Dishing the DivineYum!

triple layer devil’s food cake with buttercream frosting

July 21st, 2011 · 4 Comments

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*Beware: Old Photos Alert -> Just imagine how great they would be if I had an excuse to make this cake today and re-take the pictures!*

I grew up with an abundance of food issues and I am happy to say that I left most of those behind in my teen years. I now know what healthy looks like and what “eating bad foods in moderation” looks like. I’ve learned to avoid weighing myself. I know that if I don’t eat three square meals a day, all I will do is think about my next snack, which is probably less healthy for me than the meal would have been.

Before Brant and I went to Europe, I weighed our luggage to make sure it would pass TSA standards. Then, since it had been months since I had stepped on a scale, I weighed myself. Bingo. I was right where I wanted to be. Then I went to Europe (key words here: French croissants). I came home in time for the holidays (key words here: pumpkin pie and eggnog). And then I went to a friend’s house, stepped on her scale and my eyes bulged. I had gained weight. A lot of it. More than I wanted to admit. So, I decided my goal was to lose about ten pounds over the next several months in a very healthy way: running a couple times per week, foregoing the post-breakfast dessert (believe me… post-breakfast dessert is amazing!), and making sure my meals included more veggies and fewer breads.

But then there is this cake, which was the undoing of my good intentions. But it’s so good. I had forgotten to share it with you, but then a friend requested it and put it back on my radar. Oh my, this cake is so good!

triple player devil’s food cake
www.cooksillustrated.com

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate , chopped
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups water (boiling)
3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pans
1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Adjust oven rack to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, grease three 8-inch cake pans with butter and line bottom of each pan with parchment paper round. Combine chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl; pour boiling water over and whisk until smooth. Sift together flours, baking soda, and salt onto large sheet parchment or waxed paper; set aside.

Place butter in bowl of standing mixer and beat at medium-high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add brown sugar and beat on high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium-high and add eggs one at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition. Reduce speed to medium; add sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined, about 10 seconds. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl. With mixer on low, add about one third of flour mixture, followed by about one half of chocolate mixture. Repeat, ending with flour mixture; beat until just combined, about 15 seconds. Do not overbeat. Remove bowl from mixer; scrape bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix gently to thoroughly combine.

Divide batter evenly among cake pans, smooth batter to edges of pan with rubber spatula. If baking three 8-inch cakes, place two pans on lower-middle rack and one on upper-middle rack. Bake until skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 23 minutes for 8-inch cakes. Cool on wire rack 15 to 20 minutes. Run knife around pan perimeter to loosen. Invert cakes onto large plate; peel off parchment, and reinvert onto lightly greased rack. Cool completely before icing.

vanilla butter cream frosting
www.cooksillustrated.com

4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
4 sticks unsalted butter, softened, each cut into quarters

Combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in bowl of standing mixer; place bowl over pan of simmering water. Whisking gently but constantly, heat mixture until thin and foamy and registers 160 degrees on instant-read thermometer.

Beat egg mixture on medium-high speed with whisk attachment until light, airy, and cooled to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add butter, one piece at a time. (After adding half the butter, buttercream may look curdled; it will smooth with additional butter.) Once all butter is added, increase speed to high and beat 1 minute until light, fluffy, and thoroughly combined. (Can be covered and refrigerated up to 5 days.)

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4 responses so far ↓

  • 1 LeAnn // Jul 21, 2011 at 1:08 pm

    Wahoo! Thank you!! This cake was sooooo good.
    And if you ever need an excuse to make cake, I think “LeAnn would love some” is a valid one.

  • 2 Maureen // Jul 21, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    Is there anything better than a chocolate layer cake to bring back wonderful childhood memories? This looks delicious.

  • 3 Peggy // Jul 22, 2011 at 6:09 am

    Just found your lovely blog from craftzine. You had me at “post-breakfast dessert”!

  • 4 Sonya // Feb 23, 2014 at 7:00 am

    I just wanted to confirm that this cake is AMAZING! I originally made the Devil’s Food Cake version from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook in 2010, then noticed at http://www.cooksillustrated.com that they had increased the butter, decreased the cocoa powder, and changed from all-purpose flour to half all-purpose and half cake flour. Last night I made the new version, and it was sooooooooooo good. Actually I made it into their Chocolate Turtle Cake (Cook’s Country magazine October/November 2010). Highly recommended!

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