4 Comforting, Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cakes To Buy on O‘ahu Right Now

Sometimes, you need to fight darkness with darkness. And so these days, we often find ourselves craving a slice of deep chocolate cake: the old-fashioned kind, darker than dobash, rich and chocolate-y almost to the point of fudgy, and yet with just a bit of springiness to lift us out of the depths.

Here are our favorite chocolate cakes (and one very classic chocolate soufflé), available by the slice or single serving, in order from most to least chocolate-y:

Top to bottom: Chocolate Insanity Cake, MW Chocolate Cake, Fudge Cake, Chocolate Soufflé. Steve Martin 8-inch celadon porcelain plate, $33, Fishcake (307C Kamani St., (808) 800-6151). Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino

1. Chocolate Insanity Cake

$8.95 from ‘Aiea Bowl

This cake literally towers above the rest, with six layers so chocolate-y you almost don’t know where the cake ends and the dark chocolate frosting begins. Chunks of chocolate cake, almost like brownies, scattered over the top, take it all, well, over the top, to insane levels indeed.

99-115 ‘Aiea Heights Drive, #310, ‘Aiea, (808) 488-6854, aieabowl.com, @aieabowl

2. Chocolate Soufflé

$13 from Roy’s

This one is an oldie but oh-so-goodie. Roy’s luscious chocolate soufflé, on the menu since the early ’90s, is as sexy as it gets. Fresh from the oven, it’s warm and crispy-crackly on top with a dusting of powdered sugar. Tap it with your spoon and watch as the cake unleashes decadent liquid silky fudge. It comes with a side of raspberry coulis and, for hot-meets-cool, dark-meets-light, a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Also available for takeout, order 20 minutes in advance, royyamaguchi.com, @royshawaii

3. MW Chocolate Cake

$6 from MW

Of all the chocolate cakes here, MW’s looks the most delicate, but don’t let it fool you. A flawless, glossy sheen reveals layers of devil’s food cake cushioning chocolate ganache, set on a platform of milk chocolate crunch. It’s like eating chocolate cake with spoonfuls of chocolate cereal, which of course means this cake is perfectly acceptable to eat for breakfast.

1538 Kapi‘olani Blvd., #107, 955-6505, mwrestaurant.com, @mwrestaurant

4. Fudge Cake

$4.50 from Diamond Head Market and Grill

Diamond Head Market and Grill offers a number of chocolate cakes, from flourless to those sandwiching raspberry or peanut butter fillings. But its fudge cake is the most classic. Chocolate cake purists will find no distractions here: just three layers of soft, fluffy cake, set in place and sealed with chocolate frosting.

3158 Monsarrat Ave., (808) 732-0077, diamondheadmarket.com, @diamondheadmarketandgrill