Devil’s Food Cake

Friends often tell me , I have more posts of cakes in my blog.. And I had decided to reduce the cake posts in future… Hmm but fate had other plans it seems.. This again is a cake post .. and I have my excuse too. It was my nephew’s 2^nd birthday 2 weeks back and my sister in law and family were  visiting us on that  day.. Now how can I resist the temptation of baking a special cake for my dear nephew???

The kids too were all excited and got busy decorating the room with balloons and setting the table before the birthday boy arrived… I decided to make a chocolate cake as kids would love it.. and this is a very chocolatey cake – Devil’s Food Cake.. I wonder how the cake got this name? This is really a super moist chocolate cake and I strongly feel the name should be changed 🙂

I found this recipe from Nigella Lawson’s site and have prepared this few times before.. Couldn’t click the snaps then.. this time too I was in a but hurry, so the photos are ,well ,not so perfect..

Coming back to the celebrations, the birthday boy was super excited 🙂 .. He was amazed to see all the  balloons, candles, cakes … Smiling happily as everyone sang the birthday song for him .. My sister in law told me that he still fondly says of his Abudhabi Bday Celebration 🙂

What I loved about the cake is its luscious frosting.. Though while preparing the frosting would appear runny, allowing it to settle for an hour will give it the right consisitency . Last time I made this cake, I had piped chocolate rosettes with the frosting… This time, topped the frosting with some chocolates to surprise the kids..

Here’s the recipe for all you chocolate lovers..

Recipe Source – Nigella Lawson

INGREDIENTS

For the cake

• 50g best-quality cocoa powder, sifted
• 100g dark muscovado sugar
• 250ml boiling water
• 125g soft unsalted butter, plus some for greasing
• 150g caster sugar
• 225g plain flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

For the frosting:

• 125ml water
• 30g dark muscovado sugar
• 175g unsalted butter cubed
• 300g best-quality dark chocolate finely chopped

Pan required

• 2 x 20cm sandwich tins

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
2. Line the bottoms of both sandwich tins with baking parchment and butter the sides.
3. Put the cocoa and 100g dark muscovado sugar into a bowl with a bit of space to spare, and pour in the boiling water. Whisk to mix, then set aside.
4. Mix the flour, baking powder and bicarb together in another bowl.
5. Cream the butter and caster sugar together, beating well until pale and fluffy.
6. Add eggs one by one to the creamed butter and sugar  mixing well.
7. Keep mixing and incorporate the rest of the dried ingredients for the cake, then finally mix and fold in the cocoa mixture.
8. Divide this fabulously chocolatey batter between the 2 prepared tins and put in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
9. Take the tins out and leave them on a wire rack for 5–10 minutes, before turning the cakes out to cool.
10. But as soon as the cakes are in the oven, get started on your frosting: put the water, 30g muscovado sugar and 175g butter in a pan over a low heat to melt.
11. When this mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, swirling the pan so that all the chocolate is hit with heat, then leave for a minute to melt before whisking till smooth and glossy.
12. Leave for about 1 hour, whisking now and again – when you’re passing the pan – by which time the cakes will be cooled, and ready for the frosting.
13. Set one of the cooled cakes, with its top side down, on a cake stand or plate, and spread with about a third of the frosting, then top that with the second cake, regular way up, and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides, swirling away with your spatula.

Sending this to Love and Chocolate Fest event at My Culinary Trial Room

and Dish for Loved Ones by Sravs Culinary Concepts

Lets Cook for Valentines event by simply.food

Happy Birthday FIA ♥♥♥ – Ultra Moist Chocolate Cake to celebrate…

Celebrating two birthdays with one birthday cake …. It was my little cousin Sameera’s birthday a few days back and had made the cake as a surprise treat for her.

And posting this today to celebrate as FIA turns one year old… FIA, or Famished in Arabia, is a community of  bloggers from UAE who share their passion for food. The brain child of Arva of I live in a frying pan and Sally of My Custard Pie, this group now has 56 wonderfully gifted bloggers (and the number continues to increase..) .

Love to be part of this group – the discussions, the delectable dishes posted everyday and the amazing photography. Here’s to many more years of food, fun and friendship..♥♥♥

Okay, back to the cake…Made a soft moist chocolate cake and frosted with whipping cream. It’s really easy to whip it up, you can make the whole thing in one bowl.  Using vegetable oil instead of butter has its advantages – no time wasted to beat butter with sugar,plus the oil makes the cake really moist.

Sorry, couldn’t get the snaps of the cake slice. In midst of the birthday celebration, forgot that part  😦 .

Ingredients

• Powdered sugar – 2 cups
• All-purpose flour – 1 3/4 cups
• Cocoa powder – 3/4 cup
• Baking powder – 1 1/2 teaspoon
•  Baking soda – 1 1/2 teaspoons
• Salt – 1 teaspoon
•  Eggs – 2
• Milk – 1 cup
• Vegetable oil – 1/2 cup
• Vanilla extract – 2 teaspoons
• Boiling water – 1 cup
• Whipping cream , for frosting

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3.  Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Stir in the boiling water last.
4. Batter will be thin. Pour evenly into the prepared pan.
5. Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick.
6. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting

1. Divide the cake into 3 equal horizontal layers
2. Sandwich the  layers with the desired frosting ( I used whipping cream with 1 tsp of coffee powder added).
3. Apply a thin layer of frosting over the cake (crumb coat) . Refrigerate for 1-2 hours
4. Apply a thicker coating of the frosting to get a final smooth finish.

Sending this to Bookmarked Recipes Every Tuesday By Aipi and Priya

and to Anyone Can Cook Series by Ayeesha

and to Only Baked Event hosted by Harini of Tamalapaku and Pari of Foodelicious