We learned on Friday that Flo Braker has died. Do you know the name? She was not as famous as Julia Child, but, she was surely as important, one of the seminal bakers in America in the last century. She wrote only three cookbooks, but hundreds of newspaper columns. She taught thousands in her baking classes and thrilled millions with her recipes. This is a fine example, the ultimate Devil’s Food cake. Flo was a perfectionist, willing to try and try and try until a recipe was perfect. Not perfect yet? Don’t publish. Any recipe you can find from Flo has two key features: it will be delicious and it will work flawlessly. Flo was an American treasure just as this cake is.
There are a hundred versions of Devils Food Cake, or Devil’s if you still believe in English grammar. The “standard” ingredients have shifted substantially over the past century. Variations abound: with chocolate or with cocoa, with sour cream or with buttermilk or both. With water, even, as appears here in a lovely version from Flo Braker.
For frosting I avoid the typical dark chocolate versions and prefer just a simple vanilla buttercream. The stark, cool sweetness of that frosting is the perfect foil for the intensity of the cake itself. This cake is for all seasons, winter to fall.
This post is appearing on a Monday, when you might not have time to make a cake from scratch. But, you can defrost. Consider making a stack of these cakes, freezing, and then treating your family to a treat on any busy worknight.
Devils Food Cake
Yield: serves 10 to 12
Ingredients:
- 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- A good pinch of salt
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 very large eggs, separated
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup water, at room temperature
Preparation:
Prepare 3 8-inch cake pans or 2 9-inch pans. Butter the bottoms and line with parchment paper, then butter the parchment.
Put the chopped chocolate, sour cream, and brown sugar into a heavy saucepan and set over very low heat. Stir occasionally until melted and smooth but don’t let the mixture become hot. Remove from the heat and set aside until needed.
Sift the flour with the salt, cocoa, and baking soda onto a sheet of wax paper and set aside.
Put the butter into a bowl and, using a wooden spoon or electric beaters, beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the sugar. Beat well, then beat in the egg yolks one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract. Mix in the flour mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, alternately with the water (if using the mixer, use low speed and mix as little as possible). When thoroughly blended, work in the melted chocolate mixture. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then gently fold into the mixture with a large metal spoon.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared pans, to fill evenly, then bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 25 minutes for the smaller cakes or 30 minutes for the larger ones. The cakes are cooked when they spring back when gently pressed in the center and have slightly shrunk away from the sides of the pans.
Let cool for 5 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack, remove the parchment paper, and cool completely.
Frost as desired, or just top with whipped cream.
Source: Baking for All Occasions by Flo Braker [Chronicle, 2008
Photo Information: Canon T2i, 18-55mm Macro Lens, f/4.5, 1/40th second, ISO-2000