A Joffre cake is a chocolate buttermilk layer cake filled with chocolate ganache and frosted with chocolate buttercream originally created at Bucharest‘s Casa Capșa restaurant, in honor of a visit by French Marshal Joseph Joffre, shortly after World War I
Some commentators say the size of the Joffre cake probably had as a model the Adrian helmet worn by French and Romanian soldiers during World War I
It was a rule of Capsa House that, every important event or official visit to be marked by … ‘something sweet ‘. The 1920’s wasn’t apart from this rule when, the famous French Marshall Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre, known as Papa Joffre, arrived in Bucharest at the invitation of Royal Family(King Ferdinand and Queen Mary). He is also known in history as the one who defeated the German resistance in the first battle of the Marne (September 1914).
To honorring the visit of distinguished France guest, Grigore Capsa created a chocolate cake whith a cylindrical shape that suggests the French military helmets. And because of the Marshall diabetes, the master confectioner educated in Paris, prepared a cake not too small or too large , only good to be consumed without any risk by the honorred guest. The cake, which was named after Marshall’s name, was made from butter, sugar, eggs, flour, flavors and the highest quality cocoa……all and everything covered by a delicious chocolate coating.
The result? A cake (Joffre cake) with a strong cocoa flavor that just melted into the mouth. After that, it has gone around the world, being taken over by French cuisine in which tradition it was inspired.
Paul Morand (the ambassador of France in Romania between 1943 and 1944) said: “Capsa is the heart of the city, topographic and ethics (…). Capsa is the tympanum of the big ear that’s Bucharest.”
What can I say more about a Romanian cake filled by/with history … in each gram of its deepest cocoa heart ?