Devil's Food Cake

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN "Devil's Food Cake - Şeytan Çikolata Giyer"
PER ITALIANO "Torta del Diavolo"

As soon as I saw the breathtaking Devil's Food Cake of Cafe Fernando I knew I was in love! This seducing cake, which Cenk prepared for Design Sponge, appeals to the taste buds as well as the eyes.

There were basically two things that I'd been waiting for to make the cake: 
1. A special occasion, 2. Biscoff Spread (or Speculoos Cream)
I finally decided that the special occasion would be my own birthday. 
However I was not able to find Biscoff Spread in Italy. If someday I happen to see some Lotus biscuits on the shelves I intend to make the cream myself.

Considering Cenk's advises and replies to those like myself who were not able to find the Biscoff spread, I decided to go with a combination of Milk & Hazelnut Spread and Peanut Butter. I don't know how the Biscoff addition tastes exactly but the mixture that I used turned out splendidly. Everyone asked me what that background flavour was.

As an additional note, I am not very fond of buttercream. I know it works wonderfully while decorating cakes, I occasionally used it too, however the taste of it just doesn't work for me. I believe this cream could be good alternative to buttercream unless there is a particular colour you need for your cake obviously.

I would like to thank Cenk very much for his exquisite recipe, incredibly detailed instructions and his patience... It took me a while to read all the comments.. I was patient as well to read them all in both English and Turkish ;)

Before I proceed to the recipe let me mention briefly of my modest birthday.

Every holiday in Italy, every feast and celebration, every special day no matter how big or small is an unmissable opportunity to eat altogether and .. a lot! ;)

We decided to have an appetizing and rather light birthday supper based on seafood. (We as in my mother in law and I. I remember mentioning about her in several posts, Lucia is a great cook indeed and I have so much to learn from her)

As you can see in the pictures above, Lucia prepared:

Cuttlefish, Shrimp and Squid Salad with Oven Baked Cherry Tomatoes and Pickles
Cuttlefish and Potato Salad with Olives
Scampi (Norway Lobster)
Smoked Swordfish with Orange Slices
Stuffed Squid
Puff Pastry Wrapped Prawns and
Roasted Peppers

I prepared:

Sweet Potato Frittata, which is one of my recent favourites (so I finally used up all the sweet potatoes I had at home) 
Bread Wreath with Smoked Salmon, Spinach and Walnuts 
Smoked Tuna with Pineapple, Pear, Rocket,Cream Cheese (Philadelphia) and Balsamic Dressing
Fennel and Orange Salad with Olives and Walnuts dressed with Balsamic Vinaigrette

And of course all accompanied by a nice bottle of white wine ;)

Now let's talk about the ingredients you'll need for the cake...

As I said before, I substituted Biscoff Spread with a mixture of Milk & Hazelnut Cream and Peanut Butter. If you are able to get Biscoff, use that one instead. Or you can do it my way if you wish so.

For chocolate shards:
120g dark chocolate (70% cacao), broken into pieces


For cake:
70g water
80g milk
50g unsweetened cocoa powder (some more for pans)

210g flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
150g butter, softened (some more for pans)
300g sugar
3 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Ganache Cream:
150g dark chocolate (70% cacao), broken into pieces
150g milk chocolate, broken into pieces
330g hazelnut cream
70g peanut butter
400g heavy cream, cold


Preparation:

Preparing chocolate shards:

• As first thing, cut 2 sheets of baking paper, each is about 36 x 40 cm.
• Chop chocolate 8 seconds on Speed 8.

• Melt it for 3 minutes at 60°C on Speed 2-3.
• Pour melted chocolate over the first sheet of baking sheet placed on your work surface.

• Spread it with a spatula in a thin and even layer, leaving about 1 cm space from the edges. Work in a quick manner. (If you are not fast enough it is going to be hard to work with the chocolate as it tends to set quickly resulting imperfections. This is why I skipped taking pictures of this step)
• Place the second sheet of baking paper on top and gently press to release the air bubbles. Starting with one short end, roll it tightly. Place it seam side down in a rimmed baking tray. Put a rather heavy object next to it so that it wouldn't move. (It fitted crosswise perfectly into my tray so I did not have to put anything next to it)

• Chill in the fridge until set, for at least 2 hours. 

• Before you remove the rolled chocolate have a large baking tray lined with baking paper ready. Unroll the tube in one quick motion, which creates the chocolate shards. Remove the top sheet of baking paper, with the help of a spatula transfer them gently into the tray lined with baking sheet. Refrigerate chocolate shards until ready to use. (Cenk says you can prepare them even 3 days in advance.)

Preparing Cake:

• Grease two 20 cm cake pans and line the bottoms with baking paper. Grease the baking papers as well, dust the pans with cocoa powder, tap out the excess cocoa. (I covered the pans entirely with baking paper but you'd have better neat looking cakes if you follow the instructions above)

• Put water and milk in TM Bowl, warm for 3 - 3,5 minutes at 90°C on Speed 1-2.
• Start Thermomix on Speed 3-4. Add cocoa powder slowly through the hole of the lid and mix for 40 seconds.
• Mix other 10 seconds on Speed 6, set aside, let it cool.

• Sift flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and mix.
• In a clean TM Bowl place butter and sugar. Beat for 1 minute on Speed 3-4. 
• And then beat for other 2 minutes on Speed 4.

• Start Thermomix on Speed 3-4. Add eggs one at a time through the hole of the lid. Mix for 40 seconds.
• Add vanilla and mix for 10 seconds on Speed 4. Scrape down the sides with spatula.

• Start Thermomix on Speed 3-4. Through the hole of the lid add 1/3 of flour, 1/2 of cocoa milk, 1/3 of flour, the remaining cocoa milk and the remaining flour respectively. Beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides with spatula.

• Beat for other 20 seconds on Speed 4-5.
• Divide batter evenly into the pans and smooth the tops with a spatula. 
• Bake in preheated oven at 175°C for 25-30 minutes, check with toothpick test. 
• Remove the pans, let the cakes cool in the pans for a few minutes.

• Take the cakes out and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Preparing Ganache:

• Place dark and milk chocolates in TM Bowl, chop for 10 seconds on Speed 8.

• Melt for 2 minutes at 50°C on Speed 2-3. Scrape down the sides with spatula and continue for other 2 minutes at 50°C on Speed 2-3.

• Add hazelnut cream and peanut butter, mix for 1 - 1.5 minutes on Speed 3-4. Scrape down the sides.

• Insert butterfly, add cold cream and beat for 1 minute on Speed 3-4.

• Allow ganache to rest a while in the fridge until thickens into a spreadable cream. 

• Remove the top crusts to flatten the surface of the cakes using a long knife. 
• Place the 1st cake into serving plate with the trimmed side facing up. Spread eavenly 1/3 of the ganache on the top. 
• Place the second cake on the top with the trimmed side facing down. Coat entirely with the remaining ganache. 
• Take the chocolate shards out of the fridge, gently stick the shards to the ganache using tweezers (preferably previously chilled in the fridge). Stick long pieces on the sides and use the remaining smaller pieces on the top. (Even if I chilled my tweezers, I didn't use them, I made the whole thing with my bare hands. For the first time in my life my perpetually icy cold hands served a purpose ! :) I didn't want to risk melting the shards though, so no pics for this step)
• Let it rest in the fridge until the ganache set and then serve.

Enjoy...


And finally let the feast begin ! :)

Evgheniy, the cake and the shards... :)

I would like to thank everyone for being there for me with their love or wishes.
I treasure them all...


Adapted with a few changes from Devil's Food Cake recipe of Cafe Fernando.