Chocolate cake is a common dessert cake served at many gatherings such as birthday parties and weddings, that contains chocolate. There are many different types of chocolate cake depending on the alteration of the ingredients and chocolate flavoring. Some alterations include adding extra flavorings or different types of chocolate.A basic cake recipe will include such ingredients as flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder, sugar, milk,

eggs, shortening/lard/butter/margarine/oil and water. A classic way to dress a chocolate cake is to bake it in 2 nine inch pans, then stack them on top of each other, with whipped cream and cherry pie filling in between. This is known as Black Forest gateau (or Black Forest cake).

Chocolate cake, found in a survey taken by Time Magazine, was voted the America's Favorite cake in 2004, with Vanilla and Carrot Cake following.