Devil's Food Cake

I was supposed to make this for my husband for Valentine's Day but then our little Peanut arrived early and it through a spanner in our V-Day plans. So a month later I finally got around to making it. This is based on a Nigella Lawson recipe. Verdict was the cake was perfect but the icing not so much. Maybe a softer buttery icing next time.

Devil's Food Cake

Ingredients

For Cake;

50 grams best-quality cocoa powder

100 grams dark brown muscovado sugar (I used brown sugar)

250 millilitres boiling water

125 grams soft vegan butter (plus some for greasing)

150 grams vegan sugar

225 grams plain GF flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 egg replacers (I used Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg)

For Frosting;

125 millilitres water

30 grams dark brown muscovado sugar (I used brown sugar)

175 grams unsalted butter

300 grams vegan dark chocolate (finely chopped)


Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

Line the bottoms of two 20cm / 8inch round sandwich tins with baking parchment and butter the sides. (I had to use the same pan in two batches.

Put the cocoa and 100g / half cup dark muscovado sugar into a bowl with a bit of space to spare, and pour in the boiling water. Whisk to mix, then set aside.

Cream the butter and caster sugar together, beating well until pale and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, stir the flour, baking powder and bicarb togetherl, and set aside for a moment.

Dribble the vanilla extract into the creamed butter and sugar – mixing all the while – then drop in 1 egg replacer, quickly followed by a scoopful of flour mixture, then the second egg replacer.

Keep mixing and incorporate the rest of the dried ingredients for the cake, then finally mix and fold in the cocoa mixture, scraping its bowl well with a spatula.

Divide the batter between the 2 prepared tins and put in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Take the tins out and leave them on a wire rack for 5–10 minutes, before turning the cakes out to cool.

For frosting: put the water, 30g / 2 tablespoons muscovado sugar and 175g / 1 1/2 sticks butter in a pan over a low heat to melt.

When this mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, swirling the pan so that all the chocolate is hit with heat, then leave for a minute to melt before whisking till smooth and glossy.

Leave for about 1 hour, whisking now and again – when you’re passing the pan – by which time the cakes will be cooled, and ready for the frosting. I found this didn't by itself so I put it in the fridge and then in the microwave for 10-20 seconds before frosting the cake.

Set one of the cooled cakes, with its top side down, on a cake stand or plate, and spread with about a third of the frosting, then top that with the second cake, regular way up, and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides, swirling away with your spatula.
I used a cookie cutter to contain the sprinkles into the heart shape, pressed them into the frosting, then removed the cutter.