COCOA LOCO

In her own version of the great international cake-off, Tamar Adler hunts down and cooks up the perfect chocolate slice.

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What makes a perfect chocolate cake? Maybe the question isn’t top of mind heading into the holidays, with seating charts and general socioeconomic unrest to consider. I didn’t quite expect it to be at the top of mine amid an international move to Spain. But there I was, mid-autumn, standing in my Madrid kitchen, attempting to create the Platonic dessert.

I'll explain. Back in August, I moved my family to Madrid for the year. I don’t know if you've ever moved your family across the world or tried to find somewhere to eat in Madrid in August. The latter is much harder. Temperatures climb over 100 degrees, public parks close, it’s considered unsafe to bring children outside. I spent our first week in Spain prowling the streets of our new neighborhood, Las Letras, with my son in tow, wishing desperately and futilely that any restaurant or market would open its metal grate. It was on one such prowl that I came across a sign, in clean sans serif lettering, advertising La Mejor Tarta de Chocolate del Mundo, or “The Best Chocolate Cake in the World”—both a boast and the name of the bakery.

The audacity of the phrase pursued me. I couldn't shake the claim. I found myself occasionally muttering aloud: “But what would the best chocolate cake be?” And: “I need to know.” Strangers stared. “I’m going to find out,” I would murmur, perspiring heavily while continuing the search for a municipal pool.