Chocolate cakes around the world: From flourless to rich layered cakes doused in rum, there are plenty of dessert cakes

Chocolate is perhaps the world’s most sinfully guilty pleasure that has health benefits despite its calorific nature. From being used in puddings, and custards to cakes to skincare and wellness, chocolate for many decades has been inseparable from vanilla and most bakers who have been crafting recipes from the old tattered books to finding new ways to sculpt chocolate statues or caricatures to raise the aesthetics bar of their creation. It’s no surprise that even dessert cakes have multiple versions of chocolate being ingeniously used to make masterful cakes that will have you reaching for a second slice and raving about it long after. So, here are some iconic chocolate cakes from around the world.

1. Sacher Torte

Possibly the flag bearer of Austria’s desserts, especially chocolate cakes, this rich layered chocolate cake has a thin layer of apricot jam on top of the assembled layers that is covered with chocolate icing. It was made by 16-year-old Franz Sacher, in 1832, upon the request of Prince Clemens Lothar Wensel Metternich, who wanted a new cake and Sacher being his pastry chef obliged. This cake is still served using the same recipe, guarded by his descendants at the Sacher Hotel, opened by his son Eduard in 1876. Look for the Sacher logo on top of the cake to single it out from the copies.

2. Kladdkaka

A sticky chocolate cake from Sweden, Kladdkaka after baking, develops a thin crunchy crust that holds the moist centre. The ingredients – flour, cocoa or chocolate, eggs, butter and sugar are used in a ratio minus the leavening agent that results in a dense chocolate cake. The cake uses a lot of chocolate or cocoa so it's bitter and not too sweet as your average chocolate cake. To balance the bitterness, a dusting of powdered sugar is added as a garnish to the cake and sometimes eaten with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on the side. Drop in at a Swedish home or chill with a local during “fika” or coffee break, you might find this cake plus a cup of coffee.

3. Amandine

This stacked chocolate cake is from Romania with a sponge cake base split into two with a filling of either chocolate or almond cream. The sponge cakes are typically soaked in a sweet rum-based syrup and topped with a glaze made with chocolate and whipped cream. The chocolate sponge cake is made with flour, eggs, water, sugar, oil and cocoa while the syrup uses water, sugar and rum. As for the filling, it's made with sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and cocoa. It's a local favourite with the ingredients varying a little from one baker to the other, ever since it started being made in the 1960s. The cake looks fancy and it's decorated with chocolate or plain cream with a piece of chocolate pushed into it.

4. Chocotorta

A chocolate cake from Argentina, this cake might remind you of a certain Italian dessert. It was fashioned after the Italian tiramisu and uses local ingredients to make this chocotorta – local dark chocolate biscuits (Chocolina), dulche de leche and cream cheese. The cookies are soaked in chocolate milk, coffee or coffee liqueur to soften them then a layer of cream cheese goes on top of them followed by dulche de leche (a kind of thick caramel sauce), these are repeated to create multiple layers.

5. Mađarica

Translating to Hungarian girl, this chocolate cake hails from Croatia and is made for festive occasionsoccasions, because of its time-consuming nature. It's inspired by the popular layered Hungarian cakes and uses chocolate cream and rich chocolate glaze and is usually made in large batches.

6. Devil's Food Cake

A contrast to the white and vanilla angel food cake, Devil's food cake was made in the early 1900s in the US, when baking with chocolate and cocoa was gaining momentum. The cake uses a lot of dark chocolate in its cake sponges with chocolate buttercream in between them which makes it an addictive chocolate cake to bite into. The first recipe in print came out in 1902 in Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book.

7. Wuzetka

Coming from Poland’s Warsaw region, Wuzetka is made with a sponge cake cut into two that has a filling of whipped cream and is covered in chocolate icing. The bottom layer uses rum and plum jam, while the other layer stays as is, resting on top of the whipped cream. Once the icing is poured over the cake sets, it's sliced into cubes. A dollop of cream and cherry are the common garnishes.

8. Torta Tenerina

Translating to “tender cake”, this flourless cake was made by pastry chefs in Italy's Ferrara area in honour of Elena Petrovich, the queen of Montenegro. It only uses 5 ingredients – butter, eggs, sugar, chocolate, and cornstarch. It is light with a chocolate core that has a thin meringue crust that can be found in every bakery shop in the area it comes from, although it's popular throughout the country.