Please, I don't take any credit for this. I'm just facilitating this particular flavor thread in the overall challenge.

The real credit goes to CakeandDazzle, who's initial suggestion this was, as well as several others in THIS OTHER THREAD who took the ball and ran with it.

We've already been through yellow cakes on THIS THREAD, which Lita829 facilitated long before I even got involved. And huge thanks go to moreCakePlz for compiling the results of that challenge as well as everyone who participates.

don't see my name on the list but I am going to test:

Wicked Wanda's(AKA Hershys/black magic/deep dark choc)
Sylvia Weinstock's Chocolate Fudge

And I can hardly wait.

Echooo3, you put your own name on the list. copy the previous list then paste onto your reply box then add your name. no one is keeping a list for everyone.


SCW Fudge Brownie(original/egullet) - artscallion/notapro
Planet Cakes Chocolate Mud - artscallion/ahuvas / AKA_cupcakeshoppe
Wicked Wanda's(AKA Hershys/black magic/deep dark choc) - GATUPR /Echooo3
Deluxe Chocolate Cake (Softasilk) - GATUPR /
Chocolate Coke- notapro/moreCakePlz
Giant Chocolate - moreCakePlz/
maryjsgirl's Double Chocolate Layer-jaefamous
Toba Garett, Chocolate fudge - Lita829/notapro countrycakery4
Sylvia Weinstock's Chocolate Fudge - Lita829/notapro/dkelly/jaefamous/ Echooo3
Whimsical Bakehouse's Chocolate Butter - ahuvas/dkelly/
Guinness Stout Chocolate countrycakery4
Lily's Chocolate - artscallion/

I've been on vacation and hope it's not too late to sign up.

Recipes found on page 5 of this thread.

SCW Fudge Brownie(original/egullet) - artscallion/notapro
Planet Cakes Chocolate Mud - artscallion/ahuvas / AKA_cupcakeshoppe
Wicked Wanda's(AKA Hershys/black magic/deep dark choc) - GATUPR /Echooo3
Deluxe Chocolate Cake (Softasilk) - GATUPR / vicki3336
Chocolate Coke- notapro/moreCakePlz
Giant Chocolate - moreCakePlz/
maryjsgirl's Double Chocolate Layer-jaefamous
Toba Garett, Chocolate fudge - Lita829/notapro countrycakery4/ vicki3336
Sylvia Weinstock's Chocolate Fudge - Lita829/notapro/dkelly/jaefamous/ Echooo3
Whimsical Bakehouse's Chocolate Butter - ahuvas/dkelly/
Guinness Stout Chocolate countrycakery4
Lily's Chocolate - artscallion/

For some reason I stopped getting email notices on this thread. Did I read that right -- 12 eggs for Sylvia's chocolate cake??? Or am I seeing things??

Mind if I join in or is it too late?

If it's not too late I would like to try a recipe I found. It's called Kerry Vincents Decadent Dirt Cake. I usually do Colette Peters Cocoa Loco cake and it's well loved, but I really want to try the Chocolate stout cake also.

Am I too late to join?

I'll do Lily's recipe also so that way it has 2 testers.
If you don't mind it being spread out over 2 weeks, I can do a different one each week at work. I have a great job where they don't care what I bake as long as I'm making cakes and pastries. I get to choose what I want to make each day I work, can't beat that. They don't care if it's an experiment either. I can probably do a different recipe (of the ones with only 1 tester) per week there.

SCW Fudge Brownie(original/egullet) - artscallion/notapro
Planet Cakes Chocolate Mud - artscallion/ahuvas / AKA_cupcakeshoppe
Wicked Wanda's(AKA Hershys/black magic/deep dark choc) - GATUPR /Echooo3
Deluxe Chocolate Cake (Softasilk) - GATUPR / vicki3336
Chocolate Coke- notapro/moreCakePlz
Giant Chocolate - moreCakePlz/
maryjsgirl's Double Chocolate Layer-jaefamous
Toba Garett, Chocolate fudge - Lita829/notapro countrycakery4/ vicki3336
Sylvia Weinstock's Chocolate Fudge - Lita829/notapro/dkelly/jaefamous/ Echooo3
Whimsical Bakehouse's Chocolate Butter - ahuvas/dkelly/
Guinness Stout Chocolate countrycakery4/ mkolmar
Lily's Chocolate - artscallion/mkolmar
Kerry Vincents Decadent Dirt Cake - mkolmar

I am in the process of buying the ingredients for the 12 egg Weinstock cake. Good Lord it is an expensive one! I will be making it within the next few days.

let us know how it goes Echooo3. I'm also excited to see the results for that recipe. It sounds so good!

Well,,, I did Toba Garret's Chocolate Fudge Cake this weekend for a birthday party and got to taste some too! (I didn't need to trim so no scraps but know the client really well so got to have a piece of cake and some to take home for review! ) artscallion, I'll try to match your review for thoroughness.

1.Flavour... This definitely has a chocolate flavour. We weren't wondering where the chocolate was, but it wasn't a knock me over kind of "Wow, that's amazing!" chocolaty flavour. It actually has a very nice lingering, roll around in your mouth kind of thing going on though. So points for that! Anything I love and can still taste after a minute or two works for me! Also, using real Buttercream seemed to really bring out the flavour of the cake. The cake itself actually tasted better with the icing to accent it.

2.Texture/Crumb... I'm not super versed in what crumb actually means (I mean I know what a crumb is but as a term how it's used) but this cake is very dense (just the way I like it) and was quite heavy when done. I did this as two 2" layers and didn't need to split to fill. I just sandwiched the two layers between some buttercream and that was my 4" or so cake. The fact that it is so dense probably accounts for the 'Fudge' part of the name and I can see why that's appropriate. It does feel kind of 'fudgey' in my mouth.

3.Moistness... I did find that the cake alone was a titch dry. Buuuut that could be because I may have overbaked them slightly. I checked after the stated time and the cake on top didn't look done so I gave it some more time. My oven is really small and I can't fit two pans in on one rack. However, when the cake was eaten with the icing and fondant all together it felt like it was all perfect. Birthday mom also agreed with me on both points giving her input for the sake of this review. Did I mention she's a friend of mine?

4.Ease of recipe... Full points for this one. I've never made a simpler cake! Just throw all the ingredients minus melted chocolate in the bowl and mix 30s. Add melted choc and mix three more minutes and you're done! This cake could convert many a box cake addict that's for sure!

5.Cost of recipe... Well, we all know that these kinds of cakes ain't cheap. It does ask for buttermilk and 'semisweet fine quality chocolate'. I used Baker's brand from the grocery store, but as I did the equivalent of 1.5 recipes I used a whole package. So a few 'specialty' ingredients but overall nothing to break the bank. This morning I estimated that this cake (in total including buttercream, fondant and decorations) cost approx $40 to make with the actual cake taking approx $15-17 to make. CDN dollars.

6.Ability to convert to cupcakes: didn't try.

Overall rating

8 out of 10 with points for that great lingering flavour, nice texture and ease of recipe. Points deducted for the slight dryness and inability to stand on its own.

I'm still looking for that 10/10 that hits you right between the eyes but I really like this recipe and I think I'll keep it. Good luck everyone!!!

ps: my DH has the camera with my pics on it tonight (he's camping in the back yard with my DD) so I'll post pics of the cut cake tomorrow I hope.

Countrycakery4, just my two cents. Toba Garret's fudge Chocolate Cake is one of my staple recipes. When I make it I usually get one 13 x 9 pan and about 10 cupcakes. The cake and cupcakes rises very high during baking. The cake is alittle dense but definitely not dry at all. the flavour is sooooo yummy.

Great review CountryCakery. Toba's has been my usual chocolate recipe and I agree with every point you made. That slight dryness despite the fudginess and inability to stand alone (same problem I had with SCWoolley) was part of my reason for wanting to do this whole thing to begin with, to find a better recipe. Toba's is darn good. But I have faith that there's better out there, and we'll find it!

Sylvia Weinstock's Chocolate Fudge is in the oven and smells sinful. It is a very heavy cake. I weigh each pan to make sure I have exactly the same amount of batter in each pan (yes, I am very analytical and precise). That cake alone weighs over 6 pounds.

Problem is, I can't taste it until tomorrow. I am on a diet and get weighed in tomorrow morning. LOL, how crazy is that?

I'm worried. Just looked at the cake through the window of my oven and it has risen a good 1/2 inch ABOVE the pan. I used the 8 x 3 round pan as suggested.

I sure hope this doesn't spill or fall, I'll be really upset.

Okay I just wanted to report the fact that I defrosted some of the Planet Cake mud cake that I had put in the freezer straight out of the oven. It did not freeze well - in fact it has sat there for two days and we havent touched it - normally you cant keep me away from cake. Especially since there was no junk in the house and I was pretty desperate for some sugar/fat/carbs.

One caveat is that I used margarine instead of butter. I use margarine for everything and have never had any issues but I thought I would put it out there.

So:

Crumb: Very fudgy - there werent crumbs per say - it was more of a fudgie/brownie cake. The cake had a top that cracked very early on and rose unevenly requiring me to trim a huge chunk of the cake which was very dissapointing.

Flavour: very strong chocolate flavour - which I hoped for since it contained both chocolate and cocoa.

Moistness: I think the cake was relatively moist although the sides were a little dry. I kept a careful eye and tested it a couple of times towards the end - it could have just been the pan but I think it was definitely a cake that would have benefited from chocolate icing/ganache to take it to the next level.

Ease: It wasnt too difficult but it was time consuming. You needed to melt ingredients, wait for them to cool and then back for 2 to 21/2 hours. This is three times the lenght I normally bake for which was a little inconvenient. I wouldnt probably mind if the cake overall was better but Im not sure it was worth it.

Cost of recipe: It was a little more expensive that normal since it took quite a bit of butter and chocolate but it was ok.

Ability to convert to cupcakes: didn't try.

Im not sure what I did wrong but this was not a cake I would probably make again. SOmeone else here gave it a 9 but I would probably give it a 6 - it was delicious straight out of the oven and even the next day but it didnt freeze well and I had to cut too much off because of the cracked dome.

Sylvia Weinstock's Chocolate Fudge Cake is out of the oven. With the bake even strips it baked 1 hour 15 min. Word to the wise, this is a lot of batter and if you are not using the 8x 3 pan called for there will be a problem with spillage. Probably could even use a 9 x 3.

The cake did cave slightly when I took it out. Here are pics:

OMG

They caved completely!! Looks like they were baked in a bunt pan. Can you believe this????

These all sound delicious...I am not a fan of putting coffee in my chocolate cakes. So I am curious what is the benefit of using coffee?

I'm all atingle with anticipation, echo!

Can I just mention a pet peeve though.

With there being an industry standard for a tier being 4" tall, why don't recipes conform with this? This recipe gives you 6" of cake. So you either have to waste the extra 2"...or you have to make 1 1/2 times the batter to make three pans, or 9", which gives you two 4" tiers and 1" of waste. The only way to come out even is to triple the recipe and get 12" of cake for three 8" tiers. Not often I need that all at once in the same flavor. And I don't have unlimited freezer space.

I know how to convert and adjust for all this to get what I want. But really, it's maddening. And every recipe is different. Some are for two 8x2" rounds, or 2 10x1.5" rounds or one 11x2" or 2 9x3". And they don't always bake up the same if you take a recipe intended to make a thin 10" cake and use it to make a thicker 8" cake.

There should be a law that all recipes are for two 8x2" professional pans. Oh yeah, and that all ingredients should be by weight!

Well, I'm so disappointed in the Coke Cake. I've had this cake at Cracker Barrel a few times and always thought it was pretty good. But this copy-cat version is nothing like the original.

Flavor: Didn't really taste like anything. It had a slight chocolate taste, but all I really tasted was sweet (from the Coke I guess). It reminded me of a bland red velvet.

Crumb: Spongy. It had a very small crumb, but it was light and airy. It was very tender, and pieces of the cake broke off when I removed it from the pans. Maybe I didn't mix enough to develop the gluten. I followed the directions and just whisked the flour and liquids together. If I had beaten the batter (it was very thin by-the-way) with an electric mixer, the cake structure might have improved.

Moistness: Very, very moist. It had a damp feel in my mouth even though it was cooked thoroughly. When I squished a piece of the cake, it compacted to a gooey glob. One note here: I did try the press-in-seal/freeze method on this cake. As soon as it was out of the oven, I encased it in press-in-seal plastic wrap and placed it in the freezer. 24 hours later I removed it from the freeze and unwrapped it and found ice crystals all over the cake. I let it defrost for two hours and then tested it. I found the top was sticky and the cake itself very moist. I don't know if the freezing made the cake wet tasting or if the cake would have been moist regardless. In hindsight, I should have frozen one layer and let the other cool on the counter so I could have compared the two. I'm dumb, I know.

Ease: You have to boil the coke and cocoa, but then you just dump everything together and mix.

Cupcakes: didn't try

Cost: cheap

Overall Iâd give it a 3 out of 10. There was nothing interesting or memorable about this cake, and the damp mouthfeel turned me off.

After hearing the critiques on Toba Garrett's and SW Chocolate cakes...I'm excited to try them. I plan to get into the lab (Kitchen) on Weds or Thursday. I hope it will be ok to cut the recipes in half like many did for the Yellow Cake Scratch-Off because there are only 2 people living in my home.

Great critiques everyone!

Echooo oh noooooooooooo!!! Is it cooked through? I know that has happened to me when the cake wasn't baked fully and once removed from the oven and it starts to cool down, the middle part would cave. I feel so bad for you... *hugs*

ahuvas, wow, your review is totally different from artscallion's. Maybe you guys can compare notes and see which of you did something differently? It's weird cause it's as if you guys baked two different recipes based on the reviews.


moreCakePlz, thanks for testing that. I had my doubts with that recipe too because of the small amount of cocoa in it. I'm sorry it didn't turn out well.

Echoo the layers in the first pic looked great.....that completely stinks that they sank so much. I'd cut out the middle and ice it like a bundt cake, I bet it's delicious. (hey, less calories for your diet so there's a bright spot here)

I think I'll try using 9 x 3" pans when I make it to see if that helps a bit, and I'll use a heating core since this sounds like a very heavy, dense batter.

I'm sorry did you say you baked at 350deg? I didn't notice.

morecakeplz.....I had tried that recipe around the Holidays. I had similar results.....to me it doesn't even look like chocolate cake. I ended up making hot fudge "cake" sundaes with it and that helped.....what wouldn't taste better with ice cream and fudge sauce right?

Thanks to all who have baked so far......these threads are so helpful.

Well. my DH came in and put the pics from the camera onto the computer so now I can share the pics of my Toba cake with you. I actually didn't take any photos until it was fully decorated. Sorry! I'll take more comprehensive pics of the Stout Cake.