Devil's Food Cake

"Let's face it, a nice, creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me." -Audrey Hepburn

Does chocolate cake do it for you? 

I think Audrey is right. Chocolate Cake DOES for a lot of people.

I always assumed Devil's Food cake was so named because it's so rich and so sinfully good. It's tempts you like the Devil, right? So when someone told me that No - Devil's Food is just called that because it's the chocolate/dark version of an ANGEL Food (vanilla/light) cake...well, that just kinda stopped me in my tracks. I mean, duh. I consider myself sharper than the average tool in the shed, but sometimes...

I was blessed to work for a fabulous chef and restaurateur for many years. I will never be able to know all the ways her influence in my life has made me a better person. But I do know, my recipe repertoire never disappoints. When I need to host a dinner party, or bake a killer cake, more often than not, I'll make something I learned from Britta. 

Britta's Devil's Food Cake is something out of this world. It's extra dark, extra rich, extra everything. People would come far and wide for a slice, and we always made sure to have more than one made on busy nights!

Ingredients

cake

3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa, plus more for dusting

1/2 cup boiling water

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pans

2 1/4 cups sugar

1 TBSP pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

3 cups sifted cake flour (not self rising)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup whole milk

frosting

24 ouces semisweet chocolate morsels

4 cups heavy whipping cream

1 TBSP light corn syrup

Directions

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange two racks in center of oven. Line bottoms of three 8-by-2 inch buttered cake pans with parchment paper. Dust bottoms and sides with cocoa. In a small bown, sift cocoa, whisk with boiling water. Set aside to cool. 
• Cream butter on low with an elextric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar - 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down sides twice. Beat in the vanilla.
• Gradually beat in the eggs, beating between each addition until batter is no longer slick, scraping down sides twice.
• In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and salt.
• Whisk together cocoa mixture with the milk. 
• With mixer on low speed, alternate adding flour mixture and cocoa mixture to the butter/sugar mixture - a little of each at a time, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
• Divide evenly into three pans.
• Bake 35-40 minutes, rotating the pans for even baking, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Let cool, in pans, on wire racks 15 minutes before removing from pans. Return to rack to cool, tops up.

To make frosting:

• Place chocolate and cream in a heavy sauce pan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until combined and thickened, about 20-25 minutes. (YES! This frosting is a labor of love with all that stirring - but it's worth it - and necessary as to cook, but not scorch the chocolate or the cream)
• Increase heat to medium and cook, stirring 3 minutes more. 
• Remove from heat and stir in corn syrup 
• (the corn syrup is what gives the frosting a glossy sheen even when it's cooled!)
• Transfer to a large metal bowl and refrigerate.
• Check every 15 minutes and stir, scraping sides and bottom of bowl, until the frosting is cool enough to spread. This takes about 2 hours.

To assemble, remove parchment papers from bottoms of cakes. Save the best domed layer for the top. Place one layer on a cake plate and spread with 1 cup of frosting. Repeat with second layer. Top with third layer and cover outside cake with remaining frosting.

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I'm sorry I don't have more photos for you! I wasn't thinking about blogging this recipe when I made it last week - but after posting the pic above, I received many requests! Next time I make it...I'll take step by step pics and update the post. Hope you ENJOY!