t know where I messed this cake up — maybe in calculating how much of the recipe to use for my pan? — but even though my toothpick came out clean as a whistle, it clearly needed at least five more minutes as the center sunk almost immediately. I considered re-baking the cake, but I didn’t because 1) the recipe could be to blame, and 2) the crumb is delightful! I can almost pretend that the fudge-y line through the center is on purpose. The rest of the slice has that dense-yet-light consistency I like. Chocolate Factor: This one uses cocoa powder and optional hot coffee (it calls for coffee or boiling water, and I opted for a mix). It is suitably chocolate-y, with the subtle flavor boost of coffee. Children: both 4.5/5 My Rating: 3/5 with the potential to be a 4/5 if it comes out right next time Crumb: This is honestly the perfect cake texture. It is like if a brownie was somehow less moist without losing any of its positive properties or being dry in the slightest, dense but light as air. Chocolate Factor: This is the right amount of chocolate flavor, and could only be improved by including the optional add-in of chocolate chips, stirred in just before baking. I might also add just a spoonful of espresso powder to mimic the flavor boost the other cakes get from coffee. Children: one 4.5/5, one 4/5 My Rating: 4.5/5 and almost certainly a 5/5 with the extra chocolate
