An incredibly rich chocolate cake that's absolutely irresistible — a true dream for chocoholics! In America there's a very popular cake known as "Devil's Food Cake," and its name likely comes from the fact that it's so intensely chocolatey it's practically sinful. I used that cake as a base and turned it into a full layer cake by adding a creamy frosting. I made the frosting with heavy cream and cream cheese — the cream cheese gives it a pleasant tang that pairs beautifully with the rich chocolate layers, creating a wonderfully balanced contrast. The cake turned out incredibly delicious, deeply chocolatey, and not overly sweet. It's also surprisingly simple to make, so keep this one in your back pocket for the upcoming holidays. This is exactly the kind of cake you'll want when you've already spent all your energy on other dishes and have no desire to tackle anything complicated — that's when the "Devil's" Chocolate Cake comes to the rescue! Minimum effort, stunning results — I guarantee it!
Ingredients:
- Cake layers:
- 250 g flour
- 250 g sugar
- 150 ml kefir
- 100 g vegetable oil
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 200 ml hot coffee (3 tsp coffee + boiling water)
- Frosting:
- 300 g heavy cream 30–36%
- 200 g cream cheese
- 100 g powdered sugar
- Ganache:
- 200 g chocolate (I used 56%)
- 200 g heavy cream 30–36%
How to cook "devil's" chocolate cake
Make the cake layers. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl you'll use to mix the batter. Stir together. The cocoa absolutely must be very high quality — this is extremely(!) important, as cocoa is the foundation of the cake's flavor.
In a separate bowl, mix together the kefir, eggs, sugar, vanilla sugar, and vegetable oil. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until a thick batter forms.
Brew a strong cup of coffee. I used regular instant coffee dissolved in boiling water. You can't actually taste the coffee in the finished cake, but in my opinion it definitely gives the layers a richer, more complex depth of flavor. If you'd rather not use coffee for any reason, plain boiling water works just fine. Immediately pour the hot coffee into the batter and mix well — the batter will go from thick to almost liquid. That's completely normal.
Grease the sides of your baking pan with butter and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. My pan is 22 cm in diameter. Pour the batter into the pan. Since the batter is quite thin, if you're worried about your pan leaking, wrap the outside tightly with foil along the bottom before baking.
Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for 25–50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the finished cake layer cool completely.
Make the frosting. Whip the heavy cream until thick and voluminous. Add the cream cheese and powdered sugar, then whip again until well combined and fluffy.
Assemble the cake. If the cake layer has domed on top, trim it flat with a knife, then slice the layer horizontally into two even layers. Place the first layer on your serving surface.
Place the second cake layer on top. Refrigerate for a couple of hours, or at least for the time it takes to make the ganache.
Make the ganache. Heat the heavy cream until very hot but not boiling. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, broken into pieces.
Begin stirring. At first the mixture may look uneven and grainy, but keep stirring vigorously until it becomes completely smooth, glossy, and shiny. Let it cool.
If desired, sprinkle the top with something decorative — I used sliced almonds, but shredded coconut, chopped nuts, and similar toppings all work great.
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