There's chocolate cake and then there's Devil's Food Cake. Devil's Food Cake is everything that chocolate cake should be! Sinfully rich and moist with a ridiculously intense chocolate flavour.
This recipe is my absolute favourite chocolate cake recipe to date. It's easy, quick and always turns out perfectly.
I layer my cakes with a whipped chocolate ganache frosting. Whipped ganache has a beautiful velvety texture, a rich chocolate flavour and isn't overly sweet.
How To Make Devil's Food Cake
These cakes are almost too easy! Start by mixing together all of the dry ingredients except the insant coffee granules.
In a separate bowl, dissolve the instant coffee granules in boiling water.
Whisk in the remaining wet ingredients.
Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Distribute evenly among two 20 cm (8 inch) round cake tins and bake until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
The whipped ganache comes next. Place the dark chocolate into a medium bowl and pour over hot cream. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.
Stir until smooth and shiny. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Whisk on high speed in an electric mixer for about 8-10 minutes or until soft peaks form. This can take awhile, especially if your ganache is still hot! Don't stress, you will eventually get a light and airy whipped frosting.
Adding a little bit of icing sugar at this stage will let the ganache firm up. Add the icing sugar and beat for another minute or until you get stiff peaks.
Once the cakes have cooled, you're ready to begin frosting them! Place one cake onto a large serving plate. I place the plate onto a cake turntable which makes decorating super easy!
Spread a quarter of the whipped ganache frosting over the first cake.
Place the second cake upside-down on top of the first.
Spread half of the remaining ganache on top of the cake. Use what's left of the ganache to cover the sides. I use a long palette knife (flat spatula) to evenly spread the ganache.
Smooth out the ganache as much as possible. It doesn't have to be perfect!
And there you have it! The best chocolate cake ever. Watch as it magically disappears as soon as you serve it up!
Devil's Food Cake
This sinfully rich layered chocolate cake is dangerously easy to make. Perfectly moist, ultra chocolatey and ridiculously simple. Topped with a fluffy whipped chocolate ganache, this Devil's Food Cake is perfect for even the biggest chocolate addict.
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cakes
- 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 1 tsp instant coffee granules
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
For the Whipped Chocolate Ganache
- 1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
- 400 g (14 oz) block of dark or semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup icing sugar / confectioners sugar
Instructions
For the Chocolate Cakes
- Preheat the oven to 160 C (320 F). Grease and line TWO x 20 cm (8 inch) round cake tins with baking paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt. Stir in sugars.
- In a separate medium mixing bowl, whisk together boiling water and instant coffee powder until coffee granules dissolve. Whisk in canola oil, milk, eggs, vinegar and vanilla essence.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Pour in wet ingredients. Whisk together until well combined. A few lumps is fine.
- Pour batter evenly among prepared tins (I use a ladle to evenly distribute the batter). Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
For the Whipped Chocolate Ganache
- In a medium heat-proof bowl, microwave the cream on full power for 90 seconds or until very hot and just beginning to bubble.
- Add chopped chocolate and allow the cream and chocolate to sit for 5 minutes.
- Stir together until chocolate has melted in completely. If the chocolate isn't melting, microwave the ganache in short 10 second bursts, stirring well in between, until smooth. Allow the ganache to cool for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Transfer ganache to the large bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat on the highest speed for 8-10 minutes or until ganache is pale and fluffy, and holds a soft peak.
- Sift over icing sugar and whisk for another 2 minutes or until ganache is a bit stiffer. Set ganache aside at room temperature until you are ready to assemble the cake. If the ganache begins to set too hard, beat for 30 seconds to loosen.
To Assemble
- Place one cooled cake onto a large plate or serving board. Take a quarter of the ganache frosting and place on top of the first cake. Using a palette knife or flat bladed knife, spread out evenly over the top of the cake.
- Place the second cake upside down onto the first cake. Top with half of remaining ganache. Spread out evenly in a thick layer over the top of the cake, pressing any excess ganache down the sides of the cake.
- Using the remaining ganache, cover the sides of the cake in a thick layer and smooth out using your palette knife or flat bladed knife. Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve. The ganache will continue to get firmer over the next couple of hours. Enjoy!
Notes
Storage
- You can keep cake refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
- To freeze the chocolate cakes (without frosting), allow to cool completely then wrap tightly in clingwrap and place in zip-loc or freezer bags. Keep for up to 6 months frozen. To thaw, allow to defrost at room temperature for 6 hours or overnight then cover with ganache as normal.
Substitutions & Tips
- Flour: you can substitute 1 1/2 cups of self-raising flour with 1 1/2 cups of plain flour combined with 3 tsp of baking powder.
- Baking soda: you can substitute 1 tsp of baking soda with 2 tsp of baking powder.
- Oil: you can substitute canola oil for any type of vegetable oil. Note that if you're using a rich olive oil it may change the flavour of the cake.
- Vinegar: you can replace the white vinegar with any other mildly flavoured vinegar (apple cider, malt, red wine, white wine, dark).
- Instant coffee: You can replace both 1/2 cup boiling water + 1 tsp of instant coffee granules with 1/3 cup boiling water + 1 shot of espresso.
- Chocolate: many chocolate chips aren't designed to be melted down. If you want to use chocolate chips instead of a block of chocolate, make sure they are high quality (not labelled 'compound' or 'candy melts'). Substitute the 400 g blocks of dark chocolate with 400 g (14 oz / 2 heaped cups) of dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- Whipped chocolate ganache: if you have a favourite icing or frosting recipe, you can use that instead. You can also use a tub of ready-made frosting if desired.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1/10th of CakeAmount Per Serving: Calories: 805Total Fat: 48gSaturated Fat: 15.6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 19.2gCholesterol: 70.8mgSodium: 195mgCarbohydrates: 86.4gFiber: 3.8gSugar: 68.6gProtein: 7.9g
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