Devil's chocolate cake!

Let me start of by wishing all my Muslim brothers and sisters Ramadan Kareem! May this holy season be a period of reflection and time for you to be loser to the Almighty, in time to gear up for a wonderful Eid!

I probably should not be tempting anyone at this time...but hey, you could always make this to break your fast! After all that delicious biriyani and lamb chops, you need something sweet, don't you?!?

I actually made this cake to commemorate 2 occasions, one was my cousin's birthday that happened to coincide with the other occasion, my sister in law's wedding anniversary! I had this cake in mind for quite some time, especially after I saw the domestic goddess, our very own Nigella Lawson make it. I knew I had to give it a try...and my efforts did pay off, coz there was nothing left except for a bit of frosting that I happily licked up..he he! The recipe is courtesy Nigella, of course, the only thing I added were some Hershey's balls, just to make it look prettier than it already was :)

This cake is super easy to make, and the batter is very liquidy, but do ot worry about that, coz that's the way it should be. So, let's get this show on the road...it's Devil's food cake, but trust me, the angels would love this one for sure!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar (Muscavado sugar)
• 3/4-1 cup white sugar
• 8-9 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2-3 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup boiling water

For the Frosting

• 1/2 cup recently boiled water
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 bar of dark cooking chocolate (I used Hershey's)

Decoration (optional)

• Hershey's chocolate balls
• Powdered sugar

METHOD

• You can make the frosting first, if you want it to be spread thick over your cake, or wait while your cake is baking, so that it can drip on the sides of your cake. I preferred the second one...I just like it that way, and so did my guests :)
• Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees.
• Start of by making the batter. In a bowl, mix together the cocoa and brown sugar, and to this add the boiling water. As I mentioned earlier, the batter is going to be very watery, but this is the way it should be.
• In a separate bowl, beat the butter and white sugar till creamy and fluffy. 
• In a third bowl ,mix together the flour, baking powder and soda. 
• Add this bit by bit to the second bowl containing the egg sugar mixture. The best way to do this is to add a spoonful of flour, mix, then add 1 egg,mix and then add the remaining flour and finally incorporate everything together. Add the vanilla essence at the end to get rid of the smell of egg.
• Finally add the cocoa mixture to this and mix thoroughly till you have a brown, gooey chocolaty mix.
• There is enough batter for 2 layers, so you could either divide the cake between 2 cake tins, or like I did, bake the first cake, and then follow it up with the second one. I had only 1 cake tin at the time.
• Bake the cake for 20-25 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted through the center comes clean. It took me 25 minutes.
• Wait till the cake cools completely before unmolding it onto a cake tray.
• While waiting for the first cake to cool, and baking the second one, you can prepare the frosting, which is super simple.
• In a saucepan, add all the ingredients for the frosting, except for the chocolate, and boil on a  low flame until everything starts bubbling. This should take around 5 minutes. 
• Take the pan of the flame and add the chocolate cubes. After 2-3 minutes, mix with a fork till everything incorporates into the mixture. Wait for the mixture to cool completely before you start frosting the cake.
• To assemble the cake, place the first cake upside down, put some of the frosting on top till it gets covered completely, and place the second cake, right side up, on top of the first. Top off the remaining frosting on the top and sides of the cake, allowing it to dribble at the sides.
• Top off with Hershey's balls at the sides and some powdered sugar.

And there you have it, devils' food cake, fit for angels to eat !!!

So, how about this to break your fast?? Scrumptious, right. Do check out all the lovely dishes you can try during the holy month...and I shall keep them coming!

Till next time, take care and God bless!