The Unexpected Ingredient For Subtle Caramel Flavor In Chocolate Cake

We all have days that call for a nice slice of cake to block out those dreaded responsibilities of adulthood. While we may look to find pleasure in a bite or two of nice spongy cake now and then, this decadent dessert has been feeding humans for longer than you might expect. While frosted cakes didn't make a splash in modern-day society until the 1600s, The Loveland Reporter-Herald claims the first known cakes trace back to ancient Egypt. These bread-like concoctions, often made with dried fruit, were known to last for weeks on end.

Fast forward to 2023, and there are now many cake varieties available to satisfy any sweet tooth. Besides the red velvet cake we all know and love, chocolate cake proves to be a common favorite among dessert lovers far and wide. In one 2016 aytm survey, 84% of respondents claimed to have nothing but worthwhile opinions of the confection. In 2019, YouGovAmerica discovered out of almost 4,000 voters, 29% preferred chocolate over any other cake flavor, drastically surpassing vanilla and angel food cake. While chocolate cake is perfectly delicious on its own, there are many unique ingredients you can add to enhance that chocolatey flavor. Before uncovering the one ingredient you may want to try to give your chocolate cake a nuanced caramel flavor, let's look at some of the other popular additions home cooks add to their favorite chocolate cake recipes.

There aren't many people who would refuse a piece of homemade chocolate cake. National chocolate cake day falls on January 27 and National Today reveals that 15% of 1,000 survey participants have eaten an entire chocolate cake by themselves. Apart from the five shocking ways to eat cakes (such as in a jar or smashed into an ice cream cone), there are several ingredients you can add to this confection that will give that rich chocolate a more pronounced flavor.

According to Cake Re, in the 1800s, Europeans were found mixing cocoa powder into cakes along with ingredients like cinnamon and almonds. Transitioning to present-day America, cooks are finding many interesting ingredients to spruce up their chocolate cakes. Cake Re claims coffee not only deepens the chocolate flavor in this cocoa-laden treat, but coffee also sweetens the chocolate in your favorite dessert. No one is arguing about the deliciousness of coffee and chocolate. Take Ina Garten's Beatty's chocolate cake on Food Network, which is highly regarded and includes one whole cup of freshly brewed java.

If you're using a boxed mix, Bob's Red Mill suggests adding liquor like rum or orange extract to liven the flavor of your chocolate cake. However, if you plan on making your next chocolate cake from scratch, you may want to consider one unlikely soda which will impart a unique caramel flavor.

Sure, if you want a chocolate caramel cake you can certainly make a super fancy recipe like the one from The Café Sucre Farine, which not only calls for whiskey and buttermilk but is then topped with a luscious caramel glaze. Yet, if you're pressed for time and still want that unique caramel essence, all you need is a can of root beer.

Though there may be only one root beer ideal for making root beer floats, any type of root beer made with cane sugar will work when making Matt Lewis' quick root beer chocolate cake recipe found in "Baked: New Frontiers in Cooking," which was kindly shared by The Marion House Book. Though not exactly caramel, the brown sugar and the undertones of molasses in the cane sugar root beer leave the adapted recipe from the Kitchn reminiscent of a rich and decadent chocolate-infused, caramel treat.

According to Homebrew Academy, most modern-day root beers are made with artificial sassafras flavoring and depending on the brew, enhanced with additional ingredients like molasses, vanilla, cinnamon, and cherry tree bark. If you want to level up your chocolate cake even more, feel free to try King Arthur Baking Company's recipe: This chocolate confection not only calls for root beer, but also cinnamon, star anise, and nutmeg to produce a more pronounced root beer flavor.