Devil's Food Cake

We had a group of birthdays at work and everyone brought in a dessert to celebrate. When a large group of people are involved, it's usually a good idea to try a universal dish. I had heard wonderful things about a Devil's Food Cake by David Lebovitz and so I chose this as my dessert.

Everyone raved over the ganache icing and loved the swirls I copied. In fact, the cake was gone so quickly I wasn't able to snap a shot of a single slice! The cake itself was light from the use of cocoa powder, which allowed the sweet and creamy ganache to stand out. It was simple and delicious.

Devil's Food Cake

Printable Recipe

Ganache

11 ounces 60% cacao chocolate chip

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 1/2 sticks butter, cut into 1 ounce pieces

Place the chocolate chips and cream in a heat proof bowl set over a small pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally.

Once the chocolate is completely melted, remove from the heat. In 4 ounce increments, whisk the butter into the melted chocolate until completely incorporated.

The ganache icing will need to rest at room temperature for 1 hour before it can be spread onto the cake (or you can place it into the refrigerator for 15-20 min to harden faster).

Cake

9 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups non-self rising cake flour (King Arthur Flour)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup coffee (hazelnut flavor)

1/2 cup 2% milk

Adjust an oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 350*F. Butter two 9x2 cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper (I use a shortcut I learned from watching the tv show Good Eats: fold the parchment paper into a square and then twice over; line up to the center of the pan and then cut. This method will save a lot of time!).

Sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a mixer, blend the butter and sugar for 5 min. Next add the eggs one at a time. Add half the dry ingredients slowly, then half the coffee and milk. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients and the other half of the coffee and milk.

Divide the batter equally into the two cake pans and bake for 25 min. Cool completely before icing.

Icing

Take one cake out of the pan and remove the parchment paper before inverting onto your serving plate. Smooth a good amount of icing over the top. Repeat with the second cake except place all the remaining icing on top. Smooth the icing over the sides of the cake first and then smooth the top, or add a design.

Store the cake at room temperature under a cake dome.

~Recipe by David Lebovitz.