Devil’s Food Cake

Devil’s Food Cake and Movie Nights

Movie Night

A week ago, a good friend invited me to a movie night to watch The Devil Wears Prada with her and her sisters.  So of course I said yes!  I always like to bake something for gatherings of any kind, so I thought what could possibly be more perfect than devil’s food cake?  Is a three layer chocolate cake too much for four women to eat?  I’ll leave that for you to decide 😉 .

Devil’s Food Cake

Truth be told, I don’t actually believe I had ever eaten devil’s food cake before creating this recipe.  Ideally, it would be best if I actually tasted a particular dessert before I going to create my own recipe for it, but this cake turned out delicious so I decided that it was perfectly acceptable to do so.  I had to do a little research for this cake because there are a few ingredients that differentiate a devil’s food cake from other chocolate cakes.

Butter

Most chocolate cakes use oil instead of butter to achieve that nice dense chocolate flavor.  However, devil’s food cakes require butter in order to create a light and airy texture.

Coffee or Boiling Water

Instead of using milk, a popular form of liquid in cakes, devil’s food cake uses either boiling water or hot coffee.  The reason being is because cocoa powder tends to be clumpy and hot liquid does a better job of breaking up those clumps.  I prefer using hot coffee because it enhances the flavor of the chocolate.

Cocoa Powder

You want to make sure you use natural unsweetened cocoa powder; not Dutch processed or dark chocolate cocoa powder.  This is because natural cocoa powder is acidic on the pH scale, so it will react better with the baking soda, which creates the reddish-brown color devil’s food cake is known for.  It will also help your cake to rise.  Dutch processed cocoa powder is neutral, so it will not react with the baking soda.  Similarly, dark chocolate cocoa powder falls somewhere between neutral and acidic, so it will not fully react with the baking soda either.

Baking Soda and Acidity

Since natural cocoa powder is acidic, this cake requires a leavening agent to generate light and airy volume.  The leavener historically used in devil’s food cake is baking soda.  However, relying solely on cocoa powder to react with the baking soda will not get the job done.  It requires a little bit of additional acidity to react with.  In this recipe, I chose to use sour cream to accomplish this task.  The reaction between the neutral and acidic ingredients renders the reddish-brown color as mentioned earlier.

Phew, that was a lot of baking science!  I hope you feel that you are now armed with the scientific knowledge of how to make this sinfully delicious dessert!

Blessings on you home and table,                                                                                                                   ~Natalie

Devil’s Food Cake

Serves 12

Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened, natural cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 cup hot coffee

Espresso Frosting:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup espresso powder
• 2 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• pinch of salt

Ganache:

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line three 8″ cake pans with parchment paper and grease bottom and sides of pans.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar using an electric mixer on medium speed for 4 minutes until mixture is light and fluffy.
3. Mix in eggs, one at a time.
4. Mix in sour cream and vanilla.
5. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt in a small bowl.
6. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture.
7. Stir in the hot coffee until fully incorporated.
8. Add remaining half of the flour mixture, mixing just until combined.
9. Pour batter into pans and bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10. Run a knife around the edges, and let cool completely in pans before removing.

Frosting:

1. In a small pot, bring the 1/2 cup water to a boil and add the espresso powder.  Reduce to simmer and stir until the espresso powder is fully dissolved.  Cool completely.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter until it is light and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
3. Gradually add the espresso powder until the flavor of the frosting is to your liking (I added about 4 Tablespoons to mine).

Ganache:

1. Bring 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream to a low boil in the microwave.
2. Pour over chocolate chips and cover bowl with saran wrap.  Let sit 10 minutes, then whisk until smooth.  Let sit a few minutes more until it thickens slightly.  It should still be spreadable, but not as runny.

Assembly:

1. Level the tops of cakes with a large serrated knife or a cake leveler.
2. Pipe a ring of frosting around the outer edge of the first layer and fill the center with frosting.  Place the second layer on top.  Repeat this process two more times until the top of the cake is covered in frosting.
3. Frost the sides of the cake.
4. Pipe swirls of frosting around the outer edge of the top of the cake.  Pour ganache on top of the cake until the frosting on top is covered.  The swirls on the edge will act as a protective barrier, preventing the ganache from spreading off the edges.
5. Using a small narrow spoon or a plastic squeezable bottle with a small tip, add a small amount of ganache in between the swirls and let it drizzle down the sides of the cake.
6. Place cake in the fridge and let ganache set.  If leaving in the fridge long-term, cover the cake with a lid or loosely with saran wrap.