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Whether it’s dark cocoa devil’s food cake, a fudgy truffle cake, or an all-American red velvet, delicious chocolate cake is a classic dessert that the majority of Roosevelt students and alumni prefer as Voices’ independent research showed. With National Chocolate Cake Day just one short week away, it’ll soon be time to celebrate.
National Chocolate Cake Day is celebrated on January 27th here in the states, but that’s not the case around the world. Some Brits and Aussies indulge themselves on December 13th, right in the middle of the holiday season. Because it’s not yet formally recognized as a national holiday anywhere on the planet, regional variations on the time and manner of celebration exist all over, giving you plenty of opportunities to eat chocolate cake. The invention of chocolate cake as it is baked today didn’t happen until the turn of the century, when melted chocolate was added to a classic vanilla sponge and whipped to perfection. Before this time, most Americans
thought of “chocolate cake” as a vanilla layer cake with cocoa frosting. By World War II, Hershey’s began publishing chocolate cake recipes using their cocoa powder, making the cake easier to work with and assisting its popularization.
Chocolate Cake Day emerged in the 1990s, and the first mention of it online was in 1999 when it was unofficially declared as a worldwide holiday. Here at Roosevelt, we celebrated a bit early with a chocolate cake tasting in the commons.
At our tasting, there were three chocolatey contenders. I interviewed students in the commons in order to rank them from best to worst. The first cake, classic chocolate, was predictably the least divisive. Vivian Reynoldson, a senior here at Roosevelt, called it “kinda bland, boring. The frosting’s bad, which ruins the whole cake. It’s not great, but not terrible.” Echoing Vivian’s hot take, Jackson the Senior said “I’m not a big cake guy in general, so this was mediocre at best.” Ellie Weiner, a Junior, had some words of wisdom for all future bakers here at the Velt. “Don’t store your cake in the fridge.”
Up next was our coconut-filled German Chocolate. “I liked it, it made me feel warm and happy,” said Alyssa, a Senior. “It made me feel like home.” While many people liked the cake’s fluffy texture, the signature coconut of the German chocolate was less of a hit. Did you know that German chocolate cake is a British invention? Sam German founded an English confectionary company in 1852, and created the first modern German chocolate cake. His chocolate coconut creation was a smash hit and was branded German’s for years to come. Tasty!
Finally, the divisive red velvet. “It’s moist. The cream cheese frosting is quite delicious,” said Mr. Hernandez. However, not everyone agreed. “The frosting was rediculously sweet, but the cake part was good,” said Kennedy Hansen, a Junior. If you’re asking why we had red velve cake in a chocolate cake contest, you may be surprised to learn that red velvet is actually chocolate flavored cake with a red color and cream cheese frosting. Esmarelda, a Sophomore, was surprised at t his fact. “I don’t like chocolate cake, but this is really good.”
To finish off our tasting strong, I interviewed our Roosevelt principal Dr. KD Parman. “I like the classic chocolate cake. I don’t like frosting very much, so I like that there’s not a ton of frosting. I’m more of a cake person then a frosting person.” This sentiment was echoed by students throughout the celebration. When I asked Dr. Parman whether she plans on celebrating national chocolate cake day, she responded “now that I know about it, I’ll definitely celebrate.” In all, the red velvet managed to squeeze ahead with it’s universally acclaimed cake and it’s polarizing frosting.
You’ve heard all the delicious details of National Chocolate Cake Day, so be sure to join the Voices team by celebrating on January 27th. Not only is this amazing national holiday a great excuse to eat chocolate cake, if you bake a cake or two yourself the holiday is a great time to start learning a new skill.
By Bobby Hamblin
Roosevelt High School
Published January 19th, 2023
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