Ask ten people where to find the best chocolate dessert in Christchurch and you will get ten different answers — a supermarket mud cake, a café slice that has been sitting in the cabinet since morning, a block of something from the corner dairy. Chocolate is the flavour we all default to, which is exactly why it is the one most often done badly. At our boutique patisserie inside The Welder on Welles Street, chocolate is treated as a craft ingredient rather than a safe bet.
Here is a guide to the chocolate cakes and desserts on our menu, what makes each one different, and how to get your hands on them.
What sets our chocolate cakes apart
Almost every chocolate cake uses the same three notes: cocoa, sugar, cream. The difference between a forgettable one and a memorable one is contrast — something salty, something sharp, something with a bit of crunch to break up all that richness. Dhi trained in Brazil, where chocolate desserts are built around brigadeiro and doce de leite, and that South American influence runs through most of what comes out of our central city studio. Every cake is made to order rather than batch-baked, so what you collect was assembled for your date, not for a display cabinet.
Five chocolate cakes worth ordering
The Thunder Cake is our signature and the one people come back for. A velvety chocolate sponge is layered with traditional Brazilian brigadeiro — a slow-cooked chocolate milk caramel — which gives it a dense, fudgy texture you simply do not get from buttercream. If you have only room for one chocolate cake in your life, make it this one.
The Nutella Cake is the maximalist option. Moist chocolate cake with a three-milk soak, smooth Nutella and a dark chocolate ganache, then finished with crunchy chocolate treats including Ferrero Rocher. It photographs beautifully, which is why it turns up on so many Christchurch birthday tables.
The Prestige Coconut Cake pairs deep dark chocolate with a creamy coconut milk caramel, wrapped in ganache and finished with Raffaello. Dark chocolate and coconut is one of the great patisserie pairings and this is our version of it.
Our Black Forest Cake reworks the German classic with white chocolate whipped cream instead of the traditional filling, studded with maraschino cherries and coated in chocolate shavings. It is alcohol-free, which makes it an easy choice when children or non-drinkers are at the table. You can see the full range in our Black Forest collection.
The Dulce Caramel Cake leans into dulce de leche against dark chocolate — the most Latin American of the five, and the one to pick if you find straight chocolate a little one-note.
Chocolate desserts for guests avoiding gluten
Chocolate desserts made without gluten have a reputation for being an afterthought, and they should not be. Our Black & White Chocolate Mousse is built on a flourless brownie base topped with double chocolate mousse — it was designed without flour from the start, not adapted later. The Snickers mini cake and the almond-based Caprese work the same way. Browse everything in our no-added-gluten cakes and desserts range.
Warm chocolate desserts, made to order
Late winter in Christchurch calls for something warm. Our made-to-order dessert menu is plated fresh in the patisserie and includes a Chocolate Lava Cake, a Dulce Lava Cake and our Signature Chocolate Fondue for sharing. Pair one with a hot chocolate from our chocolate drinks list and you have the best half hour of your week sorted — better still with someone opposite you, since the fondue is built for two.
Not ready for a whole cake?
You do not have to commit to a full celebration cake to eat well. Most of our signature flavours are available as single cake slices, and our mini cakes are one serving each — including a Hot Chocolate mini cake topped with toasted meringue. Trays of six or twelve are the simplest way to bring several flavours to a table.
A note on wording: New Zealand labelling rules mean we say "no added gluten" rather than "gluten free". Our kitchen is small and without exclusive production areas for all of our different recipes, so traces may occur and nothing is guaranteed safe for severe coeliac disease.
How to order
Whole cakes are made to order for collection, so allow two days — three for some of the larger desserts. Order online from our celebration cakes range, or browse the full Dhi Ferrari menu. For everything else, we are open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm on Saturday, inside The Welder — walk in, take a seat in the sun and let us talk you into a slice.
