Chocolate cake

This article is about the baked cake. For other uses, see Chocolate cake (disambiguation).

Chocolate layer cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate shavings

Chocolate cake is a cake flavored with melted chocolate or cocoa powder.

History

Chocolate cake is made with chocolate; it can be made with other ingredients, as well. The history of chocolate cake goes back to 1764, when Dr. James Baker discovered how to make chocolate by grinding cocoa beans between two massive circular millstones.^[1]

Choco rose cake.

In 1828, Conrad Van Houten of the Netherlands developed a mechanical extraction method for extracting the fat from cacao liquor resulting in cacao butter and the partly defatted cacao, a compacted mass of solids that could be sold as it was "rock cacao" or ground into powder.^[2] The processes transformed chocolate from an exclusive luxury to an inexpensive daily snack.^[2] A process for making silkier and smoother chocolate called conching was developed in 1879 by Swiss Rodolphe and made it easier to bake with chocolate as it "amalgamates smoothly and completely with cake batters.^[2] Until 1890 to 1900, chocolate recipes were mostly for drinks.^[2]

The Duff Company of Pittsburgh, a molasses manufacturer, introduced Devil's food chocolate cake mixes in the mid 1930s, but introduction was put on hold during World War II. Duncan Hines introduced a "Three Star Special" (so called because a white, yellow or chocolate cake could be made from the same mix) was introduced three years after cake mixes from General Mills and Duncan Hines, and took over 48 percent of the market.^[3]

In the U.S., "chocolate decadence" cakes were popular in the 1980s; in the 1990s, single-serving molten chocolate cakes with liquid chocolate centers and infused chocolates with exotic flavors such as tea, curry, red pepper, passion fruit, and champagne" were popular. Chocolate lounges and artisinal chocolate makers were popular in the 2000s.^[4] Rich, flourless, all-but-flourless chocolate cakes are now standard in the modern pâtisserie," according to The New Taste of Chocolate.^[2]

Cake types

Popular variants on chocolate cake include:

• Chocolate cake (traditional)
• Chocolate layer cake
• Black Forest cake
• Chocolate souffle cake^[4]
• Devil's food cake
• Ding Dong
• Flourless chocolate cake^[4]
• Fudge cake
• Garash cake
• German chocolate cake
• Joffre cake
• Molten chocolate cake^[4]
• Red velvet cake
• Sachertorte
• Snowball cake

See also

• List of cakes
• Bûche de Noël

References

1. ^ "The History of Baker's Chocolate Factory"
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Maricel E. Presilla, The New Taste of Chocolate: a Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes Ten Speed Press (2001) pp. 29-31, 138. ISBN 1580081436, 9781580081436
3. ^ Anne Byrn, Cake Mix Doctor Google Books. (2003) Rodale, Inc., p. 20. Retrieved March 25, 2011
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Carol Mighton Haddix, Chicago Cooks: 25 Years of Food History with Menus, Recipes, and Tips from Les Dames d'Escoffier Chicago. Agate Publishing (2007) page 32. ISBN 1572840900