Moist and Ganache-rich chocolate dessert cakes from stories of scandals to gangsters

Ever since chocolate was introduced into the baking world, there has been no looking back with chocolate dessert cakes being revered for their irresistible and rich taste that is incomparable. So, we went ahead and listed some of the most beloved chocolate cakes and it’s no surprise most come from Italy, Austria, Hungary and neighbouring regions not to mention the US.

1.Torta Caprese

A flourless chocolate cake that was accidentally made when two gangsters, who worked under Al Capone made a stop at the Italian Capri island at the famous pastry shop of Carmine Di Fiore. The owner was spooked by their identity and while making a chocolate almond cake, he forgot to add the flour and thus was born the torta Caprese. Another version of this story says that this cake was made to please a homesick Queen Maria Carolina in the 1700s. She was just 16 and to eat her woes away she had asked for the local cooks to make Sachertorte, but of course, what would they know about Austrian cuisine? She described the Sacher to them and they made what with time got the name of Torta Caprese.

2.Rigó Jancsi

Cakes are named after famous confectionary artists and royalty, how about one named after a Romani violinist with sultry eyes? As the story goes, this cake was made, by a local Hungarian baker, taking advantage of a scandal that made headlines when the wealthy socialite, Princess Clara Ward, who was married to a Belgian Prince ran away with Rigó Jancsi, the Romani violinist whose dark eyes and music seduced her in a Paris restaurant. They eventually married but the scandal followed them to Croatia which they had visited in 1896, so this rich chocolate cake is also popular there. The cake has two layers of chocolate sponge cake (sometimes with rum) with a mousse-like cocoa cream filling. It's covered in dark chocolate ganache.

3.Torta 900

Also called the Torta Novecento, this chocolate cake was created by a Canavese master pastry chef Ottavio Bertinotti in celebration of the turn of the 20th century. This cake has a chocolate mousse as a filling with twin layers of cocoa-rich sponge cake on the top and bottom. He patented the recipe for Novecento in 1964 and eventually sold the rights to Umberto Balla, of the Pasticceria Balla and ever since his family-run pastry shop has been making the famous Torta 900.

4.Reform Torta

A layered cake from Siberia, this chocolate cake uses walnut sponge cake with a filling of molten chocolate as a filling in between them. It's a popular cake across the Balkans and is said to have been first made post World War II when regular ingredients stopped being costly and good flour, butter, eggs, nuts and even chocolate could be used without breaking into a sweat. It's baked during local festivals and celebrations in the country.

5.Torta Pistocchi

This one's a rich chocolate cake from Florence Italy, created by Claudio Pistocchi in 1990 aimed for the cake to be velvety, moist and dense. It uses dark chocolate, heavy cream and cocoa powder and is a flourless cake with a dusting of cocoa powder over the cake. Pistocchi encouraged the cake to be eaten with almond cookies, whipped cream and spiced caramelised pears.

6.Dios Torta

A Hungarian sponge cake, Dios torta, is made with layers of walnut sponge cake that is made with flour, ground walnuts, sugar, lemon zest, eggs and baking powder. In between the cake goes chocolate buttercream made with egg yolks, milk, sugar, chocolate, butter, and vanilla. The buttercream is the topmost layer and the chocolate shavings, ground walnuts as well as 1-2 walnut pieces are added as a garnish.

7.Arretje nof

This cake is a lot similar to the Australian hedgehog slice and also the Malaysian Batik cake, all of these being a no-bake chocolate cake. Instead of sponge cake, the Dutch Arretje nof uses cookies with the dark chocolate part that holds the cookies mixed with eggs, butter, sugar, and cocoa powder. The ingredients are liquefied, mixed with the cookies, poured into a pan and popped into the fridge for it to set. You'll find this fridge cake a lot during the Christmas season.

8.Kaštelanska torta

Hailing from the Croatian Kaštela area in Dalmatia, this chocolate cake is made with sugar, eggs, almonds, chocolate, and breadcrumbs soaked in a bit of prošek (sweet dessert wine). The egg whites and yolks are separated first, then the yolks and sugar are beaten, added to almonds, soaked bread crumbs and chocolate with the whisked egg whites. Once the cake is baked, it's topped with a buttery chocolate glaze and chilled then garnished with halved and chopped almonds on the sides.

9.Crescionda

From the Spoleto region of central Italy comes this musical-sounding chocolate cake, Crescionda. The base of the cake is made with Anaretti biscuits soaked in aniseed liqueur (Sambuca) with the top made with eggs, sugar, flour, milk, lemon zest, dark chocolate, salt, and icing sugar for dusting. The cake sinks into the base post-baking as the soft filling cools down. This is a carnival cake and you will find it it Umbria’s carnivals and is good hot or chilled.

10.German Chocolate Cake

The name might be German but it's hardly German in nature. This chocolate cake was invented by Mrs George Clay, a homemaker from Dallas, Texas, using Samuel German’s baking chocolate introduced in 1852 by him to the Baker's Chocolate Company. Mrs Clay sent the cake's recipe, then called German's Chocolate Cake to be published in a Dallas newspaper, in 1957, and its popularity grew from there. The cake slowly lost the possesive form and we know it as German cake today. The cake has two or more layers made with chocolate and buttermilk sponge, with coconut and peanuts in the mix. The cake is decorated with coconut flakes, pecans or cherries.