David's Devil Food Cake

Monday, July 18, 2011




Made a six tier cake for my birthday and what a fabulous cake it was!

Possibly the best chocolate cakes I ever tasted ... surely this has got nothing to do with the fact that I made it myself, although it did boost my confidence just a tad :)

The recipe will only yield 2 layers, so I tripled it to make this beauty. However, I did not adjust for that below... Courtesy of David Lebovitz from his website.

Ingredients:
Cake:
1/2 cup & 1 tbsp tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup strong coffee (or water)
1/2 cup whole or low-fat milk

Ganache frosting:
10 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water (or cream)
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut up

Directions:
Cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter two 9" x 2" cake pans and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.
3. To make the cake layers, sift together cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.
4. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.
6. Mix together the coffee and milk.
7. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.
8. Then add the coffee and milk.
9. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.
10. Divide the batter into the two prepared cake pans and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
1. Melt the chopped chocolate with the water (or cream) in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
2. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk them into the chocolate until completely melted and the ganache is smooth.
3. Cool until spreadable, which may take about 1 hour at room temperature.

To frost the cake:
1. Run a knife around the inside of each of the cakes, which will help release them from the pans.
2. Tilt one cake out of the pan, remove the parchment paper from the bottom and invert it back onto a cake plate.
3. Spread a good-sized layer of icing over the top.
4. Top with the second cake layer and spread the top and sides with the remaining icing as decoratively as you want.

Storage: Cake is best the day it is made, although it's fine the next day. Store at room temperature under a cake dome.



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