Devil's Food Cake Cockaigne
with Chocolate Fudge Icing
This is a recipe out of The Joy of Cooking. I liked it because it took making a chocolate cake about as far as one could go in the direction of including chocolate. For suitable celebrations, a glass of champagne goes well with it. For less extreme occasions, a cup of coffee from freshly ground beans will suffice. It is a quality of cake suitable for feeding bite-by-bite to a close friend.
Devil's Food Cake Cockaigne
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Prepare the following custard:
Cook and stir in a double boiler over — not in — boiling water:
- 2 to 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 egg yolk
Remove from the heat when thickened. Have other ingredients at about 70°F (21°C). Sift before measuring:
- 2 cups cake flour
Resift with:
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Beat until soft: ½ cup butter
Add and cream until light: 1 cup sifted sugar.
Beat in one at a time: 2 egg yolks
Add the flour to the butter mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the following mixture:
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir the batter until smooth after each addition. Stir in the chocolate custard.
Whip until stiff, but not dry: 2 egg whites.
Fold them lightly into the cake batter. Bake in greased pan about 25 minutes. Spread when cool with Chocolate Fudge Icing.
If you come to a fork in the road, take it. — Yogi Berra