Devil's Food Cake with Mocha Buttercream

I feel a considerable number of bakers trace their beginnings back to their families.

An entire childhood of watching parents and grandparents in the kitchen. Keeping great-grandma's time-tested peach cobbler filed in the recipe box. Gathering on Thanksgiving to see who made the best dessert this year. Learning how to decorate sugar cookies from Dad. Sound about right?

I, however, didn't grow up smelling apple pies or chocolate cream pies at the kitchen counter. Neither of my parents is a professional baker, although they both were cooks at certain points in their lives. The fateful discovery of a long-lost sweets recipe from a great-aunt? Ha! Not in this gal's household.

I grew up on plenty of kimchi and miyukguk (seaweed soup)- and loved it. Pastries were an occasional treat, but not a single stick of butter was bought until my junior year of high school. Honestly, I can't even recall what I cooked with that butter.

Baking became this rhythm in my life even before I knew I was listening to it. Long story short, I started to bake as a way to give.

Birthdays, anniversaries, end-of-the-year farewells, holidays, and numerous thank-you occasions came by, and little me had nothing to give to the people I loved. By the time I entered third grade it was automatic for me to compare and buy my cereal by the unit price. I didn't feel unduly deprived, mind you, nor was I destitute, but I grew up knowing that money was a finite resource in my household. Simple as that.

Baking was easy. It was economical. It also had the wow factor. People liked that you took the time to mix, drop, and bake cookies from your home. Soon I began cooking up homemade fudge, separating them in little goodie bags, tied ribbons, then gifted them to loved ones who meant the world to me.

After fudge came cookies, cakes, cheesecakes, and fast forward to now and... here we are!

It's really been an amazing experience. I'm beyond grateful.

I baked this delicious cocoa cake twice, and gifted one to a dear friend.

This buddy of mine is someone who's been blessed with a good, good heart. He's sweet, kind, considerate, and all-around wonderful. Emory's been approaching the dreaded midterms week, so I baked up this cake as a "Beast All Your Exams You're Great And I Believe In You" kind of message and dropped on by. He really liked the cake. Then he bought me pizza at Fellini's.

(THANK YOU!)

Piping flowers, ribbons, dots, shells, etc. is really fun. But we live in the real world, where not everyone can or even wants to buy fancy decorating tools. Chances are you don't care too much for fancy decorations on your own cake. Maybe you just want the frosting piled haphazardly on the sides and top in an artistically messy way. That's totally cool.

But say you want a little design on your cake. And you don't have a single decorating tip or a cake comb or maybe now you're asking yourself what the heck is a decorator's comb.

Here's something I randomly came up with, because my brain works in weird ways. I just took a fork and started to draw swirls right on the cake. No special training required.

Case in point:

Your cake top doesn't have to be totally smooth. As for a small or large fork, it's really up to you.

Use the back side of the prongs to draw your swirls. The fork's much easier to maneuver that way.

And...there we have it!

No matter what your design, this is a divine chocolate cake. For a butter cake, this is really tender and not heavy at all, thanks to the buttermilk. The cocoa isn't overwhelming at all, and the buttercream has just the right hint of java. This cake deserves someone wonderful; I hope you'll bake it for someone amazing in your life.

Happy baking!



Devil's Food Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside. 
3. In a medium-large microwaveable bowl, heat the water on high for a minute. Whisk the cocoa powder into the bowl of hot water, and let cool to lukewarm. Add in the buttermilk and vanilla. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugars and beat until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Slowly drizzle in the eggs, beating each addition until incorporated before continuing. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with the buttermilk mixture in 2 addtions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat just until combined. 
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the top. Bake until the cakes are puffed and slightly springy to the touch, and a skewer inserted into the centers comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Run a table knife around the edges of the pans and invert the cakes onto plates. 
6. Peel off the parchment paper and frost with mocha buttercream.

From Williams-Sonoma Collection: Cake (directions slightly adapted)

Mocha Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp hot water
• 2 Tbsp instant coffee granules
• 1 cup unsalted butter, soft, at room temperature
• 3-4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:

1. Dissolve the coffee granules in hot water and stir. Let cool for 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add in the coffee mixture. Beat again.
3. Incorporate the confectioners' sugar into the butter, adjusting the amount for desired consistency.

Slightly adapted from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Book of Desserts