Devils food cake...

Devil's food cake... Yum yum!!

So yesterday we had some lovely friends over for dinner. Although not quite as many as hoped due to the silly snow... but still, friends were joining us. Which means one thing in this house. Cake. (Any excuse really, but this is a good'un.)

My lovely Mum bought me the Great British Bake Off book for Christmas, so this was one of the obvious books I trawled looking for something fun to do last week. I am a MASSIVE marshmallow fan so when I came across this chocolatey wonder covered in a sugar fluff cloud, decision made. 

The results were pretty darned good, although apologies for the mobile phone pic taken in haste - we couldn't wait to get stuck in! Below is my slightly adulterated recipe; reasons for which after!

Devil's food cake with marshmallow fluff frosting

Cake:

• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 175ml boiling water
• 1 tsp bicarb
• 125g dark (70% cocoa solids) chocolate
• 125ml natural yogurt (or cream. Or soured cream. Whatever dairy type shiz you have hanging around that's kinds goopy would probably do.)
• 300g plain flour
• 2 large free range eggs from happy chickens
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (not fake flavouring if you can help it)
• 125g stork margerine or own brand similar article (or softened butter if you are someone who can actually remember to take it out of the fridge. If you are, I want to be like you when I grow up.)
• 350g caster sugar

Frosting:

• 2 egg whites from large happy chicken eggs (or 3 small ones)
• 350g white caster sugar (diabetics look away now...)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 125ml cold water
• Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (fan). Grease and line a 7" (17 or 18cm) tin, ideally loose bottomed*. It needs to be nice and tall - please also adapt to use 2 sandwich tins baked for less time if you prefer.

*Very juvenile but that phrase still makes me smile a bit...

So, cake method is a bit more convoluted than I'm used to but please bear with.

1. Melt choc. Microwave 40s does it for me. If you're very good you can bowl-over-simmering-water-it but don't hate me because I can never be bothered.
2. Mix the 4tbsp cocoa powder with the 175ml boiling water. Add bicarb. Admire your fizzy weird looking bowl and wonder if you did the right thing. You did.
3. Beat eggs with vanilla in yet another bowl - I know, there are loads of bowls to wash up. Sorry. I advise a dishwasher / husband / friend / significant other / hired help.
4. In a freestanding mixer (or handheld electric whisk), beat the daylights out of the marg and sugar until it resembles a pale cloud of loveliness. Takes a good few mins.
5. Gradually add your eggs and vanilla to the fat / sugar combo, beating continuously as you go to ensure it doesn't curdle too much. If it does, meh. I won't tell if you don't.
6. Alternate spoons of the soured cream with a dump of the flour until it's all combined. Stop the mixer now so you don't stretch the gluten and make a rubber brick instead of a cake...
7. Finally, add your chocolate fizzy water and melted chocolate and fold in by hand until you have a homogenous mass of chocolate loviness. Pour into your tin. Bake for 60 mins until a skewer comes out COMPLETELY clean...!!!

So, the reasons for my shouting of COMPLETELY was that my first effort looked gorgeous. Risen, perfect, springy and smelt amazing. I congratulated myself on my cleverness and smugly went off to bed, letting it cool. In the morning, I came downstairs to a sunken, very sad looking mess. The middle of the cake was significantly undercooked... So I tasted a bit, decided it needed a bit more chocolate, adjusted the recipe and went in for round 2. Result - no sinkage! 

This cake would be amazing filled and iced with a nice chocolate buttercream, ganache or fudge icing, it's a versatile, medium bodied nice cake. I find it does need filling though, as it can be a little on the heavy side without a bit of moisture to lighten it up. I personally lived mine into three layers and filled and covered it with marshmallow frosting as below:

Frosting method: You will need an electric whisk. This stuff is amazing, but not physically possible without some electrical assistance in my view...

1. Place a big heatproof bowl over some simmering water in a pan, not letting the water touch the bottom of the pan. I can actually be bothered with this here as I don't want an egg white omelette on my cake!
2. Dump all ingredients in. Mix briefly with a spoon, then whisk, whisk, whisk over the heat for about 5-7 minuted in full whisking power.
3. Once it's smooth, voluminous and able to hold a soft peak, remove from the heat and continue to whisk, whisk, whisk for another 12-15 minutes until stiffened into some kind of consistency you can spread. (I did this stage in the free-standing mixer and made myself some well earned tea).
4. Remove from bowl, fill and frost cake, lick excess from bowl, marvel at the wonders of eggy sugary science.

So that's it! I have to say, this was even better the next day. Kind of richer tasting. The frosting has given me inspiration for another recipe I want to try for my hub's Great Auntie's b-day next weekend... More on that when it's happened!