DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE...for me, from him(them)!

Phew! Where did our month, May go by? It was one of the busiest month's in our lives. We were travelling back and forth the whole month starting from May 3. We got home only by the last week of May and by the time we settled in and got back to our usual routine,May got over. Which also means there was a Birthday cake baked for me by my wonderful husband of 3 years and 3 months :-)

Jobin, as always reminded me that I should let him know what I wanted him to bake as my Birthday cake. This year, the reminders popped in every now and then because I am so engrossed in raising a Little Boy in our house now. I am totally in love with him . I just sit and gaze at him ...whether he is sleeping or playing . And if he happens to blabber something to me...oh! then I just go weak in my knees !

Well, I've been falling weak in my knees a little too much actually. This blog was abandoned. I never even bothered to check my page for the whole of last month,unless of course when somebody wrote to me asking for tips of certain recipes or for links to certain recipes. I don't recollect the last time I drafted a post. I don't recollect anything for that matter! I think that's the power of having a Little Man in the house!

Getting back to the cake before I forget why I am here. Since Jobin asked me again and again, I knew I better give him my list of 'wants' so that he can plan his time for baking and frosting the cake. So I chose a cake which was on my mind for a while and texted the name to him. See, we are those couples who just cannot stop texting each other even when he works just a block away from our home!

So Devil's Food Cake it was,by Nigella. It was fun watching him bake along with the baby. Of course, I was right there in the midst of all the measuring,spoons dropping down etc with my trusted camera to capture all those fun moments which we will cherish life long...and maybe encourage our Little Man to do the same,for his beloved someday!

DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup boiling water
9 tablespoon soft unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs

Frosting:
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed
11 oz dark chocolate

Method: Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and prepare 2 8inch cake tins.
In a small bowl, combine cocoa powder and brown sugar together. Add the boiling water to it and stir to combine. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy on high speed. Dribble in the vanilla and beat well to mix. Add one egg followed by a scoop of the flour mixture.Add the other egg and beat it in. Keep mixing and incorporate the remaining flour mixture. Finally, stir in the cocoa mixture. Divide the batter between the tins and bake for 30 minutes or until done.Let the cake cool completely, on a wire rack.

Frosting: In a large saucepan on low heat, bring the water,sugar and butter to a soft boil. Add the chopped chocolate and swirl the pan. Let it sit undisturbed for 1 minute. Stir the frosting so that the chocolate melts from the heat. Let it cool completely. The saucy chocolate frosting will turn super thick and glossy.

*Start with the frosting first. It will take sometime for it to thicken up. I used the refrigerator to chill it.

Frost the cake layers as you wish!

My Husband's Wife of 3 years and 3 months baked his favourite cake for his Birthday,which was in May but never got around to posting it here! I am sure she will be working on it very soon :-)

This cake was very very good. It was soft and moist. The frosting had a fudgy texture to it because of the brown sugar and it never sets hard (well, unless you freeze it!). Ian Vaava got a chunk of this chocolate-y goodness because we were trying to get a good photograph of me sharing it with him. He was very quick with the first bite that we ended up with a photograph which had nothing to do with it! So he got a second share and he had a chocolate mustache after that! He hates having any food on his face, so he promptly wiped it off...on my arms!

The cake stand that you just saw was sent to me by Jina D'cruz, a reader from Houston,Texas. Thank you so much, Jina! It's just beautiful!