It's about the season for TC's birthday. I like to make the requested dessert for whoever's birthday it is. TC requested something chocolate. We settled on Devil's Food Cake. Now, this is my second attempt at making cake from scratch. My first attempt was with yellow cake. So, might as well cover the rest of the spectrum. I am not terribly fond of cake, but maybe I will find a cake I really like one day. Maybe. 

This particular recipe I got from Taste of Home, and that's also where this ingredients list and directions are from. I'm just going to put this disclaimer at the beginning, I did not make my own frosting. I forgot to get confectioner's sugar at the store, but I did have chocolate fudge frosting at home because... well chocolate fudge, that's why. I also only made one cake, and I didn't separate it for a layer cake because I don't have the pans for that. 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2-1/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
• 2-1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
• 1 cup water

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 3-3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line bottoms of two greased 9-in. round baking pans with parchment paper; grease paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and cooled chocolate. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream and water, beating well after each addition.
3. Transfer batter to prepared pans. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to wire racks; remove paper. Cool completely.
4. For frosting, in a small heavy saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat. Remove from heat; cool 5 minutes. In a large bowl, beat confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add chocolate mixture, beating until light and fluffy. Spread between layers and over top and sides of cake. Yield: 12 servings.

Notes:
Because I didn't split the mix into two separate cakes, I had to bake it for an extra 17 minutes. So the time has basically doubled. 

My kitchenaid has seen better days, it's not currently working, so trying to cream the butter and brown sugar by hand was incredibly discouraging. It didn't help that I was using old, clumpy brown sugar. Even when it was all mixed up, it didn't look like butter and sugar normally look when creamed. Once I added the eggs, I felt a lot better about it. I actually panicked a little bit because I didn't have any room temperature eggs, then I remembered I haven't checked the chicken coop for eggs yet. Luckily there were three eggs waiting for me!

The recipe didn't specify the type of brown sugar, but I used the dark because I like molasses. ​

​You don't have to use a double boiler, I think, but it seemed like the perfect time to finally use it. It worked out really well. 

This is the most important note of all:  This is meant to be a layer cake, and I recommend making it as such. By itself, it's not terribly sweet, and that little extra layer of frosting would make it the perfect amount of sweetness. 


Review:
This cake is moist, but not too dense. It's not too sweet (which was the problem with my last cake), and balances out really well with the frosting, which is not overpowering. 

After getting the butter and sugar to cream, it was super easy to make. 

It looks like it would be really easy to make as a layer cake if I had the right pans for it. 

Total Score:
​3

fter a year of not wanting to bake (I know... I know... an entire year? Yeah. I didn't want to bake for a year.) I have gotten back into the swing of things. This year has been pretty brutal, and I'm glad it's almost over. To celebrate new things and things getting better, I have baked a few things. I will start with my very first cake from scratch. It was for a birthday, and the goal was yellow cake with chocolate fudge frosting. I decided to be dumb about it and have my first attempt be a layered. Spoiler alert: it worked out... mostly. So, lets begin! This is from the Diva's Can Cook site. Let me say this in advance, I strongly recommend having room temperature ingredients. It is more important than it seems

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened, room temperature
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs, separated, room temperature
• 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups cake flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
4. Add in egg yolks and vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated. Set aside.
5. In a seperate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.
6. Gradually add dry ingredients into wet ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk.
7. Mix until batter is fluffy but be careful not to over mix.
8. Beat egg whites until foamy and thick.
9. Very gently fold egg whites into batter and mix JUST until incorporated.
10. Pour batter into prepared pans and spread into even layers.
11. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and let cake cool in pans until pans are warm to the touch.
13. Carefully remove cakes from pan and place on a cooling rack to finish cooling.
14. When cakes are completely cooled frost with chocolate buttercream frosting.

Recipe from Divas Can Cook . " Old School Cooking For the Modern Woman"
Read Morehttp://divascancook.com/moist-yellow-cake-recipe-old-fashioned/

Yeah, it ended up being super crumbly, but put it in a bowl with some ice cream and it mixes up into the most delicious sludge. 

Notes:
Once again, I got the recipe from Divas Can Cook.

It tasted like sugar cookie. It didn't really taste like yellow cake. That's because there was WAY too much sugar in this cake. I would probably only use 1-1 1/4c of sugar instead of the 2c in the recipe. 

The recipe was easy to put together, but a mixer was absolutely necessary... I cannot beat egg whites by hand. 

A lot of the comments on the Divas Can Cook site had trouble with their cake falling. I didn't have that problem. My guess as to why that was happening to people was because they didn't use room temperature ingredients or they didn't fold the egg whites in properly. I mean, I don't think I do it properly, but I made sure it was mixed in thoroughly and I tried not to do it too much. 


Review:
This is a solid recipe and I will definitely give it another go. The cake was moist, and it did really well with the frosting. 

I have never really liked cake. On the spectrum of "cake I would eat", this is in the realm of cake I would eat. Red velvet is in the realm of cake I would not eat. 


Total Score:
​3