Start the weekend with some chocolate!

Our mother celebrated her birthday last Saturday and we decided to get into the kitchen and bake her a cake, which turned out to be delicious! We used a recipe from ‘The complete Magnolia Bakery cookbook’ written by Allysa Torey and Jennifer Appel. Yes indeed, a cookbook from the real Magnolia Bakery in New York City. We can recommend this book to everyone who loves to cook and has a special love for extra sweetness. This book does not only contain recipes for cakes, but also for the world famous cupcakes, cheesecakes, cookies, brownies and muffins. It even tells you how to make icecream! Anyhow we decided to go for the Devil’s Food Cake, which is a very yummy chocolate cake. We used the original recipe but gave it a little twist of our own. It is not really difficult to make, so we hope that some of you will give it a try as well. Good luck baking!

Ingredients for the cake

3 cups all-purpose flour

1,5 teaspoons baking powder

1,5 teaspoons baking soda

0,75 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, separated, at room temperature

0,75 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

8 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted

2 cups milk

1,5 teaspoons vanilla extract

Notes

It is best to separate the eggs when cold and then allow them to come to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.

To melt chocolate, place in a double boiler over simmering water on low heat for approximately 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally until completely smooth and no pieces of chocolate remain. Remove from heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes.

Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour two 9x2-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper. Then take a large bowl and sift together the flour, the baking powder, the baking soda, and the salt. Set the bowl aside. Lightly beat the egg yolks in a small bowl until thick and lemon colored, about 2 minutes. Take another large bowl. Cream the butter and the sugar in this large bowl until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks, beating until will combined. Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the milk and the vanilla, beating after each addition until smooth. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites on the high speed of an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gently fold into the batter. Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake the pans for 40-45 minutes. Then let the cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks. When the cakes has cooled, ice between the layers, then ice top and sides of cake. 

We choose to go for a Vanilla icing, but you can choose whatever icing you want. We will give you the recipe for Vanilla Buttercream, which we also found in ‘The complete Magnolia Bakery cookbook’.

Ingredients for the icing

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

6-8 cups confectioners’ sugar

0,50 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Recipe

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition, about 2 minutes, until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly.

What we did differently or added as an extra

We decided no to make a two-layer cake but just a one-layer cake. In that case you don’t need two cake pans but just one. As an extra we decided to decorate the cake with strawberries and chocolate. We melted the chocolate just like we did for the cake. Then we dipped the strawberries into the melted chocolate and putted them on top. We also used some melted chocolate to decorate the icing.

Et voilà, there is your Devil’s Food Cake! If you stick to the recipe we promise you that it is really easy to make. If you have any questions please leave them in the comment box below.

With love,

Andy & Lysa