If they’re right then that could mean some of the best chocolate cake combinations you’re ever likely to taste. 

In this post we’ll walk you through the traditional and the modern for a take on chocolate cake that you might find surprising. From veg to bacon (yes, bacon!), some of the best combinations when it comes to chocolate cake may well be things you’ve never even thought of.

But first, some chocolate science.

Chocolate is like wine - complex, moody, and occasionally snobbish. The type of cocoa bean, how much milk is in it, and how it’s made all affect its final taste. Want to sound fancy at dinner parties? Just casually drop ‘the fermentation process really brings out the caramel undertones’ and watch people nod like you’re a chocolate sommelier. As the beans are fermented and roasted, the flavours develop and result in the kind of delicious roasty and caramel aromas we love. 

If you want the professionals opinion, apparently the important thing to work out is not just if your chocolate combination tastes good, but why it tastes good. That way you’re on your own path to all kinds of flavour takes on the much-loved chocolate cake.

Less sugar = more bitter. More bitter = more interesting. It’s science. That’s why dark chocolate pairs with everything from berries to bacon. Heston Blumenthal even paired it with salty caviar because, of course, he did. If you’re feeling bold, start thinking beyond the usual and into the why-does-this-work realm of chocolate pairings.

Bear all this in mind when it comes to creating unusual chocolate flavours in your cake baking. Unexpected ingredients could turn into a showstopping chocolate cake!

Chocolate and Fruit Combinations 

Right, let’s start with a classic. No one disputes that one of the very best chocolate cake flavour combinations is fruity. 

Chocolate and fruit? A match made in cake heaven. The trick? Opposites attract. Sweet white or milk chocolate? Balance it out with a tart, punchy fruit like passion fruit. Dark, moody chocolate? Give it a bestie like banana or mango to sweeten the deal. The right fruit can take a chocolate cake from ‘nice’ to ‘should I open a bakery?’ levels of good. 

On the flip side, use sweeter fruits like strawberry, banana or mango with milk or dark, bitter chocolate for nicely balanced fillings, toppings and decorations on your cake.

Herb, Spice and Chocolate Combinations

Spice lovers will find chilli chocolate easily available in the supermarket and it’s delicious if you like a sweet punch in the chops. Try adding a red chilli, cut superfine, to chocolate buttercream for a spicy chocolate cake.

Lavender’s also become a popular cake ingredient to try with chocolate. If you’d like to work a hint of it into a chocolate cake, try heating with cream before discarding and whipping the infused cream into a chocolate ganache.

Salt and chocolate? Genius. Bacon and chocolate? Unhinged… but somehow it works. It’s all down to science—our bodies crave sweet and salty, so when you put them together, it’s like a dopamine explosion. Just don’t tell your gym instructor.

Talbott says that the sweetness of chocolate sets off positive body receptors and the same happens when we taste salt. Since we can’t store salt we often crave it, meaning that when we get both together, it’s like a double mega hit for our body. Lovely!

Nuts, Caramel and Chocolate Combinations

More classic chocolate cake flavour combinations come in the form of nuts and caramel. 

We all know that the velvety texture of caramel is nothing short of dreamy when you combine it with chocolate. Our salted caramel MacDreamy cake is just the job in this department. 

Peanut, almond and hazelnut are all great paired with darker chocolate and add a delicious texture dimension whether used in your cake sponge or topping.

Tea, Coffee and Chocolate Combinations

You can work coffee into all aspects of your chocolate cake - the sponge, buttercream, frosting and decoration. In fact, a little coffee in a chocolate cake or brownie batter further intensifies the chocolate flavours. And we reckon our Coffee and Walnut Cake is pretty hard to beat.

To be particular about tastes and coffee roasts, then for a dark chocolate cake the best coffee is a dark, bold roast. Milk chocolate is good with a medium roast like Kenyan or Colombian with a lighter roast like a Yemeni or Costa Rican ideal for white chocolate.

The Best Of The Rest

Chocolate and veg. No, we’re not talking about sneaking courgette into brownies. We mean full-blown chef chaos—like roasted onion and chocolate cake. No, we haven’t tried it. Yes, it sounds horrifying. But apparently, broccoli dipped in chocolate is a thing, and cauliflower ‘has caramel notes.’ The world is officially mad.

That said, there’s plenty of suggestion out there that broccoli is great dipped in chocolate and cauli has “caramel notes” and can be very nicely dusted with cocoa.

As for us, we’ll take a glass of pinot noir with a slice of dark chocolate cake any day. We’d call that pretty much perfection.

So, are you sticking with the classics or feeling bold? Are you a chocolate-and-orange purist, or are you about to dip your bacon in ganache just to see what happens? Tell us your weirdest, wackiest, and most delicious chocolate pairings in the comments. Bonus points if you’ve actually tried onion and survived to tell the tale.

Notes taken from:

5 Easy Chocolate Pairings to try at home  by Marie Haspeslagh

The Most Popular Chocolate Pairings  by Byron Talbott