Baking 101: Making the Perfect Devil’s Food Cake

Okay, okay. This is where I get sort of bossy.

In order to make a really, really, really good cake, you MUST have a stand mixer. Did you get that? MUST.

It doesn’t have to be this one that I love so dearly.

But, you should really invest in one.

If I had a king size bed, I would nestle it between me and my husband, lean over and snuggle it all night long.

If it wasn’t so darn heavy, I’d carry it with me in my purse.

If my kitchen was big enough….sigh….I would have a special counter/shrine just for my lovely, KitchenAid. Let me be clear: I love this machine. I carefully polish it. I wipe it off with a soft cloth after each use. The world would be a better place if we all had KitchenAid mixers.

Just so you know I feel about that subject….

For today, that’s the first lesson. Invest in a good stand mixer. But if you don’t have one, a hand mixer will work too. (But really, get a stand mixer.)

The recipe we’re working with comes from The American Classics Cookbook from the editors of Cooks’ Illustrated magazine. And it is quite simply the very best chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever made or worked with. It’s the real deal. It’s chocolatey and dense. It’s everything you want a chocolate cake to be.

Here’s the recipe: (scroll down for how-to photos and more tips)

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How-To Pictures and Directions:

Step 1: Assemble and measure out ingredients.

*Butter should sit out for about 30 minutes or until it is soft, but not melted in a puddle on the counter. Please don’t try to cheat and do it in the microwave. That trick works sometimes, but not for this.

*Eggs and sour cream should also be at room temperature. You can hurry the eggs to room temperature by placing them in a bowl of warm water–not hot, warm–for a few minutes.

Ingredients:

1. 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2. 1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
3. 2 tsp. vanilla
4. 3 eggs, room temperature

5. 4 oz. (4 squares) unsweetened chocolate
6. 1/3 cup sour cream
7. Dry ingredients:3/4 cup all-purpose flour,
3/4 cup cake flour,
1 tsp. baking soda,
1/2 tsp. salt

8. 4 Tbsp. cocoa powder

**Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.**

Step 2: Prepare the Pans

Three, 8″ round cake pans

*Cut waxed or parchment paper to fit each pan.
*Grease pan, place paper in bottom, grease the paper.
*Set aside until ready to use.

Grease well. The instructions given for my pans said to use solid shortening, but butter is great. I don’t love the non-stick sprays with flour. I’ve never had much luck with them, but that would be fine, too.

Step 3: Prepare batter

Cream (room temperature) butter and brown sugar until fluffy and light in color.

This is what it looks like about half way there….

And when it’s done creaming, it will look like this:

This creaming part is the essential part. Don’t skimp on the creaming time. It may take longer than 5 minutes–especially if you are using a hand mixer. The hard edges of the sugar molecules cut through the butter and create little, tiny pockets of air, hence the fluffy texture or properly creamed butter and sugar.

And while we are talking about mixing and all that, please don’t use a food processor for a butter cake like this. I did a little experiment….it did not end well. A food processor is fitted with a special blade that is not good for creaming butter and sugar together. It will cut ice cold butter into flour to make a flaky pastry crust, but if you try to cream butter and sugar, you will end up with a melted mess. Trust me. I’m your friend, I tell you this because I care.

Anyway, where were we?

While the butter and sugar are beating….

Sift the dry ingredients.

Sift them well. Sift them THREE times.

Friends, meet my sifter. Sifter, my friends. Now that we are acquainted. let me show you the inner working of my sifter.

The handle is spring-loaded. Some sifters have a crank that you turn.

The is what it looks like inside.

The two hexagon things rotate in opposite directions when I squeeze the handle. The flour falls to the paper. Then I hit it a few times on the side to make sure I got it all out. And then we do it again. Did I already say THREE times?

The dry ingredients need to be measured carefully and sifter THREE times. This aerates the flour, removes lumps from the flour or baking soda, and really helps to incorporate the baking soda and salt into the flour. Getting clumps of baking soda is not so tasty….Why is three better than two, or why not four? I have no idea. Martha says it, Cooks’ Illustrated says it, The Joy of Cooking says it. I’m going to believe them and keep doing it.

You can also use a fine mesh sieve, like this:

(And if you use a big one, it won’t take forever to sift like this little one does.)

Prepare the liquid ingredients:

Chop the unsweetened chocolate.

Measure out the cocoa.

Add both the cocoa and unsweetened chocolate to a bowl.

Add 1 cup boiling water.

Whisk until smooth.

Make sure there are no lumps of cocoa or unmelted chocolate.

Back to the creamed mixture:

Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.

Crack eggs into a small bowl. Add them one at a time, beating well after each egg.

Egg #1

Scrape down bowl before adding next egg. This is what it looks like after egg number one.

After Egg #2

Add Egg #3:
Mix well.

It’s light and fluffy and all the eggs were incorporated into the butter/sugar mixture. It did not curdle because all the ingredients were at room temperature. This is important. You really want to maintain those air pockets created from all that creaming.

Add 1 tsp. vanilla.

Add the sour cream.

Mix well.

The dry ingredients and wet ingredients are added alternately. Always, always, always begin and end with the flour. The flour is added in three additions, the liquid in two.

Add 1/3 of the flour:

Start mixing on the lowest speed unless you like wiping flour off your ceiling, light fixtures, or your helpful toddler.

Add 1/2 the chocolate mixture:

Add the second 1/3 of the flour:

Add the remaining chocolate mixture:

It’s mixing nicely…..

Last addition of flour:

Don’t over beat. This will affect the texture of the final cake. It could become tough and rubbery. You don’t want gluten to form. As you may know, gluten is what gives bread its chewy texture and provides support to the dough. That is why you want to mix the cake batter only as much as is necessary. I turn my mixer off before it’s totally done and do the rest by hand.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber scraper. Mix in any bits of flour or chocolate that didn’t mix in.

This is what it should look like:

Divide batter evenly between the cake pans.

Adjust the oven racks–according to your oven. Mine is a 3/4 sized oven, so I have to make adjustments according to how the pans will all fit. But, if you have a regular oven (lucky!) then you may be able to fit all three pans on one shelf placed in the middle of the oven. If not, place two pans on the top rack and one pan on the bottom. This will help them bake evenly.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the center of the cake springs back a little and a toothpick comes out clean.

Let them cool for about 10 minutes in the pan after you remove them from the oven. Loosen the sides with a thin knife so the cakes don’t crack as they cool.

I like to let the cakes cool completely on a rack. Cakes left to cool in the cake pan tend to shrink more and morph from beautiful, even layers to misshapen domes. You don’t want that to happen.

I wrap the cake layers in several layers of plastic wrap, place them on a flat cutting board or piece of cardboard, and freeze them until I’m ready to assemble my cake.

This cake was destined to be a lovely, dark, rich Black Forest Cake. Click here for the recipe and assembly instructions.