Devil's Food White Out Cake

In the weekend I always try to opt for something easy to make, no fuss. Everyone is at home and I hate baking while everyone is carefully watching. Urgh! It doesn't make me nervous, but rather very impatient. I found Dorie Greenspan's 'Devil's Food White Out Cake' on a blog somewhere, and it seemed like a easy, delicious cake to make. Easy it was, delicious ... not so much. The cake is waaay too chocolate-y for my liking, almost like a brownie and I don't like brownies. The meringue icing is just blah. It has a weird taste because of the syrup. I normally use an adapted version of Nigella Lawson's 'Love Buns' meringue icing, which is so much better. Rating: 2 out of 5. Btw, this is the cake pictured on the cover of 'Baking: From My Home To Yours".

Devil's Food White Out Cake recipe: Dorie Greenspan - Baking From My Home To Yours.

Ingredients for cake:
- 1 1/3 cups plain flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ¾ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 150g butter, room temperature
- ½ cup packed brown sugar (I used light)
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 55g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
- ½ cup buttermilk or whole milk, room temperature
- ½ cup boiling water
- 115g dark chocolate, finely chopped (I used 100g)

Ingredients for frosting:
- 4 egg whites
- 1 cup sugar
- ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans, and line with non-stick baking paper.
- To make the cake, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, preferably fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugars and continue to beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition, and then add the vanilla extract.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the melted chocolate. When fully incorporated, add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter. At this point the batter will be thick, like frosting.
- Mix in the boiling water on low speed, then with a rubber spatula, scrape down the bowl and stir in the chopped chocolate. Divide the batter evenly between the baking pans and smooth the tops with the spatula.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pans at the halfway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center will come out clean. Transfer the cake pans to a rack and cool for about 5 minutes, then remove from the pans and cool to room temperature.
- (I omitted this part, the cakes were really thin so it would be difficult to layer them, remembering I wanted to make something very easy) When you are ready to fill and frost the cake, inspect the layers, level them off and cut each cake in half horizontally using a long serrated knife. Set 3 layers aside and crumble the fourth layer. Set the crumbs aside.
- To make the frosting, put the egg whites in a clean dry mixer bowl. Have a candy thermometer at hand. Put the sugar, cream of tartar and water in a medium size saucepan and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, cover the pan and boil for 3 minutes. Uncover and allow to syrup to boil until it reaches 117ºC/242ºF on the candy thermometer.
- While the syrup is cooking, start beating the eggs. If the whites form firm, shiny peaks before the syrup reaches temperature, reduce the mixer speed to low and keep mixing the whites until the syrup catches up. With the mixer at medium speed, and standing back slightly, carefully pour in the hot syrup between the beaters and the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and keep beating until the egg whites are room temperature, about 5 minutes. It should be smooth, shiny and marshmallowy.
- To assemble, place the bottom layer cut side up on a cake plate. Using a long metal icing spatula, cover generously with frosting. Top with a second layer, cut side up and frost it. Finish with the third layer, cut side down and frost the sides and top of the cake. Then cover the entire cake with the chocolate cake crumbs, gently pressing into the filling with your fingers. Refrigerate the cake for about 1 hour before serving.


The cakes before their trip into the oven.

... After their trip into the oven. The cakes are really spongy and moist, like a store-bought cake mix.

I topped it off with some cocoa powder.

I love the different colors of brown in this picture; dark brown from the cake and light brown from the cocoa.

My weekend-treat!