Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Devil's food cake

I've been neglecting this space for a while now and I'm not too happy about that. Let me make up for that by sharing this absolutely sinful Devil's food cake that I baked last weekend for TH's birthday

devil cake3

I am not a chocolate person, nowhere close to it. I never liked the taste of cocoa as a kid, but I've slowly grown out of it now. TH can eat anything sweet and since it was his birthday I decided on this Devil's cake that looked and sounded absolutely chocolate-y. Made this from a fantastic book called the 'Baking Bible' that my aunt from UK gifted me on my birthday earlier this year. I did make some changes since I was short on a few ingredients and the conversion from gms to cups was getting a bit messy, since I was rushing thru it all. There was a the big dinner happening on the side and I didn't wait long enough for the cake to cool down. The icing was delicious but it didn't have enough time to set, so it didn't have a smooth finish

devil2

I don't like anything thats cloyingly sweet. This cake was perfect, dark chocolate, not too sweet, but really moist and rich. Even for a non-chocolate loving person, this was chocolate nirvana. I guess the devil is really in the pounds you can put on by just staring at this absolute delight of a cake !

The recipe calls for baking it in two pans, so you land up with three layers, but I stuck to a single pan and made just two layers. I find it so difficult to just follow a recipe as is. I always need to go make my own changes, though they are rarely for the better, but *sigh* thats me !

devil1

I have been baking a lot over the past two weeks and its been real fun. A few friends ordered for cakes and brownies and the response was extremely encouraging. Its been great experimenting with cake pops, brownies, cookies and a whole lot more, and all these were egg-free, so yes, lots of experimenting !

Devil's food cake
Adapted from Annie Bell's 'Baking Bible', with a few changes

What you need -

For the cake

1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
1.25 cups sugar
3/4 cup APF / maida
1/4 tsp baking powder

For the icing

250 gm chocolate, broken into pieces
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp honey

What you do with it -
Whisk the cocoa with 200ml of boiling water. Whisk in the baking soda and allow to cool
Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Grease an 8" round pan and line with baking paper
Whisk the eggs, sugar and oil until smooth. Add in the flour and then the cocoa solution
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40-50 mins
For the icing, melt the butter and chocolate using the double boiler method, stirring till its smooth
In another little bowl, add the cocoa, milk and honey and whisk it over heat
Pass it through a sieve and add it to the chocolate
Allow the cake to cool and then cut into two (or three) horizontally
Divide the icing accordingly and spread over each layer
Allow it to set for a couple of hours. This cake can be stored for a couple of days

5 comments:

Anusha said...

the cake looks out of the world. I love the dense gooey slice

Nupur said...

So you're getting to be quite the professional baker, eh? That's simply wonderful. With this dark amazing cake I can see why.

great-secret-of-life said...

so tempting and rich flavour

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

Archana first of all many many happy returns of the day to your husband. This cake looks wonderful. love the dark colour and the soft moist crumbs. really sinful. and I must congratulate you for becoming the designated birthday cake baker among your family and friends. could not comment on your last bakes on FB but they were wonderful.

Anonymous said...

This cake looks so delicious.. sinfully delicious. And wow again for all the orders that you are getting. Keep rocking! :)

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