Chocolate cakeorchocolate gâteau (from French: gâteau au chocolat) is a cake flavored with melted chocolate, cocoa powder, or both. It can also have other ingredients such as fudge, vanilla creme, and other sweeteners.[1]
History
Double-layer chocolate truffle cakeA brown chocolate cakeBlack Chocolate cake with almonds and biscuits surrounding it
The history of chocolate cake goes back to the 17th century, when cocoa powder from the Americas was added to traditional cake recipes.[2]
In 1828, Coenraad van Houten of the Netherlands developed a mechanical 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 "rock cacao" or ground into powder.[3] The processes transformed chocolate from an exclusive luxury to an inexpensive daily snack.[3]
A process for making silkier and smoother chocolate, called conching, was developed in Switzerland in 1879 by Rodolphe Lindt. This made it easier to bake with chocolate, as it amalgamates smoothly and completely with cake batters.[3] Until the 1890s, chocolate recipes were mostly for chocolate drinks,[3] and its presence in cakes was only in fillings and glazes.[4]
In 1886, American cooks began adding chocolate to the cake batter to make the first chocolate cakes in that country.[4] The Duff Company of Pittsburgh, a molasses manufacturer, introduced "Devil's food" chocolate cake mixes in the mid-1930s, but production was put on hold during World War II. After the war, the Pilsbury company was in 1948 the first to sell a chocolate cake mix,[5] and in 1951 the "Three Star Surprise" mix from Duncan Hines (so called because a white, yellow or chocolate cake could be made from the same mix)[6] swept the market.[5][7]
"Chocolate decadence" cakes were popular in the United States 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 artisanal chocolate makers were popular in the 2000s.[8] Rich, all-but-flourless chocolate cakes are "now standard in the modern pâtisserie", according to Maricel Presilla's The New Taste of Chocolate in 2001.[3]
Fudge cake – Generic term for a chocolate cake with a consistency, flavor, or richness reminiscent of fudge, sometimes from the use of dark brown sugar or a rich icing[9][10][11]
^ abByrn, Anne (2016). American Cake: From Colonial Gingerbread to Classic Layer, the Stories and Recipes Behind more than 125 of our Best-Loved Cakes. Rodale. pp. 39, 68. ISBN9781623365431. OCLC934884678.
^Carol Mighton Haddix (2007), Chicago Cooks: 25 Years of Food History with Menus, Recipes, and Tips from Les Dames d'Escoffier Chicago. Agate Publishing, p. 32. ISBN1-57284-090-0
Media: Chocolate cake
