Devil's Food Cake: A Moist Chocolate Cake

A search for a moist chocolate cake recipe is definitely not easy, especially when you have to bake it and test it out for yourself if the moistness claimed is as per what you are expecting it to be. What more, when hubby suggested to have chocolate cake as my mother in law's birthday cake. Pressure is on, and the frantic search began. Tried two recipes but they ended up in a disaster.

I was at the verge of giving up till I was browsing through this book, The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri. I was pretty impressed by the way he put the book together - writing his experiences in baking along the way and filled with detailed instructions which are hard to come by these days which is one reason why I seldom buy recipes books from the bookstore anymore. However, this book is an exceptional, and I'm so going to keep this book.

So, I was looking at other recipes initially, till this title and photo caught my eyes

Pretty isn't it? Too bad, my dressing skills are not that good yet, so I dressed it with fondant. 

And this is how my cake looks like... nowhere near the professional done-up cake. :p

Anyway, this is the recipe:

Devil's Food Cake

Makes one 9-inch (23-cm) 2-layer cake, about 12 servings

CAKE BATTER

• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour (spoon flour into a dry-measure cup and level off)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3 ounces (75 grams) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• ¾ cup milk or buttermilk
• Two 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pans, 2 inches (5 cm) deep, buttered and the bottoms lined with disks of parchment or buttered wax paper cut to fit

Author's Note:

"This is an American classic, and this is about the best recipe I’ve ever come up with for it.

A devil’s food cake should be very chocolatey and also very moist, two qualities that don’t often coincide in this type of cake. Using brown sugar here makes all the difference—it makes the cake super moist and also boosts the chocolate flavor."

How To: 

1. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F (180°C).

2. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir well to mix.

3. Combine the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat with the paddle on medium speed until lightened in color and texture, 3 to 4 minutes.

4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in the cooled chocolate.

5. Decrease the mixer speed to lowest and add 1⁄3 of the flour mixture. Stop and scrape down the bowl and paddle.

6. Beat in half the milk and stop and scrape the bowl and beater.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 adding half of the flour and the remaining milk. Stop and scrape. Beat in the remaining flour mixture.

8. Increase the speed to medium and beat the batter continuously for 3 minutes.

9. Divide the batter equally between the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake the layers until they are well risen and feel firm when pressed in the centre with a fingertip, 25 to 30 minutes.

10. Cool in the pans on racks for 5 minutes, then unmold, turn right side up again and cool completely on racks.