Three Layer Cake

As American as Chocolate Cake
An interview with Marcel Desaulniers, American Chocolate Guru
by Kristina Gill
print version Photos by Michael Grand and Artwork by Nancy Thomas

The first American chocolate factory was built in Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1765 by Irishman John Hannon and Dr. James Baker using cocoa beans from the West Indies.  Baker's chocolate is still around and today as are a handful of American manufacturers who still produce chocolate from cacao beans to bar.

American chocolate is not known as the world’s finest but when it comes to chocolate desserts who dares to speak against the great American chocolate cake?  Whether from Betty Crocker's or mom’s oven, the only way to beat the adrenaline rush and happiness of eating a slice of chocolate cake is to eat two.

Award-winning chef and cookbook author Marcel Desaulniers first translated his love for chocolate in 1992 into a book called Death by Chocolate:  A Last word on a Consuming Passion which has sold over 300,000 copies and won the James Beard Award for Best Dessert Book in 1993.  He reassured readers that plain American chocolate like Ghirardelli and Baker's is all you need to realize your deepest, darkest and sweetest fantasies in the home kitchen and made his signature cake Death by Chocolate the envy of every restaurant dessert menu across America.

Marcel Desaulniers’ name is synonymous with chocolate perfection.  In over 25 years of transforming sweet dreams into heavenly confections, he has developed an intimate knowledge of the American passion for chocolate.  Desaulniers offers a full range of chocolate desserts on the menu of his Trellis Restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia. 

How have American tastes in chocolate changed over the course of your career? 

I don't think there is any question that Americans are being increasingly wooed by darker chocolate.   Milk chocolate has very limited opportunities when it comes to dessert making, so I would say that although milk chocolate may still be popular in candy bars, when it comes to confections the darker chocolate is preferred.

Is there an “American School” of chocolate vs. a “European School”?

I would suggest that a couple of things separate the two "schools" in my mind.  Of course in America, to the disgust of our friends across the pond, we are enamored of "super sizing".  So portion sizes are much larger here.  Death by Chocolate at a pound a slice is an example.  Texture is also very much in play in American desserts versus European. One can actually eat a slice of Death by Chocolate because of the textural interest that it has, dense brownie, crispy meringue, smooth mousses, are just some of the characteristics, of a piece of it that make eating this confection such a pleasurable experience.

Snoopy once said there is no such thing as a bad cookie, some cookies are just better than others.  Do you feel the same way about chocolate desserts?

I agree with Snoopy, and what makes one better than the other may just be the moment.

What’s your best selling dessert?

Death by Chocolate is our runaway best seller.  Offered both at lunch and dinner we do sell over 100 slices each day, which accounts for about 25% of dessert sales.  The name caught on from the very first day we served it in 1982.  However, it is more than a name.  The taste and texture delivered in each slice leaves a lasting chocolate memory.

Describe your first chocolate memory.

My mother's chocolate caramels (the recipe is in Desserts To Die For) are without a doubt a very clear and delicious memory for me.  Mrs. D knew that keeping a child busy chewing on a caramel was a sure fire way of keeping peace in a home full of kids (I have 5 sisters).

Describe the perfect chocolate cake.

The perfect slice of chocolate cake is for me the last piece of cake that passed my lips.

As American as Apple Pie or Chocolate Cake?

I sincerely don't know who is eating the apple pie.  It is like ice cream, every time I see a survey, it states that vanilla is the preferred flavor - I don't believe it.  I also do not know very many people who would pick a piece of apple pie over a piece of chocolate cake.  Pie has its place, but not at my place.