Devils Food Cake with Buttercream Icing

Cakes with lots of frosting are one of my favorite desserts, especially a good chocolate cake. I have several "go to" chocolate cake recipes but I have never made a devils food cake. When I was perusing my cookbooks I came across this recipe from Cooks Illustrated, after all I have never made anything from their books that has not been great. 

This classic cake  is rich, dense, almost like a cross between a brownie and a cake and delicious. 

Devils Food Cake 

Recipe from Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate chopped

1/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder

11/4 cups boiling water

3/4 cup unbleached flour

3/4 cup plain cake flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

11/2 cups packed dark brown sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 2 9" cake pans with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a bowl combine the cocoa powder and the unsweetened chocolate. Pour the boiling water over this mixture and whisk until smooth. Set aside to cool.

In another bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda and salt, set aside. 

Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium until light and fluffy. Then add the brown sugar and beat in hight for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl then add the eggs one at a time on medium speed. Add the sour cream and the vanilla and mix 1 minute. Then add the 1/3 flour mixture, 1/3 chocolate mixture, repeat with 1/3 of each, then again ending with the flour mixture. Beat just to combine, do not over mix. Remove bowl from mixer and scrape the sides to be sure everything is combined. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Remove to wire wrack let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely. Once cooled frost with your favorite frosting. 

Frosting

4 cups powdered sugar

1 stick softened butter

3-4 tablespoons heavy cream

11/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. almond extract

In the bowl of your mixer, mix all of the ingredients on low until combined then mix on medium/high until light and fluffy. About 5 minutes. You can add more cream to get the spreading consistency that you like. 

Enjoy!

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Savvy Southern Style