It took me six months to get this viral 24-layer chocolate cake, but was the wait worth it?
Since 1996, Matilda’s Chocolate Cake has lived gratis in my mind.
Every time I’ve eaten a chocolate cake, I’ve compared it to the fictional one Bruce Bogtrotter couldn’t stop touching—and nothing has ever quite lived up to it. (Although Cutter & Squidge cakes come pretty close!)
But then I found out there was a cake that people said looked exactly like the one in the movie, and lo and behold, it was even called Bruce.
And while its creator, Rich Myers, insists the cake was not inspired by Roald Dahl’s book or its iconic adaptation, people couldn’t help but compare the two.
Sold by Leeds-based dessert company Get Baked, Bruce was a 24-layer dark chocolate cake, made up of 12 layers of sponge and 12 layers of ganache. It weighed a whopping 1kg per slice.
You’ve probably seen pictures of this cake online. Every week, stocks of this monster have been selling out in seconds, with thousands of slices being shipped all over the UK.
Welcome to the slice
The Slice is your weekly guide to what’s on in London, so whether you’re looking for restaurant reviews, drinks deals or just a new exhibition to visit on a rainy Saturday in the capital, we’ve got you covered.
Click here to check out this week’s picks for the best things to do in town – and if you want to get the next edition before anyone else, sign up here!
People have even travelled from far and wide to sample Bruce’s flavours, with couples travelling from the US to visit the Headingley bakery.
As a cake lover, I’m always on the hunt for an amazing slice and I also love seeing what the next big food trend will be, so Bruce became something of an obsession for me because it was just impossible to achieve.
I spent six months trying (unsuccessfully) to get my hands on a piece. It was in my online shopping cart, but sold out before I could even enter my credit card details.
And now Bruce is no more…
Get Baked has decided to retire its flagship product after three years of viral madness. When I heard the news, I was bummed that I never got to try the cake. But thankfully, there is a silver lining.
Although the company will no longer be making Bruce, it has introduced a new, strikingly similar cake in its place, known as Bertha.
According to Rich, Bertha is Bruce’s wife and the name was chosen because it sounds like “big.” Like Bruce, this is an epic 24-layer cake, but while the first one was made with only dark chocolate, Bertha’s recipe uses a mixture of milk and dark chocolate.
“We pulled Bruce for a number of reasons,” Rich told Metro.co.uk. “The main one was that the cake had been copied so widely and people were selling fake versions of it, which became very toxic. But we also wanted to change the recipe, so this seemed like a good opportunity to tackle both of those problems at once.”
“So we’ve taken Bruce out and we’re going to introduce more cakes… there’s going to be a whole family. Bruce and Bertha have a son, who no one knows about yet, but he’s going to make an appearance as well.”
Although I had trouble getting through to Bruce, I was lucky enough to be the first person in the UK to try Bertha, ahead of the cake’s official launch this week.
Get Baked has teamed up with Fortnum & Mason to host an eight-week pop-up at the iconic London department store, meaning you won’t have to try your luck online to get a slice, and there are other treats on offer too, including a limited-edition Knickerbocker Glory pie, cinnamon biscuits and brownies.
The collaboration launched this week, with Bertha available at Fortnum’s for £17 a slice, and Metro.co.uk has obtained an exclusive taste test of the new cake to celebrate the occasion.
So, was the viral 24-layer chocolate cake really worth the wait?
If you had asked me after the very first bite, I would have told you I was a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, this is a Alright chocolate cake, but after waiting so long to try it, I had definitely built it up in my head to a ridiculous level.
Trying it wasn’t the life-changing experience I expected, but I’m very happy to have had it in my hands.
Eaten at room temperature, the ganache is silky and wonderfully rich, but not so rich that it makes you instantly sick after a few bites.
The sponge is quite dense, but surprisingly not as heavy as you might expect (Get Baked attributes this to the new 50/50 split of milk chocolate and dark chocolate, as the full dark chocolate cake was supposed to be much heavier).
It looks incredibly delicious, I just wanted to keep going, which is dangerous when one slice of cake can feed four people.
I can’t say it’s the best cake I’ve ever eaten, however, it’s really not hard to see why it goes viral every week.
If you like chocolate cakes, I’d say they’re definitely worth trying at least once, especially for the novelty aspect, because how often do you get to eat something this big?! (Get your thoughts out of the gutter, folks…)
But would I wait another six months to get another slice? Absolutely not.
This is where the pop-up comes in handy, as it will (hopefully) make it easier to recover a share.
For those who do manage to get their hands on the goods, Rich’s top tip is to cut off a piece of the cake and pop it in the microwave or air fryer. Pop it in for 10-second bursts until the ganache is beautifully gooey and shiny, but be careful not to do it for too long or the ganache will break.
The result is a decadent, nostalgic hot chocolate dessert (remember chocolate pudding with chocolate custard in elementary school?!) that somehow tastes even better than before.
Final verdict: Bertha is a beast of a cake, she’s big, she’s so chocolatey and she’s best served warm in my opinion.
It’s not cheap, but you get a pretty versatile dessert that can feed several people at once. I have to say I’m a fan and can’t wait to try more of Get Baked’s products… so I guess I’ll see you at Fortnum’s.
Do you have a story to share?
Contact us by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.
MORE: 5 ways to eat and drink for less in London – and save up to £200 on tickets to London attractions including Crystal Maze
MORE: McDonald’s ‘Best Burger’ Returns, and a Brand New Chocolate Drink is on the Menu
MORE: 32 things to do in London this bank holiday weekend, August 24-26
Sign up for our guide to what’s on in London, trusted reviews, great deals and competitions. The best places in London in your inbox
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Related Posts
-
Portland, Maine is a small city that attracts a lot of baseball fans.
-
‘It’s like a horror movie’: Families ‘devastated’ after dead dog found in vehicle | News
-
7 Sweet Dessert Substitutes to Avoid Diabetes
-
Hyderabad Manam Chocolate Karkhana – This Indian chocolate factory makes Time’s list of “The World’s Most Beautiful Places”