The Great Chocolate Cake Off: And the winner is…

Monday 7th November

This year’s Chocolate Unwrapped culminated in the Great Chocolate Cake Off - Chocolate Week’s search for the ultimate chocolate cake - and what a competition it was!

Nervous entrants arrived with their friends and families to drop off their cakes before spending the day at the show, enjoying the chocolate on offer and waiting anxiously for the Final, when the top five cakes would be revealed. Entrants travelled from as far as Wales, Manchester and Southampton with their cakes, which varied hugely in style - there was a chocolate Victoria sandwich, tiers, horizontal and vertical layering and even spun sugar.

This was a tough competition, as unlike making cupcakes or brownies, a standard chocolate cake can’t be sampled before you serve, so the contestants had no way to be sure of how their finished cake actually tasted.

Our lucky judges - chocolatiers Paul a Young (@Paul_a_Young) and Chantal Coady (@chantalcoady), chocolate consultant and pastry chef Will Torrent (@WillTorrent), Bea Vo of Beas’s of Bloomsbury (@beas_bloomsbury), food writer Lucas Hollweg (@lucashollweg), chocolate blogger Dom Ramsey (@chocablog) and Chocolate Week’s very own Kate Johns - spent most of the afternoon behind the closed doors of the Vinopolis kitchens, carrying out the enviable task of sampling each entry.

They couldn’t believe how much hard work had gone into each cake, and were impressed not only by the variety of styles, but also the variety of chocolate brands that were used - Valrhona, Lindt, Divine, Amedei, to name just a few. The judges tasted and debated, noting down their thoughts and judging each cake based on texture, appearance and most importantly taste, before picking a top five to be put on show to the public for the Great Chocolate Cake Off Final.

Out in the demo area, a fantastic crowd had gathered for the Final. Once the top five were revealed, the successful bakers took to the front row to hear the judges’ comments as well as their helpful baking tips. Paul a Young suggested caution when using the skewer test; he advices taking the cake out when the skewer is still a little sticky as the cake will continue to cook as it cools - waiting until the skewer comes out clean could mean your cake is overcooked - and Bea Vo taught us that too much baking soda will turn your cake a darker colour.

The four runners up, in no particular order were: Pete Favelle’s Chocolate and Porter Cake; Snezhana Simeonova’s Supreme Spiced Tea Chocolate Cake; Cindy Robert’s Dark Chocolate & Orange Ganache Cake, and Sarah Spencer’s Chocolate and Salted Caramel Celebration Cake.

And the lucky winner - who not only won bragging rights as Chocolate Unwrapped’s Great Chocolate Cake Off Champion but also signed books from our judges and chocolate kindly donated by Valrhona - was…. Vijiti Dixit’s It’s Got It All Chocolate Cake.

The judges were unanimous in their decision and after sampling fifteen cakes in total were still going back to Vijiti’s for more (Will Torrent even snuck a slice home to tuck into for breakfast the next day!).

When asked to describe her cake in 25 words or less, Vijiti said: “the combination of moist not overly sweetened cake, rich chocolate mousse and caramel infused frosting makes this an irresistible classic”. The judges commended Vijiti on the perfect air bubbles in her cake, balance of flavours and excellent sugar work.

Vijiti, 29, moved to London from Toronto with her husband this summer. Having previously worked in marketing, she’s now taking a break to explore her longtime love of art, fashion design and baking; “prior to this competition, I was thinking of applying for an apprenticeship at a bakery or chocolatier so winning definitely gives me more confidence to pursue this.”

Thank you to everyone who took part in the competition, we really appreciated all your hard work as it made the competition a wonderful finale to Chocolate Unwrapped. You can see photos of all the cakes here The_Cakes.pdf

As promised, here is Vijiti’s winning recipe It’s-Got-It-All_Chocolate_Cake_by_Vijiti_Dixit.pdf

You can find out more about Vijiti’s experience of the competition on her blog.

Photographs by Paul Winch-Furness