It seems the tradition of coin-laden cakes has fallen off in recent years, but the history of hiding things in cakes is a long one.

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I make a couple of chocolate cakes each year for birthdays. I make a damned good chocolate cake. I do. And not by accident, either. I’ve gone through dozens of eggs perfecting this recipe, not to mention, hours on a treadmill working off the experiments. Over the years, I’ve tried everything from adding puréed beets, mayonnaise, or strong black coffee. I’ve come to know the difference between Dutch process cocoa and regular cocoa. I’ve even discovered a triple cocoa blend that claims to bridge the divide between the cocoas. And let’s not even talk about flour. Yes, this isn’t just any old chocolate cake that I make. It’s a PhD thesis of a chocolate cake.

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Chocolate cake is all about cocoa powder. All cocoas, however, are not created equal. Natural cocoa powder is not only lighter in colour, it’s more acidic than Dutch process cocoa powder. Acid makes a cake rise more, but it can yield a drier cake. Dutch process cocoa is natural cocoa that’s been, yes, treated to a process that was invented by, yes, the Dutch back in the 1820s. There is also a difference in the fat content in the two types of cocoa powder. Natural cocoa powder has less........

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