Finding the Best Chocolate Cake Recipe (Part 1)

[kthull]

I look forward to testing Jan's recipe, hopefully within the next couple weeks. It has some stiff competition though. People were swooning at my niece's communion yesterday. They're all so used to the stuff that passes for an occasion cake...all looks, no taste. I used the Wooley recipe as a 2-layer half sheet with a straight vanilla pastry cream filling, frosted with white chocolate italian meringue buttercream. I was a bit nervous that the cake layer would crack when I put the second layer on...it was close, but it made it. All around great performer.

[Wendy DeBord]

I went though the previous posts and sor far this is what we have:

Lorea: gave it a 4.5

Moopheus: baked it but didn't give it a number-will you?

Mklynch: gave it a 4.

Mkfradin: offered their favorite recipe, but did you get a chance to bake this first one we are testing? Is so, will you give it a number 1-5 please?

Ladybug: gave it a 4.5

Kthull: gives it a 5.

KarenS: offered us her recipe to try. Did you get a chance to try this first one? If so will you post your results 1-5?

Nightscotsman: gave it a 4.5.

Samaki: gives it a 4.

RMR: gave it a 4.5.

JanKK: rated it a 4, and she's the first person to anty-up with a recipe she knows beats this first one. Everyone that baked the first one-would you try Jankk's recipe when you can and rank it 1-5 too?

Everyone that baked this chocolate cake, if you have a tested known better recipe please share it "anty-up baby"? You can bake any of the other recipes posted here too...using the first one from Wooley as your base to judge up or down from that. Lets see where this takes us.

Anyone else who baked this first testing cake that I missed-please join in and give us your thoughts and rank the Wooley recipe. I'll add future rankings back in this exact post.

[Samaki]

Give it a 4 overall.

[lorea]

I made JanKK's cake last night. I was going to type up that I liked the very fine, elegant crumb, and moistness, but I thought it was a little crumbly and needed a boost in buttery flavor. I did think it had an overall roundness of flavor from the chocolate though.

But! I just realized that I used one stick (4 oz.) of butter, rather one cup! (I had 2 friends over last night that wanted to help...let's chalk it down to being distracted!)

Based on the fact that I really enjoyed the texture and the chocolate flavor with half of the required butter, I definitely want to try this one again - I think it has great potential. The texture was, in fact, feathery, and the batter was extremely easy to work with.

[mkfradin]

Sorry about not giving the number--I think I'd give it a 4 or 4.25. I really really like this cake a lot--loved the fact that it wasn't too sweet and loved its fine texture without its being overly moist. I did have a few problems with it...

First, it's a high maintenance cake, and when we're in production, making 32 cakes at a time, I don't see how we could be turning out cakes and wrapping them in plastic within five minutes of their coming out of the oven. It's all we can do to get the cakes out of the oven and out of their pans before the next batch is done! Plus, think of all the plastic wrap we'd be using $$$$

Even if it worked out logistically, I was the only one who really liked this one! I know that when it comes to chocolate cake, my taste is different from "everyman's" and earlier this spring, we did a taste test with three cakes that I liked. My favorite was the least popular (most popular was the one I posted). So for this test, I used Wendy's cake, Margaret Braun's blackout cake (another favorite and crowd pleaser), and my usual cake, and once again, the very wet, very dense usual cake beat out the other two contenders. I think people confuse a tender crumb for a dry cake and overlook the subtleties in a fine butter cake in favor of the punch of the oil cake.

So when it's my birthday, I'll make Wendy's cake for myself, but when it comes to selling, it's my million dollar cake all the way--fast, easy and cheap.

Marjorie

[JanKK]

Well, since I only have a small freezer ...and it is now bursting forth with cake, I decided it was time to do something with it.

Used the 10" chocolate cake, split into 3 layers, filled and frosted with a Jamaican Rum Cream Whipped Cream Mousse frosting. Thought I would share a picture with you :)

(Of course, I may never be able to make this again --the Jamaican Rum Cream was a gift and I'm told you can only get it in Jamaica....fat chance I'll be going there anytime soon ;)

And a Happy Wednesday to all :)

[Tepee]

Made the Woolley cake again. I'd give it a 4.5 as I felt that although it had a rich chocolate flavor, it lacked the buttery taste which I love in cakes. I prefer my tweaked Coletter Peters cake but I'm having a bit of problems with it doming on me, so I'm not posting the recipe until I sort that out.

Don't have a pic of the naked Woolley cake, but I'm posting what I did out of half the cake; the other half we ate up. Burp! Gosh, can the image be resized smaller? It's so humongous!

BTW, can I have a piece of your cake, Jan?

Edited May 6, 2004 by TP(M'sia) (log)

[JanKK]

Your cake is gorgeous, TP!! Thanks for the pic!!

I'm new to the board and posting pictures, but I don't see any options for changing the size of pictures. I just resize mine before I upload them. Maybe someone who's been here longer will have a better idea :)

[Wendy DeBord]

Absolutely lovely ladies! Thanks for including photos!!!!!!!!! I'm lagging behind everyone right now because I've very busy at work. But I promise I'll get testing asap. I took a naked picture of the Wooley cake today at work but will have to post at a later date.

Just breifly a note to mkfradin: when I make this cake in large batches I leave the cakes in the pans and put them on a sheet tray. I cover the whole sheet pan with a sheet pan cover (large plastic baggie). It's quicker then individually wrapping and does the same thing steaming them. You also can stack your sheet pans with the cakes in the pan on top of each other, that seals them up and steams them too. Doesn't take any more effort really.

I gave up on the M Braun recipe a while ago. I'd get the weirdest results even though I followed the changed recipe. It's texture was like rubber with air pockets that shot striaght up in a line...as if you had poked holes in it. I would like to know the exact science of what does that, if anyone knows?

I'm excited by how many people are participating in these tests. I think in the end we all will have a damn fine cake we all can brag about. Thanks everyone........and keep on testing and posting results, I promise I'll get back here and update the records after this weekend.

[Steve Klc]

One thing I'm curious about--how many of you have determined that the quality of the cocoa powder and/or chocolate/cocoa powder combination you are using affects the end result? By that I mean--can you taste the difference or detect a performance difference when you use different cocoa powders? And the only way to really tell this is to use various cocoa powders--say Hersheys, Valrhona, Cacao Barry, Michel Cluizel, De Zaan, Sharffen Berger--in the same recipe. As you continue to test these this might be something worth tracking as well.

Here's an article by Regina Schrambling advocating a renewed appreciation of cocoa powder:

http://query.nytimes.com/search/article-pa...751C0A9649C8B63

Though when she writes "Step 1 of producing any cocoa powder is always the same: after cocoa butter is extracted from cacao, the pods are pressed again to make a cake with no fat, just flavor" we know cocoa powders have fat--and it is usually expressed as a percentage on the label.

[Wendy DeBord]

Well I agree with that point Steve, except I sort of think thats going to have more importance only when we tweek 'the best'. I believe the brand of cocoa doesn't do any drastic changes to the over-all texture, moisture, crumb perfection we're seeking.

As in mkfradins post.......her side by side taste tests have people choosing a wetter/denser cake then what I offered up.

We as a group need to do more side by side taste comparisions to determine really which cake is prefered. Baking and tasting one cake at a time will make it harder to determine your favorite. If you keep a percentage of each cake in the freezer until you accumulate several that would be ideal.

Have any of you gotten further and made a couple of the posted recipes to begin comparing between those?

[Samaki]

The brand of cocoa powder absolutely makes a difference. There are such huge differences between them. I'm sure that's why my test of the Wooley cake was too bitter. Not only as it not dutched, but it is a very strong cocoa. I'll bet this recipe was developed for a milder one.

[nightscotsman]

For these tests I've just been using Hershey's non-dutched cocoa. It's cheap and easy to find everywhere (and they won't let me bring home any of the Cocao Barry Extra Brut they use at work ). For home baking I really like Pernigotti. Though it's very expensive, it makes a huge difference in taste. I should see about ordering some Valrhona online somewhere.

[Wendy DeBord]

Ah, I see I was wrong. So yes, can we all make a note of which brand of cocoa you were using when you post your results?

[kthull]

The cocoa I used in my tests was Droste Dutch-processed cocoa.

[Samaki]

Wendy, I didn't see your reply before I typed mine, but let me just clarify - I think the brand of cocoa can make a huge difference in flavor, I don't think it will affect texture very much, though.

For my truffles, I use Cacao Barry extra brut. This is an extremely strong cocoa that I would be hesitant to bake with without adjusting the recipe too keep it from being overpowering.

For my everyday (home) baking needs, I use Cebe, which my in-laws send me from Germany. It's a rich, natural cocoa, with an assertive flavor, yet much less bitter than other cocoas I've tried. The closest match to it I've seen in North America is Penzey's.

[lorea]

I think the brand of cocoa makes a big difference in flavor too, but maybe for the purposes of this experiment, we should stick to our own brand in our baking tests? So...since you tested Cake #1 with ____ brand, all the other cakes need to be tested with ____ brand? Then we can at least rule out the cocoa brands in the taste tests.

[KarenS]

I am still with the cake that we make (I did post the recipe). I must add that I layer it with an equitoriale ganache (4 layers), and soak the cake with a tahitian vanilla bean syrup.

Sinclair, I tried yours- too fussy, with the wrapping- and overall not worth it. I say yours a 3.5.

I use Valrhona cocoa, and for the ganache- equitoriale (58 %)

[tejon]

I made the Woolley cake last night. Having read the thread so far, I tweaked it a little in an attempt to make it more moist and a bit sweeter (home baker here, looking for a better-than-boxed mix chocolate cake). I reduced the AP flour amount to 14 ounces and added 2 Tablespoons of corn syrup along with the buttermilk. The cocoa used was regular Hershey's, nothing special.

The cake came out really moist. I wrapped one cake and left the other to cool without wrapping, and both were equally moist once they cooled. The chocolate flavor was incredible, and the texture was definitely more dense than people have been describing. It was a bit on the delicate side, but cooling firmed it up nicely. Bit of a dome, but nothing bad at all. I would give it a 5, easily. It left cake mixes in the dust.

I know the intent was to compare the original recipe, unaltered, to other recipes, but I thought I'd share my results in case they are helpful.

[FWED]

Sound the trumpets. Lets have a fan fare (maybe the Fanfare for the Common Man from Space Odyssey 2000). The votes are in.

Twelve egulliters form the Seattle Tacoma area got together this afternoon to taste five different chocolate cakes.

The nominees were:

Wendy’s fudge Brownie Cake

Jankk’s Feathery Fudge Cake

A Chocolate cake recipe by Flo Braker

A Devil’s food recipe by Susan Purdy

A Devil’s food recipe out of Illustrated Baking (Cooks Illustrated)

All the cakes were baked using the same brand of flour, chocolate, cocoa powder (Penzeys), butter, baking soda, milk or cream and vanilla. The mixing method was the same for all cakes and all the cakes were frozen for at least 24 hours and then thawed. The cakes were blind tasted with and without frosting.

In the unfrosted division the winner was a tie between Wendy’s Fudge Brownie Cake and the Devil’s food cake out of Illustrated Baking. Both rated an average of 4.

In the frosted division the winner was again a tie between Wendy’s Fudge Brownie Cake and the Devil’s Food Cake out of Illustrated Baking. Both rated an average of 4.

I’m not sure how these cakes could be improved upon and I feel that the reason that they got 4’s instead of 4.5’s or 5’s has more to do with personal taste of the evaluators than any shortcoming of the recipe. It is interesting to note that Jankk’s cake went from third to second place when it was frosted. Two people said they noted a slight strange taste to Wendy’s cake and this may be due to the use of non dutched cocoa. It would be fun to try this recipe again and use dutched cocoa just to see if there is a difference but I’ll save that for another day.

Every one had a wonderful time and we finished off the afternoon with more cake of our choice accompanied with homemade Vanilla bean ice cream and / or milk chocolate and hazelnut ganache frosting.

[nightscotsman]

Wow, thanks for the formal tasting results, FWED. That's the kind of event I would like to do more of myself, but there's a lack of eGullet people here in Vegas to invite over.

I haven't made the Illustrated Baking recipe before. How does it compair in texture, moistness and flavor to Wendy's? How was the slicing? was it fairly delicate or more dense?

[gibfalc]

I just wanted to chime in on the cocoa powder discussion. I believe that Dutch process (alkalized) or (regular) non-alkalized will affect the leavening power if you are using baking soda in the recipe. You should use the type that the recipe calls for. I would also comment that I do think the brand of cocoa powder will also affect the taste.

[FWED]

Wendy, thanks so much for starting this thread. All of us here in this area had a wonderful cake party and I hope that we have contributed to the thread. I know that I certainly learned a lot about cake baking. I don't usually do 5 cakes in three days.

Neil, The IB cake is as moist and only slightly more delicate in structure than Wendy's. The taste in both is of rich chocolate and I feel the possible off taste that some tasters experienced in my version of Wendy's cake may have been due to either the use of natural cocoa instead of dutched or an additive in the buttermilk (non organic) or to much baking soda (as Wendy suggested). I personally did not detect the off taste. I must say that if you bake the IB cake and do not freeze it the cake will be noticeably more delicate in structure and perhaps a little less moist than Wendy's. If you do bake the IB cake let us know what your opinion is.

gibfalc, thanks for your input, I totally agree with you on the cocoa powder type and brand statement. Wendy didn't specify which to use and so I went with the undutched based on the amount of baking soda in the recipe. To be totally fair I probably should have done Wendy's recipe with both but lack of time and energy took its tole, OR I probably should have started off with a blind tasting of dutched and natural cocoa powders but thats a bit anal even for me.

Edited May 9, 2004 by FWED (log)

[mpav]

I just caught up with this thread but was happy to see the Cook's Illustrated recipe represented. It's my old faithful. I am looking forward to giving the other cakes a try as dietary considerations permit.

[Wendy DeBord]

Way cool, and that's really a great idea for a get together event for foodies. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall, no wait- just a taste tester. Now that Mothers Day has past I will get to baking and posting photos.

Any chance you took some photos to highlight your event Fred?

Also, these other mysterious egulleters.........if any of you want to post your 1 to 5 ratings to each or any recipe you tasted with your name that would be cool, all imput is welcome. Otherwise I'll post everyones review under freds name only.