Lick The Spoon And Bowl Syndrome Chocolate Devil Food Cake

Happy,happy,joy,joy....

Growing up in the prairies of Canada was the foundation of many of the talents and traits that have made me who I am. I learned to live among a diverse group of people, become socially aware of my surroundings. Be street safe and have the chance to lap up delicious baked goods from the womens WW1, Royal Purple and Sunday school ladies.
Devil food cake has been a main stay in both Canadian, and American homes forever I am sure. There has been many a family group gatherings and a slice of this has been passed around. I know many of my friends mom's/ grandma's had this sitting on there farm kitchen tables at least a few times a season.
Chocolate cake is comfort food. It gives you the pleasure of  coming close to that wholesomeness that  some of us had with our mom's and grannies in the kitchen growing up.
"The lick the spoon and bowl syndrome," I call it. Some kind of smell or taste that transports you back to your childhood, when everything in life was happy and good. This cake does it for me. It takes me back to comfort.

some of your kitchen's finest

Two things made my day. First My little blog was visited by the king of blog. Mr. David Lebovitz.   I am so thrilled to have been visited. It is a great pleasure to know that maybe one day I will have the skill and the knowledge to be able to guide other "newbies" to food blogging. At first when I read his post about what you should/shouldn't do in food blogging it scared the crap out of me. My anxiety was rushing to my stomach, and I kind of thought to myself how the heck am I going to get all this? My pea sized brain needs to remember to incorporate it into my blog, but  needless to say I have a lot to learn, so bare with me and I know my photography, grammatic, editing,  bites the big one. I will get better....hopefully.

This recipe is adapted from David Lebovitz www.davidlebovitz.com


Devil Food Cake 

traditional creamed butter/sugar, wet and dry ingredients

For the Cake:
9 tablespoons unsweetened coca powder
1½ cups cake flour (not self rising) 
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup strong coffee
½ cup whole or low fat milk


For the Ganache frosting:

10 ounces of bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup water or heavy cream ( I used water, as this cake is rich in itself)
3/4 cup 1½ sticks unsalted butter

1.Preheat oven to 185 degrees C-350 F
2.Butter 2  9"X 2" cake pans and line the bottoms with circles of baking paper¨
3.To make the cake layers, sift together the coca powder,cake flour salt,baking soda,and baking powder in a bowl.
4.In the bowl of a standing electric mixer or by hand, beat together the butter and the sugar about 5 minuted until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.I used my hand mixer.) Remember to scrape down the sides of your bowl as you mix.

vintage pyrex* from my mom

5.Mix together the milk and the coffee. Stir half of the dry into the the butter mixture, then add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.

6. Divide the batter into your prepared cake pans, and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. One cake was done quicker than the other, so keep an eye on it.Cool completely before frosting.

water bath

7.To make the frosting, melt the chopped chocolate with the water stirring occasionally until melted.Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

8. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk them into chocolate until they are completely melted and the ganache is smooth. Cool until spreadable, which might take up to an hour at room temperature. I let it rest for an hour than popped it into the fridge for 10 minutes and it was ready to use.

9. To frost the cake:

Run a knife around the inside of  each the cakes which will help release them from the pans. Carefully lay them onto a cooling rack and remove the baking paper. Once completely cooled you can invert one cake onto your

chosen platter and begin to spread your frosting over the entire top of cake. Making sure you save enough to fully cover your cake as a whole. Place the second cake on top of the frosted bottom and continue to ice as you desire. Let rest for a few minutes or you can place it into the fridge but remove at least 30 minutes before you want to serve. We ate it just as it was. fresh, still a little warm, but oh so perfect. 

The second best thing was sharing it with Anette and her family, friends for her 40th birthday!
Happy birthday Anette!!