devil’s food cake

I haven’t felt much like cooking lately. Between hospital visits and Holiday hoopla, it just hasn’t been at the top of my priority list. But an impending [30th!] birthday celebration with a dozen of my favorite folks gave me a great excuse to try a new recipe- and rekindle my relationship with my KitchenAid mixer. 

Saturday morning I work up, bounded out of bed and raced off to the grocery store to gather supplies for my first homemade [birthday!] cake of the year. And let me tell you- I enjoyed every part of this baking process. 

Typically I’m the girl that rushes around the kitchen because ohmygod I forgot to sift the flour and the sugar together and now the butter is burning on the stove and when will I learn to read the directions beforehand!? But not this time. This time I actually enjoyed baking. Shocking, right? When I sit down and take the time to pay attention to something it can actually be an enjoyable experience. Gives new meaning to slow down, right?!

image

Devils Food Cake

The players:

(for the cake)

  • 6 Tbsp unsalted butter (room temp)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 medium eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cups self-rising flour

(for the icing)

  • 1 stick unsalted butter (room temp)
  • 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 2 Tbsp cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
  • 2 Tbsp milk

The play-by-play:

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Grease and line two 8-inch, round layer cake pans with parchment paper. Cream the butter and sugar together until soft and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs, mixing well after each addition. In a small, separate bowl dissolve the cocoa powder in the water. The add the chocolate mixture alternately with the flour into the butter mixture until all is blended smoothly. Divide the batter between the two pans and bake in the center of the oven for 25- 30 minutes until firm and just coming away from the side of the pans. Cool on a rack. 

To make the icing, beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the cocoa powder and milk and beat until combined. Sandwich the cakes together using half of the icing, then use the remainder to top the cake. 

Tip: Garnish the cake with chocolate curls! [which I did- but they looked more like chocolate landing strips so no pictures of that were taken. sorry.]

To make chocolate curls to decorate the cake, melt 3 1/2 ounces of dark chocolate (I used 60% cocoa solids), then pour onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and spread it out thinly. Cool until set, then carefully drag a sharp knife from one end of the chocolate to the other to form curls (or- in my case- landing strips).

Also, thank the Lord for cakes intended to look “rustic”. This is another story for another time- but it’s fairly safe to assume I’ll never make a guest appearance on Ace of Cakes. 

recipe adapted (I nixed the raspberry coulis) from Pippa Middleton’s book Celebrate! // also available here

image

Blake and I met the most incredibly sweet lady on Monday morning. As she was carrying on with her friend [sister?], she looked over at us and said- “I KNOW you’re curious about the recipe. Do you want to hear about it?”

Well- first, I must admit that I wasn’t really sure what she was talking about but I quickly chimed in (lord forbid I miss out on something) with an enthusiastic “YES!” 

Here’s the recipe she shared with us…

image

Breakfast Candy

The players:

  • 1 bag of butterscotch morsels
  • 2 heaping spoons of [smooth] peanut butter
  • 6 cups of corn flakes

The play-by-play:

Melt the butterscotch morsels over low heat in a large pot. Once melted, sir in the 2 spoons full of peanut butter. Remove from heat. Add the cereal. 

Set 2 large sheets of parchment (or wax) paper to the side. Once the cereal is incorporated, scoop out spoonfuls of the “candy” onto the parchment paper. Or- if you’re my husband and like to do things on your own accord- you can make pancake like cookies of the treats. Let cool and then enjoy. 

I’m 100% certain that we will have a cookie jar filled with this Breakfast Candy for roughly about the next year. Give or take. See- talking to strangers isn’t always such a bad thing!

oxo