World's Best Chocolate Cake?

Now if you are going to name your cake this, you had better make sure all you i's are dotted and your t's are crossed (well maybe not the i's since there are none in the title). I'm not sure that I would call this the world's best. It was tasty but I would have liked if the cake was a tad bit moister. The recipe said that the chocolate ganache was optional. In my mind that excludes you right away from being the world's best. Come on when is chocolate ganache optional?? It also suggested espresso cinnamon mascarpone cream. That would have been nice but I didn't have any mascarpone so I went without the cream. I don't think that would have changed my opinion anyway.

World's Best Chocolate Cake (NY Times)

I followed the recipe straight up (shocking I know!) I did not have self-rising flour so I used the 1 3/4 c +1T flour and 2 3/4 t baking powder). I don't think that made the cake any drier because it looks exactly like the picture on the webby-web. I just think that was the nature of the cake. The dryness certainly was not from lack of butter (1 c) and I did not overbake it. I think that is just the style of the cake. Was it good - yes. Was it the World's best - sorry but no (Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh) it wasn't.

I also took out the extra insurance and wrapped my springform pan in foil. I'm no longer such a trusting soul when it comes to leakage. My ganache did not set up quite as firmly as I would have liked. I popped it the cake in the refrigerator for a little while and it firmed nicely. It was a rather warm day so that could have been the issue. After it firmed up I stored it on the counter and it kept well.

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