Chocolate Cake Day: Date, Celebration and History

National Chocolate Cake Day. Photo: KnowInsiders

When is Chocolate Cake Day?

National Chocolate Cake Day is a nonofficial holiday which is celebrated on January 27 each year. This day is to commemorate this sweet treat that’s been a part of American society.

While cake as a sweet treat and chocolate as a drink have been around since ancient times, chocolate cake is a fairly recent invention. It is believed that the world's first chocolate cake was baked around the late 1800s after Bostonian Dr. James Baker discovered that one could grind cocoa using a water powered mill.

History of National Chocolate Cake Day

Many people believe that chocolate cake has been around since ancient times but that isn’t really true. While it is true that the ancient Egyptians were the first to bake cakes and that chocolate was first invented over 3,000 years ago by the Aztecs, the pair didn’t join up until about the middle of the 18th century in America. This is when Dr. James Baker and a chocolate maker teamed up to make the first chocolate cake in 1765.

Dr. James Baker had learned how to make chocolate by grinding the cocoa between two large millstones at his local mill. However, the process was laborious and time-consuming. It wouldn’t be until 1828 when Conrad Van Houten learned how to mechanical extract the fat from cacao liquor that the process became quicker and chocolate became less expensive. This made it more available to the masses.

In 1847, one of the first chocolate cake recipes was published by Eliza Leslie in The Lady’s Receipt Book but American households really didn’t begin to add chocolate into their cakes until about the 1880s. They wouldn’t do so until the 1920s. This is when a food company based in Pittsburgh named P. Duff and Sons created the first boxed cake mix. During the 1930s, they would go on to create a devil food boxed cake mix but unfortunately, they had to put it on hold due to rationing during World War II. After the war ended, General Mills and Duncan Hines took over the market with their cake mixes. This is when the chocolate cake really began to take off in America.

As far as when the day commemorating chocolate cake came on the scene, no one really knows. However, as time passes, it’s a day that’s becoming more and more popular – not only in the United States but all over the world. And why wouldn’t it? After all, chocolate cake is delicious.

How to celebrate National Chocolate Cake Day

Photo: Day Finders

The way to celebrate National Chocolate Cake Day is deliciously simple and perfect.

Throughout your day, incorporate as many types of chocolate cake as you can! Take chocolate cake batter and use it to make chocolate pancakes in the morning, topped with caramel syrup and whipped cream. Use the rest of the batter to produce chocolate cupcakes, place a strawberry in the center of each one and take them to work to share with your workmates.

Then when you get home, go ahead and go all out and serve yourself up a big old slice of chocolate cake for dessert, and then eat it first. After all, when it comes to dessert you really shouldn’t wait, who knows what could happen during dinner! National Chocolate Cake Day is all about this delicious treat, so don’t make yourself shirk one opportunity to wrap your lips around another delectable bite of these cocoa-rich concoctions!

Don’t forget, though; National Chocolate Cake Day is an opportunity for you to be adventurous. You don’t have to stick with today’s boxed cakes or even modern recipes. What about digging out Eliza Leslie’s original 1847 cookbook and trying the very first official chocolate cake for yourself? You can relive the experience of the early pioneers of the art, experiencing the cakes that they enjoyed at the dawn of the chocolate cake era.

Another idea is to make a super contemporary chocolate cake that includes state-of-the-art flavor fusions. You could try all sorts of combinations, everything from matcha to pistachio. National Chocolate Cake Day is a chance for you to experiment with exciting chocolate twists. Then, once you’re finished in the kitchen, you can serve your creations to your friends to see what they think. Just be prepared for some honest feedback! Everyone has their own idea of how the perfect chocolate cake should taste.

Why do we Celebrate National Chocolate Cake Day?

Photo: Times Food

The following are the main reasons why you should participate in the celebration of the National Chocolate Cake Day:

Chocolate Cake is the Most Memorable Cake

One good reason why you should celebrate this day is that chocolate cake is the most memorable cake of all. Because of that, chocolate cake has a lot of flavors including rocky road, chocolate moist, dark chocolate, white chocolate, chocolate truffle, and many more. This fact is a major reason to participate in the celebration of this day.

Chocolate and Cake is Just the Perfect Chemistry

Also a good reason to celebrate this day is the fact that chocolate and cake are just the perfect combination. No wonder why so many people love chocolate cakes. It just feels heaven to them to eat these delicious delicacies. So if you want to experience the same feeling, then you should celebrate this day.

Chocolate Cakes Leave Us Smitten

Chocolate triggers the release of serotonin and endorphins, which are neurotransmitters for happiness and pleasure. It also contains phenyl ethylamine, which elevates our mood when feel happiness or love. Thus, to trigger the release of these hormones, you should come celebrate this special day.

National Chocolate Cake Day Quotes

Photo: 123 Greetings

Let’s face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me.” — Audrey Hepburn

“Part of life and part of the enjoyment of life is a croissant and a chocolate cake and eggs and milkshakes and oatmeal. There’s so many things, you have to learn to appreciate it all. When I don’t eat as much as I should, I’m not fun to be around; I’m fussy.” — Nina Dobrev

“Chocolate cake is the bomb!” — Scarlett Pomers

“People have often asked me whether what I know about love has spoiled it for me. And I just simply say, ‘Hardly.’ You can know every single ingredient in a piece of chocolate cake, and then when you sit down and eat that cake, you can still feel that joy.” — Helen Fisher

“I bake a chocolate cake from scratch every week.” — Victoria Osteen

“Honestly, I just go to restaurants to eat so I won’t die. If there was a pill I could take in January and then I wouldn’t have to eat again for the rest of the year, I would take it. Of course, I wouldn’t want to sacrifice my chocolate cake and ice cream.” — Steven Wright

“Cakes are special. Every birthday, every celebration ends with something sweet, a cake, and people remember. It’s all about the memories.” — Buddy Valastro

“Let them eat cake.” — Marie Antoinette

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