Moist Devil's Food Cake

Ready To Bake!

It is Saturday morning and waking up at 4:45 AM is the norm.  My hubby and I enjoy a cup of coffee while conversing about our day before he heads off to work. Looks like it's going to be gorgeous clear blue skies for him out on the water fishing Sebastian Inlet area with his clients.

As Richard leaves, I read for a bit, fold laundry, make the bed and do some business work all before the sun has hardly risen.  My thoughts are to get a little work done before rattling in the kitchen. Lately, my passion for baking has been at the forefront of my mind. Being that Richard and I have a healthy lifestyle of eating it seems if there is a bit of reason for me to bake than it's all ok.

There are birthdays around every corner and many of them are piling up in the next few weeks, so I guess that provides for me the sheer pleasure of baking. Today our good friend, Mark, is celebrating his birthday.  As I spoke with his wife, Sandee, and ask what to bring, asking her if she wanted me to bake anything and saying "I'm in the baking mode".  She replied, "If you want to bake a cake or cupcakes that would be great, one less thing I'd have to do!" By the way, Mark likes anything!

Perfect! Now deciding what to make is the fun part. Mark's wife, Sandee, is an excellent chef, one who whips up most things from scratch.  She didn't pass off the baking to me because she's got that down quite well, it was more to help as a time saver for her. Thinking, it's a guys birthday so what might be the most indulgent of all (my choice was a bit influenced by my hubby if you can imagine that).

Excellent Dessert Recipes

Since our daughter, Mekenzie, took over most the baking in our household around the age of ten, she's been the one creating.  Not baking often in several years, there is a favorite go-to of mine. When looking through the pages for the recipe, to my surprise the magazine was dated back to 1997.  Thinking to myself, really where has the time gone? or for those of you who know me, I was thinking "wow, I still have this magazine!" The days my parents talked about remembering back twenty years, my thoughts were "that's a long time to remember back on".  Now the time has passed and many more years than that for me. Fortunately, the magazine was kept with my recipes so it didn't get thrown away!

One of our prize possessions for us baking is Kitchen Aid.  We didn't have one for years, it makes cooking and baking very enjoyable! This recipe is delightful, the batter comes out creamy and fluffy every time.  Plenty of cake batter to make a small cake and two dozen cupcakes to share. It's rich and moist. Whipped up, baked and ready for the icing, let's see how it all turns out on the decorating side of things.

Can't tell you how full of activities my days get. For today, between running to Publix to pick up the chocolate I thought was in the cabinet, answering phone calls and talking with prospective clients most the morning and throughout the day (yes, we own our own business so always ready to talk!), to friends calling and spending sweet quality time on the beach together, it is a gorgeous day out! I have yet to make the icing. With a few errands that are a must, picking up boat oil, Richard is booked with charters day after day and if I don't get that oil we are in trouble, washing supplies and can't forget Mark's gift I better get on the ball. It's 2:30 PM, I'm running out for the oil and the other items, I will try and share the rest of how this cake turns out as my day unfolds.

What used to take about thirty minutes is now well over an hour or more.  Our small town of Cocoa Beach is quickly becoming a place of crowded streets and drivers from the unknown.  Taking the back road doesn't work anymore either. It's been discovered, the quaint little town of Cocoa Beach to be a place everyone needs to visit.  Off my soapbox, got things accomplished! I can always count on John Larson of Beach Marine to be in and provide me with timely service filing my oil containers. Picked up Mark's birthday gift but missed the pool supply place as they close early on Saturdays. I know better than to wait to run errands later in the day, the early bird always gets the worm! Really, it all worked out until I look at the frosting recipe and realize this cake might not get done anytime soon.

Getting back to the house around 4 o'clock, immediately I began to make the icing. It's been a while since I used this recipe and had forgotten it takes about two hours to cool and thicken after being on the stove. We have dinner plans with Mark and Sandee at 5:30PM. My hubby is still not home from his charter and we have a boat to wash and get ready for tomorrow before we can leave the house. Not to mention showering and getting dressed up. Think I better get a jump start putting my hair in curlers!

The recipe says to check every fifteen minutes to see if it's cooled but will take up to two hours.  So, which is it? Fifteen minutes it might be ready or the full two hours?  Oh well, if icing on the cake were my only concerns each day life would be a bit boring.

Richard arrived home a little after five o'clock, we unloaded and washed the boat together.  By the time we were getting out the door, it was close to six.  The icing still was not thick enough to decorate the cake so with the bowl and cake in hand we headed to Mark and Sandees.  We enjoyed a delicious steak dinner Mark grilled on his Egg with a good time of fellowship.  Afterward, I spread the frosting on the cake and must say it was certainly the worst looking I've ever done before.

It's chocolate, really you can't go wrong. We continued to enjoy a nice evening celebrating Mark's birthday, eating chocolate cake and ice cream!

Looks Are Deceiving, The Cake was Excellent!

Here is the Recipe
It is well worth it!

Moist Devil's Food Cake

Makes Three 8 - Inch Layers

Dutch-process cocoa mixed with boiling water gives this cake a richer color and stronger chocolate flavor.

3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pans
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
4 large whole eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange two racks in center of oven. Line bottoms of three 8-by-2-inch buttered cake pan with parchment.  Dust bottoms and sides with cocoa; tap out excess.  Sift cocoa; whisk with boiling water.  Let cool.
2. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on low until light and fluffy, and gradually beat in the sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes; scrape down sides twice. Beat in the vanilla.
3. Gradually drizzle in eggs, beating between each addition until batter is no longer slick, scraping down sides twice.
4. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt.  Whisk together the cocoa mixture with the milk.  With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding flour mixture and cocoa mixture, a little of each at a time, starting and ending with the flour.  Divide evenly into the three pans.  Bake 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the pans for even baking, if needed until a cake tester inserted into the center of each comes out clean.  Let cool on a wire rack, about 15 minutes.  Remove the cakes from the pans and return to rack to cool, tops up.
5. To assemble, remove papers from bottoms of cakes.  Save the prettiest layer for the top.  Place one layer on the serving platter; spread with 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate frosting, and repeat with second layer, top with the third.  Cover outside of cake with remaining 3 cups frosting.

Chocolate Frosting

Makes 6 Cups

Spread the icing as soon as it is sufficiently chilled; it keeps its shape well on the cake.

24 ounces semisweet chocolate morsels
4 cups whipping cream
1 teaspoon light corn syrup

Place chocolate and cream in heavy saucepan.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, until combined and thickened, 20 to 25 minutes.  Increase heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring, 3 minutes more.  Remove from heat; stir in corn syrup.  Transfer to a large metal bowl; refrigerate.  Check every 15 to 20 minutes; stir until cool enough to spread, about 2 hours.  Spread on cooled Moist Devil's Food Cake.