I have used this recipe for at least the last 15 years, it has been slightly modified from the original that I found online somewhere. It is by far the richest chocolate cake I have ever had, feel free to be generous with the cocoa powder, I’ve done it with up to 15 tbsp of cocoa powder!

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Devil's Food Cake

An extremley rich chocolate cake, I have used this recipe for at least the last 15 years.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Inactive Time2 hours hrs

Total Time3 hours hrs

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Keyword: Cake, chocolate, devil, devil's

Servings: 12 Slices

Calories: 500kcal

Equipment

• Standing mixer is highly recommended, at least an electric mixer, or a few strong bored helpers.

Ingredients

Cake

• 9 tbsp Unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1.5 cups Cake flour
• .5 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• .25 tsp Baking Powder
• 4 ounces Unsalted At room remprature
• 1.5 cups Sugar
• 2 Large Eggs At room temprature
• .5 cup Espresso Or strong coffee
• .5 cup Milk

For Ganache Frosting

• 10 ounces Chocolate Bittersweet or Semisweet chips or chopped
• .5 cup Heavy cream
• 6 ounces Unsalted butter At room temprature, cut in to 1/2" cubes

Instructions

Prep

• Adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Butter two 9" cake pans and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.

Cake

• Sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.
• In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, or by hand, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. You want it to look like soft almost fluffy butter icing, it will turn from a yellowish colour to almost completely white.
• Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides to be sure everything is getting mixed in.
• Mix coffee and milk together.
• For the next few steps if you're using a standing or electric mixer, mix them in by hand a bit first.
• Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.
• Add the coffee and milk, stir to combine.
• Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.
• Divide the batter into the two prepared cake pans (about 500 grams per pan) and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Ganache Frosting

• Melt the chocolate with cream in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
• Whisk butter cubes into the chocolate mixture until completely melted and the ganache is smooth.
• Cool until spreadable, about an hour at room temperature.

Frost the Cake

• Run a knife around the edge of each of the cakes which will help release them from the pans.
• Tilt one cake out of the pan remove the parchment paper from the bottom and invert it onto a cake plate.
• Spread a generous amount of ganache frosting over the top.
• Top with the second cake layer and spread the top and sides with the remaining icing as decoratively as you want. If you're a truck driver like me, it will look horrible, but don't worry, it will still taste amazing!

Notes

Storage: Cake is best the day it is made, although it's fine the next day. Store at room temperature under a cake dome. This was the recommendation from the original recipe.

How I store it: put it in the fridge overnight, cut in to pieces, wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Will keep for about 5 days in the fridge, months in the freezer. Microwave for about 30 seconds right out of the freezer, or in the fridge for 24 hours, or at room temperature for about 2 hours. Really, it's still just as good as the day you make it.