Who can say no to chocolate cake? It’s moist, it’s rich, and its many layers seduce with its dark and dangerously addictive quality. Indeed, few food items on the planet can rival the knee-buckling indulgence of a good chocolate cake. Here’s our top picks of the best chocolate cakes in KL.
Scientists would point to chocolate’s addictive quality; it does, after all, contain biologically active compounds that can alter a person’s mood. While that’s true, we like to point out that the humble cake is a creation that strikes the balance between baking precision and simple pleasure.
The ingredients required to bake a decent version is minimal: butter, sugar, eggs, flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Yet the many combinations that arise from this basic recipe are immense.
Just take a look at the best chocolate cakes in KL, available in cafes and bakeries that span Klang Valley. At Table & Apron, we found a flourless version that boasts just five ingredients. Elsewhere at Huckleberry, we found a massive creation sitting on a cake stand entirely covered with chocolate crumble.
In that spirit, we did our legwork that spanned weeks of research (read: eating chocolate cakes). This is not another meaningless roundup of best eats. We’ve personally gone down to these spots, bought all the cakes we’ve listed here and broken down what exactly makes each of them good. All this in the search for the best chocolate cakes in KL.
Our verdict? Read on.
This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Kuala Lumpur
Those who prefer their cakes dense and decadent (perfect for sharing) can dive into Tray cafe’s rendition. It sports a generous layer of ganache on top that measures at least an inch thick. We’d strongly recommend having this with a cup of black coffee if you’re dining in to pare back its richness. One tip? We’d advise against warming it up in the microwave as it tends to dry out the moisture of the sponge.
(Image: Tray Cafe)
Picture molten chocolate ganache being poured over a petite square of warm cake. That sums up the chocolate Muddy cake at Souka. Its small size is great for portion control and the slight savoury note to the ganache is a welcome addition that balances out the sweetness of the treat.
(Image: @meazlan_alias)
If you’re looking for an entire slice to eat by yourself in one sitting (no one’s judging), Whisk is where you need to be. The dark chocolate cake presents two uncovered layers of ethereally light, eggy sponge with a ganache in the middle. This is simplicity at its finest.
(Image: Whisk Espresso Bar + Bake Shop)
It’s a bit of a trek to get to Good Ground, especially for a place that’s not entirely a cafe but a bakery from which you collect your orders. Still, the chocolate cake here is decent and if you’re a walk-in customer, takeaways are available but are sold in the size of a muffin. Otherwise, the cake is available for order in 6, 8, and 9-inch rounds as well as a 12 by 12-inch square. The ganache is creamier than the rest we tried, making it a luscious bake lifted by the garnish of juicy berries thoughtfully sprinkled on top.
(Image: Good Ground Bakery)
Belgian dark chocolate, eggs, cocoa sugar and butter. These five ingredients are all it takes for Table & Apron to put together a quality cake. The result is an extremely dense cake that works best when eaten in a group. After all, the texture is closer to a soft chocolate truffle than it is to a sponge cake layered with creams, with an exterior dusted with cocoa powder.
(Image: Table & Apron)
If there’s ever an underdog on this list, it’s Chocolat World. While the brand is established in 2001, the master chocolatier has been working on their creations since as far back as 1991. The result? A signature chocolate cake without all the bells and whistles that can stand on its own without relying on ganaches and creams. In fact, the cakes are unpretentiously displayed in a chiller wrapped in yellow boxes when we made our purchase. Yet where it lacks in presentation, it delivers in taste and texture. The cake itself is laced with chocolate chips that harden up when cold, rendering every slice an unctuous bite that was pure pleasure.
At RM19, Huckleberry’s chocolate cake is the priciest of the lot but we’d vouch for its excellence any day. There’s a strong chocolate flavour that hints at quality cocoa, which its makers wield to great effect in the three sponge layers that are as soft as they are ethereally light. The slice stands out from the other cakes for its outer coating of chocolate crumble that add textural interest.
(Image: Huckleberry)
We’ve saved the best for last and Jaslyn Cakes’ chocolate ganache cake is tops. This is everyone’s go-to spot to order cakes from and for good reason. The bakery-café uses quality ingredients without skimping on them and the chocolate ganache cake is certainly one fine example. The ganache is the perfect consistency and just sweet enough with echoes of dark chocolate’s bitterness. Despite being the only filling in between the four layers of chocolate sponge, the entire ensemble is beautifully balanced so much so that eating an entire slice alone isn’t cloying. That in itself demonstrates a mastery of flavour without having to rely on textural distractions or salt to compensate for an overly sweet creation.
(Image: Jaslyn Cakes)
