We continue celebrating the best gastronomic events of our 2023 calendar with one of the sweetest, most delicious, chocolatey and richest. We are referring to Chocolate Cake Day, or Chocolate Cake, which is celebrated every January 27. And the fact is that cakes are a magnificent sweet that always accompanies us in our best moments: celebrations, birthdays, parties… That is why it was essential that they had their own date on the calendar. So if you want to celebrate this day so sweet, join us to learn more about this date and to know a great recipe to celebrate it.
Chocolate is a very important sweet, an essential ingredient in most of our pastry recipes. Chocolate is obtained from cocoa, a fundamental food for many years, which also has centuries of history. But over the years its enormous importance in gastronomy has stood out. It is also attributed with a multitude of benefits and properties (as long as it is pure cocoa).
World Chocolate Cake Day, a date for those with a sweet tooth
Every January 27th we celebrate World Chocolate Cake Day, a date to commemorate this fantastic sweet of which we have hundreds and hundreds of versions. Chocolate cakes date back to no less than 1828.
And, although we have not managed to find the exact origin of this date, nor its creator, what is clear is that it is a fantastic day to commemorate this fantastic sweet that gives us so much joy. In addition, we have a multitude of ways to celebrate the Day of the Cake or Chocolate Cake, but from TasteOfRecipes, we are going to propose one of the most chocolatey ways: preparing a spectacular Devil’s Cake. Join us to see the recipe:
Devil’s Food Cake, Devil’s Cake recipe a sinful cake
Undoubtedly, a great way to celebrate Chocolate Cake Day is to prepare one of the richest and most popular cakes of this flavor, such as Devil’s Food Cake. For it is a very moist and juicy cake, with a powerful and delicious flavor, which will delight everyone. Moreover, it requires no work at all. Contrary to what this striking name may lead you to believe, preparing a devil’s cake is very simple.
This recipe, originally from the United States, appeared for the first time in 1902 in the book “Mrs. Rorer New Cook Book” by Sarah Tyson Rorer. So it is relatively recent. Especially when compared to the 5,500 years that mankind has been consuming cocoa. But it was not until 1828, as we will see below, that chocolate came into wider use. And in such a short time, recipes of all kinds and for all tastes appeared, such as the Devil’s Cake.
A great recipe to celebrate this day
To make this cake we will first make the sponge cake, simply mixing the necessary ingredients to obtain a homogeneous dough, and then baking, we will have the base of our Devil’s Food Cake ready.
Here you will see one of the first characteristics of the devil’s food cake, and that is the use of water for the dough. Because other bizccohos or cakes are made only with milk, without water. Also in the elaboration of the sponge cake we find another of the characteristics of the devil’s cake: the use of coffee.
When we have finished the cake, we can continue with the icing. This topping is a ganache. Which is nothing more than a chocolate cream based elaboration. In addition, we are going to use this cream in the filling as well as in the frosting. And now we will have our Devil’s Cake ready, perfect to celebrate Chocolate Cake Day. Do you dare to celebrate it?
Devil’s Food Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the sponge cake
- 230 g Flour
- 290 ml Milk
- 240 ml Boiling water
- 150 g Butter (at room temperature)
- 3 Eggs
- 65 g Cocoa powder
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Sachet Yeast powder
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Salt
- 350 g Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Coffee (if it can be freshly brewed, the better)
For the topping
- 200 g Icing Sugar
- 40 g Cocoa powder
- 70 g Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 100 ml Cream
Instructions
For the sponge cake
- Let's start by making the sponge cake. First, in a bowl, we are going to mix (previously sifted) the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Mix well and set aside.
- In a pot, bring the water to boil, when it starts to boil, add the cocoa and mix well. Until it dissolves completely.
- In another bowl, beat the butter, which should be at room temperature, with the sugar. Beat well until the two ingredients are combined.Add the eggs, one at a time while continuing to beat. Beat well until the eggs are integrated before adding the next egg.
- In the same bowl as the butter and eggs, add a little vanilla extract and the cocoa that we had dissolved in the water.Also add the milk and coffee and mix well.
- When you have a homogeneous dough, start incorporating the dry ingredients. Add them in three times. Incorporate a third of the dry ingredients mixture, and mix well. Do this until all the flour is incorporated.
- We put the dough to bake in a mold previously greased with butter and flour. Preheat the oven to 180ºC, and once preheated, bake our cake for 40-45 minutes. Check from time to time so that it does not burn.After this time, check that it is well done by pricking it with a toothpick. If it comes out dry, it is ready
- Once baked, allow to cool and unmold.
We continue with the coverage.
- In a bowl, mix well the cocoa powder, which you will have sieved, with the powdered sugar. Add the butter in ointment and mix well (the texture will be like crumbs, you will not get a homogeneous dough. Do not worry, it is like that).
- Continue adding the vanilla extract and cream little by little, while mixing. Mix well until you get a spreadable dough.
- Once the frosting is ready, we begin to assemble the cake. First, we will cut our cake in two, with a horizontal cut, as straight as possible. If you have a cake cutter, it will be a great help.
- Cover one of the sponge cakes with the frosting, spreading it well with a spatula. Cover with the second cake and repeat the process, covering it completely with the frosting. Also the sides.Your Devil's Food Cake is ready!
Some curiosities to celebrate Chocolate Cake Day
Now that we have seen a spectacular recipe to celebrate Chocolate Cake Day, let’s take a look at some curiosities about this sweet with so many followers. Chocolate cake dates back to 1828. With so many centuries of cocoa being part of our diet, we might think that chocolate cakes have a much older history. But it was not until this date that the Dutch chemist Casparus Van Houten developed a method to extract the fat from cocoa liquor, thus obtaining cocoa butter. This discovery was responsible for the widespread use of chocolate. It also made it more economical.
Now, they could use the cocoa in many more preparations. In addition, it opened the doors of confectionery wide open, as it would no longer be such an exclusive food. Thus, in 1879, the first chocolate cakes began to appear. Back then, chocolate cakes were nothing more than sponge cakes with chocolate icing. But chocolate was not used in the cake.
It was in 1900 when the first chocolate cake recipe appeared, called “Devil’s Food Cake”, whose recipe we bring you today.This cake is so named because it was considered a sin. In the old days they said it was so delicious, it had to be a sin. And, we are sure that as soon as you try it, you will agree with this statement. If you liked it, remember to share your Devil’s Cake making with everyone to celebrate Chocolate Cake Day. Share it on social media using the hashtag #ChocolateCakeDay.
Happy Chocolate Cake Day!
And with this we finish celebrating Chocolate Cake Day, do you want to celebrate it? Remember to leave us your comments, ideas, tips… We love to read them! Don’t forget that you can also follow us on social networks to keep up to date with all our publications. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
