Six of my favorite chocolate cakes

In honor of my parents’ anniversary, which they now share with the new Mr. and Mrs. Bezos

On June 27, 1992, my parents got married and shoved chocolate wedding cake into each other’s mouths. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez might’ve enlisted the famed French pastry chef Cédric Grolet to make the cake for their own wedding—also on June 27th—but honestly, I’d take a slice of my parents’ chocolate one any day.

In a vanilla vanilla world, my parents—two chocolate chocolates—found each other. And aside from these photos, they have a lifetime of eating chocolate cake together to show for it.

They also have me to carry on their chocolate-loving legacy. And so, with that in mind, I’m sharing six of my favorite chocolate cakes from three of my favorite cities: Chicago, New York, and London.

NOTE: These are all chocolate cakes that you can order by the slice from restaurants and bakeries. If a whole cake is what you’re after, look no further than Paulette Goto, who makes my absolute favorite chocolate cake—with the best chocolate frosting ever.

Read on for six of my favorite chocolate cakes…and if you like this post, spread the sugar by sending it to a chocoholic in your life:

Brooklyn Blackout Cake, Hani’s (New York)

When you eat a forkful of this chocolate cake, it’ll coat your mouth like peanut butter, taking over your senses so that the only thing you can think about is how god damn good this cake is, from the deeply chocolatey ganache topping to the outside coating of soft chocolate crumbs—not to mention the crunchy pieces of flaky salt on top.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Hot Fudge and Chocolate Buttercream, Mindy’s Bakery (Chicago)

Mindy Segal’s hot fudge is my favorite hot fudge in the world. It’s thick and silky and salty in a good way, insanely good in her classic hot chocolate, amazing in her hot fudge thumbprints, and the very best addition to her chocolate buttermilk cake, which has a necessary bit of tang to cut through the sweetness.

When you have a picture of everything but the cake 🥲 peep the hot fudge in the thumbprint cookie on the far left, second from the bottom.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake, Violet (London)

Okay fine, this one isn’t fully chocolate chocolate. The chocolate chocolate is amaaazing too, but it’s the chocolate cake with salted caramel buttercream that I’m really obsessed with at Violet, Claire Ptak’s perfect bakery in Hackney. If you make it to Violet though, you can’t stop at cake. Just get one of everything.

Devil’s Food Cake, Claud (New York)

This, the platonic ideal of a chocolate cake, has stolen the hearts (and stomachs) of New Yorkers lucky enough to snag a reservation at Claud. At the East Village hot spot, the slice of six-layer cake comes with a dusting of salt—a combination so divine you’ll find yourself scraping the plate for every last crumb (even if you’re so full that you already unbuttoned your pants long before dessert menus hit the table).

Tre Dita Gattò at Tre Dita (Chicago)

I love that this isn’t the kind of cake you’d expect at a high-end Italian restaurant, where you’d usually find a Torta Caprese or molten chocolate situation. Instead, the cake at LA pasta chef Evan Funke’s Chicago spot—with its creamy mousse center and delicate chocolate shell—offers a fresh take with a nostalgic bent. It’s the ideal dessert for anyone who wants to top off a big meal with an even bigger finish.

(…after the perfectly round chocolate shell had been cracked…)

Chocolate Nemesis, The River Cafe (London)

Thiscakethiscakethiscake. It’s the fudgiest, most decadent slice of flourless cake you’ll ever eat—well worth the trip to London just for a few bites. But don’t worry, if you’re not traveling across the pond anytime soon, you can make the Chocolate Nemesis right in your own kitchen. Find the recipe here.