Devils Food Cake

This cake is the cake, my ultimate chocolate cake. I love all sorts of chocolate cakes, from the immensely sugary, to a bitter chocolate and almond cake, but this is my go-to cake, everyone seems to love it. Although its made with dark chocolate, its not bitter and manages to still be really fudgey and sweet, and the muscavado sugar gives it a real depth of flavour. The frosting never actually sets, its stays sticky and squidgy for as long as the cake lasts (which is not long as its yummy). The sponge itself if a great combination of light and fluffy and somehow moist and dense. Really, this recipe is worth a go!

I like to make the frosting first, you melt 175gs of butter, and then add 300gs of dark chocolate, about 30 grams of muscavado sugar and around 120mls of water. This makes it a really really liquidy mixture, to the point that you won't think it will ever be icing consistency, but what you need to do is whisk it every so often as it cools, this will gradually make it really glossy and thick, and then all of a sudden it will change into the perfect consistency to frost a cake with!

It is obviously quite a rich cake, so I decided to pair it with some redcurrants, I absolutely love them, they are so tart so add a bit of sharpness, and look like little jewels, perfect for this cake!

For the cake:

50g best-quality cocoa powder, sifted

100g dark muscovado sugar

250ml boiling water

125g soft unsalted butter, plus some for greasing

150g caster sugar

225g plain flour

1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder

1⁄2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

Combine the cocoa, muscavado sugar and boiling water in a bowl, mix well and leave to the side. Cream the butter and sugar (quelle suprise), add in the vanilla then alternate mixing in the dry ingredients and the two eggs (I sometimes use 3 eggs if they are a bit small, who ever said you have to be mega strict about measures when baking exaggerated, its more important that your technique and judgement are right). Then simply fold in the cocoa mixture and pour into two tins and bake for around 30mins at 180 degrees/gas 4.

 Soph x