Bringing Treats

The Contenders

Chocolate is this week’s cake-off flavour, because my father-in-law’s birthday is coming up, and he requested a chocolate cake. In an attempt to find his new favourite birthday cake, I gathered a range of recipes from rich to light flavours, using different mixing techniques, all aiming for a tight crumb and moist cake that would fit his tastes for his birthday party. I chose four recipes that were well-rated and reviewed, easily available, and looked like they would match my texture-range goal. 

1. Classic Chocolate Cake. Expected to be easy, rich, and super moist. It uses the dump method of mixing wet and dry ingredients in one or two bowls. Notable ingredients are oil and buttermilk, meant to make a very moist and tender cake.
2. Fudge Cake. Expected to be foolproof, rich, soft and moist. It uses the creaming method of fluffing butter and sugar together, then slowly adding the wet and dry ingredients. Sour cream is the notable ingredient, meant to make the cake more moist and fudgy.
3. Rich Chocolate Cake. Expected to be rich and chocolatey with a lighter texture that’s crowd pleasing. It uses the reverse creaming method of mixing the fat into the dry ingredients and then adding the wet ingredients. The mixing method here is notable, meant to make a more moist, tight and tender crumb.
4. Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake. Expected to be perfectly chocolately, airy, and moist. This uses the ribboning foam method to whip eggs and sugar until they’re smooth and ribbony, then add dry and wet ingredients. It’s meant to make a more structured yet fluffy and tight crumbed cake.

Baking Day

It was a busy day in the kitchen. I pre-measured the ingredients the same morning, then baked the cakes throughout the day in 6″ round pans, while baby napped, then woke up, then while making dinner.

Tasting Notes

There were just two taste-testers on the tasting day. Ratings are scored on Appearance, Texture, Flavour, and Overall opinion, and aiming for what we think would work best for “Bumpa” and his tastes. Everything is subjective, meaning there’s no official rating system. If a taste-tester can understand their own notes, that’s good enough.

After all, this is cake. It’s all delicious, and it’s all for fun!

1. Appearance: Deep dark brown, open crumb, slightly sunken middle. Texture: Super moist texture. Flavour: Deep chocolate, more bitter flavour.
2. Appearance: Lighter brown, tight crumb and smooth domed top. Texture: Denser, velvety moist texture, but driest of the four. Flavour: Lighter more mild, sweet and almost tangy flavour, tastes like store-bought birthday cake. Lisa’s favourite.
3. Appearance: Tall, medium-dark brown. Texture: Plush yet consistently moist texture throughout the slice, with closest tight crumb. Flavour: Very similar flavour to B, but more chocolatey. Will’s favourite.
4. Appearance: Dark reddish brown, shiny top. Texture: Velvety and moist texture. Flavour: Balanced almost buttery flavour, but the least chocolatey – the only recipe to not use coffee.

Results & Recipes

1. Hershey’s – Black Magic Cake. Dark, super-moist, and very rich chocolate. This is a very easy and quick recipe for lovers of classic  rich chocolate cake. Bring this to an elegant dinner or casual gathering where everyone can have a small slice without needing to decorate much.
2. Bigger Bolder Baking – The Best Ever Chocolate Cake. Medium-brown colour, dense yet moist fudgy cake. This is a simple but straightforward recipe perfect for lovers of sweet store-bought flavours who might want to put a little love into decoration – this cake is sturdy enough to hold up to it. Bring this to a big gathering or kids birthday party as a sure crowd-pleaser.
3. Magnolia Kitchen – Signature Rich Chocolate Cake. Tall, dark and plush moist chocolate cake. This is a relatively simple recipe, with detailed steps, perfect for lovers of rich chocolate and melt-in-your-mouth texture. Bring this to a celebration, or somewhere you want to indulge or impress a little. Or just stay home and tuck into a slice because you deserve it!
4. Cook’s Illustrated – Old Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake. Dark reddish-brown colour with a light velvety texture and mild flavour. This is a more detailed recipe perfect for lovers of smooth, creamy chocolate who also love pairing frosting. Bring this to a work or community gathering where the treat feels indulgent but not too heavy.

Overall, these cakes fit the goal I was after to narrow down my father-in-law’s new favourite birthday cake. They each represented a range of flavour profiles of a tight-crumbed, moist chocolate cake. We had different favourites we would remake, but ultimately decided that little bits of each recipe would be the most perfect choice for the birthday boy. The outcome: Bumpa’s Midnight Chocolate Cake.