09/29/2025
Okay contestants, that is time! The results for the BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE are in!!
But first, let me say that this journey was as fun as I had expected. AND I actually worked with a few ingredients I don't normally use. The results aren't overly surprising to me but I can say a few of the recipes were surprisingly blah.
I wanted to find THE chocolate cake. One that was rich in flavor and had that perfect texture to eat alone or with buttercream, whipped cream, whatever. Did I find it? Yes. In fact, I found several. 😂 I was hoping a definitive ingredient would prove true with texture, flavor, etc. What would this fat do? What would the addition of acid (ie buttermilk) do to the texture? How about the use of coffee or vanilla with flavor? Truth be told, I don't think I really found those answers. Not yet. But that's what is fun about baking!! Always learning and evolving.
Okay okay, enough rambling. Let's get down to business! What cake worked?! After a thorough scrub on Google, I was left with eight, yes I said EIGHT contenders. And here's why - a lot of these recipes are almost the same but one may have buttermilk instead or whole milk, or brown sugar instead of granulated. (Remember, I was hoping for a more clear cut idea of what ingredient makes this cake the best.) The recipe and results are as follows:
Paul Hollywood Chocolate Cake 2/5
- this cake was honestly not very good. It was dry and didn't packed a lot of chocolate flavor. Surprisingly, this was the only recipe that called for solid chocolate, also. But this whole idea was based on The Great British Baking Show, so I HAD to use a PH recipe!
Hershey's Chocolate Cake 4.5/5
****THIS WAS MY SECOND PLACE CONTENDER***
- with its rich chocolate flavor and moist, denser texture, this was definitely a favorite. Strangely the recipe itself isn't anything special - sugar, cocoa powder, and milk its main stars.
Add A Pinch Chocolate Cake 4/5
- same basic ingredients as Hershey but with buttermilk instead of whole and an addition of espresso powder. Good chocolate flavor and texture - for some reason the Hershey had a slightly more rich taste.
Broma Bakery One Bowl Cake 3.5/5
- it wasn't my favorite - chocolate flavor was so-so and it was a bit dry. But I still love Sarah!!
Ina Garten's Chocolate Cake 3.5/5
- this used to be my go-to cake, with its nice chocolate flavor and soft texture. My issue is that it was more suitable for cupcakes than cakes, as it is very soft. Ironically this cake and the Broma are VERY similar, but Broma uses brown sugar.
Sugar Spun Run Chocolate Cake 4.5/5
****THE WINNER****
- literally a smidge less chocolate flavor than Hershey but the texture is just perfect. Slap some buttercream on it or cut a chunk to munch bynitself - it just wouldn't matter!
Chelsweets Chocolate Red Wine Cake 3.5/5
- my super awesome sister made this cake for me a few years ago for a birthday and it was amazing!! Clearly a red wine drinker, I had my eyes set on throwing this in the ring with the rest. The texture is a bit denser and heavy and has some awesome fruity back notes from the wine. The only reason this didn't score higher was the more mild chocolate flavor.
Sally's Baking Addiction Guinness Chocolate Cake 4/5
- I love this cake. Another contender in the long list of others. Flavor is so good with the addition of a Guinness syrup and texture is great. A little lighter and spongy.
So there you have it, my friends. My first Great British Baking Show Challenge in the books! Hope you enjoyed the content as much as I enjoyed it! See you all soon!
Incidentally, if anyone is around in my area in the next few days - I have free chocolate cake for you!! ❤️
