The Power of a Very Good Chocolate Cake

Edible Madison asked me, “What’s the cake you crave when you want comfort and a sense of security?” Ahh, celebration and comfort, the magic combo. For me, that cake is beyond any doubt Edna Lewis’s Very Good Chocolate Cake. This cake's crumb is so moist and tender that the layers rarely stack and line up with sharp, instagram-ready posture. The ganache frosting is so rich with cream and coffee it barely sets; the swoops are always a bit beyond control. So it tends not to be the prettiest or the most editorial. But it’s the one I bake for my own birthdays or when I want to celebrate with close friends. It’s the one I bake when the world feels unstable or unkind and I need the sort of reassurance that only PJs, a favorite chair, a large fork and unadulterated chocolate can deliver.

Ms. Lewis’s chocolate cake is a kind of touchstone for me. It’s atavistic. It’s the one I bake when I need grounding, a hug, or a reminder of what I learn every day from Black women. When I bake this cake I remember that true connection, care, and hospitality have always been essential. I remember that solutions can be as much about remembering as innovating. And then I feel better. Hopeful. Such is the power of a very good chocolate cake.

Some days it seems 2020 has brought us nothing but instability. This has jolted many of us awake and sent us scrambling to find our entry point in a continuum: those of us awake become better listeners who become allies who then become co-conspirators. Edna Lewis’s Very Good Chocolate Cake is the cake I’ll bake when my fellow co-conspirators come over to plan and scheme and dream. When we need very good fuel for the work ahead.

Monica O'Connell
Baker/Cake Designer
@curtisandcake
PGPs: she/her/hers