Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake

I love Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake.  What’s not to love about it?  After all, it is chocolate!

Usually, when the craving hits me, I pull out a Betty Crocker’s Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake, beat in eggs and water, and 30-40 minutes later, I have a cake.

But, in my desire to practice baking & cooking skills, yesterday I decided to make the cake from scratch.

I used a recipe from a cookbook I received at my wedding shower, The American Test Kitchen. 

It came out pretty good, my only complaint being that I found it left a cocoa aftertaste.  The boys said the cake was delicious, and although they could taste the cocoa, it wasn’t a bad thing, so we’ll see.  Maybe next time I’ll tweak it to use a little less cocoa powder? 

At least I tried.. :)

Here’s the recipe I used:

Devil’s Food Cake:
1 1/2 cup – all-purpose flour
1 tsp – baking soda
1/2 tsp – baking powder
1/4 tsp – salt
1 1/4 cup – boiling water
4 oz – unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup – Dutch processed Cocoa powder
10 tablespoons – butter, softened
1 1/2 cup – lightly packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup – sour cream
1 tsp – vanilla extract

1. Grease three 8-inch cake pans (or in my case two 9-inch pans) and line the bottoms with parchment paper.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.  In a separate bowl, whisk boiling water, chocolate, and cocoa powder until smooth.

3. In an electric mixer, beat on medium speed butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, 3 to 6 minutes.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated, scraping the bowl and beaters as needed.  Beat in sour cream and vanilla.

4. On low, beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture.  Beat in half of the chocolate mixture.  Repeat with half of the remaining flour mixture, then the remaining chocolate mixture, and finally the last third of the flour mixture.

5. Give the batter one final stir using a rubber spatula.  Divide batter evenly between cake pans.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean except for a few crumbs.

6. Let cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack.  Flip onto wire rack, remove parchment paper, and flip cakes upright.  Let cool completely before frosting, 1 to 2 hours.

Making Cake

In my attempts to spit out half-way decent posts for the Writing Workshops this week, I forgot to mention an accomplishment.. I actually baked a Cinnamon Coffee Cake from scratch this past weekend.

It’s sad, isn’t it, that I have to point out that I actually used real flour and everything?  Haha.

It actually turned out pretty good.  I think it’s a little dry, but both AMP and The Brother-in-Law both say that it tastes great. 

I wanted to make it with fresh apples for a little more moisture to it, but couldn’t be bothered going to the store when I realized I had all the other ingredients I needed right at home, but I’m going to try that next time.

I was pretty happy with myself that I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried at least.

Now, for the big challenge… Replicating my mother’s amazing tiramisu for a ‘International’ themed get-together next week.. :S   Have I mentioned yet how nerve-wracking it is for me to cook for other people?!