Devil’s Food Cake

Today is National Devil’s Food Cake Day! Yeah, I don’t know who comes up with these but I’m not going to complain!

Devil’s Food Cake is traditionally a rich chocolate layer cake paired with chocolate frosting and is thought of as the counterpart to Angel Food Cake. Makes sense, right?

The first known recipe for Devil’s Food Cake in the U.S. dates back to 1905, and it’s called Devil’s Food Cake not only because of the inclusion of real chocolate in the recipe, but because the baking soda causes the cocoa to redden when baked!

Devil’s Food Cake
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 8-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Whisk first 5 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Sift in flour, cocoa and baking soda. Stir to combine. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap cakes separately in plastic wrap and store at room temperature.)

Place 1 cake layer on plate. Spread with 1/2 cup frosting. Top with second cake layer. Spread top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. (Can be prepared up to 8 hours ahead. Cover with cake dome and let stand at room temperature.)

Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup (about) sour cream

Melt unsalted butter and chocolate in heavy small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Transfer to large bowl. Whisk in cocoa powder and vanilla. Whisk in 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup sour cream. Whisk in remaining 1 cup sugar. Gradually whisk in enough of remaining sour cream to form spreadable frosting.

[image: flickr]