Devil's Food Cake

Abbey’s ever evolving palate is taking sudden twists and turns with my baby trying to be more of a sophisticated mallu in terms of what she eats.  One morning, she popped out of her own zone giving mamma shock of a lifetime by giving 3 choices for breakfast –  PICCHA (pizza), Cake, and I-CHEAM (ice cream).  For now Mamma takes pride knowing that even though her daughter finds refinement in these things, she is satisfied with spoonfuls of congee.

This fudgy cake was supposed to be my b’day cake, but was converted to Christmas cake for obvious reasons like the author was born just a few days ahead of Christmas and my clean disinterest for cakes.

So far this is Abbey’s favourite cake. She enjoyed it very much leaving our not so spotless sofa a nice smudge of chocolate.  

On a truly emotional note, Devil’s cake reminds me of how devilish part of a human being coexist with the good things in life and how we have to embrace both to lead a peaceful yet challenging life. Do you believe that beholding others the way they are is the best bet for your success?

Ingredients
Unsalted butter - 100 g
Caster sugar - 275 g
Eggs - 2 large
Self raising flour - 200 g
Cocoa powder - 75 g
Baking powder - 1 tsp
1 tbsp coffee powder mixed with 125 ml boiling water
Milk - 125 ml
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

For the frosting
Unsalted butter, diced - 125 g
Cocoa powder - 25 g
Icing sugar - 125 g
Milk - 2-3 tbsp
Dark or milk chocolate shavings

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius. Grease the cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. Uising an electric whisk, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition, until well mixed. in a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. In another bowl, mix together the cooled coffee, milk, and vanilla extract. Beat alternate spoonfuls of the dry and liquid ingredients into the cake batter. Once the mixture is well blended, divide it between the tins. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the cakes are springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Remove the baking parchment.

For the frosting, melt the butter in a pan over low heat. Add the cocoa powder and continue to cook for a minute or two, stirring frequently. Allow to cool slightly. Sift in the icing sugar, beating thoroughly to combine. Blend in the milk 1 tbsp at a time, until smooth and glossy. Allow to cool (it will thicken) and then use half to sandwich the cakes together, and the remainder to decorate the top and sides of the cake. Finally use a vegetable peeler to create chocolate shavings and scatter them evenly over the top of the cake.