Moist and Tender Devil's Food Cake

Name: Moist and Tender Devil's Food Cake
Yield: Serves 27 (Makes three 8-inch cakes)
Ingredients: 4 ounces, unsweetened chocolate, chopped; 1/4 cup (3/4 ounces), Dutch-processed cocoa powder; 1 1/4 cups, water (boiling); 3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces), unbleached all-purpose flour; 3/4 cup (3 ounces), cake flour; 1 teaspoon, baking soda; 1/4 teaspoon, table salt; 8 ounces, unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened, plus extra for greasing pans; 1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces), packed dark brown sugar; 3 , large eggs, room temperature; 1/2 cup, sour cream; 1 teaspoon, vanilla extract

75 comments

Appears in Cook's Illustrated March/April 2000

Desserts or Baked Goods

Chocolate

Cakes

The secrets to this moist, velvety chocolate cake are Dutch-processed cocoa, boiling water, baking soda, and sour cream.

SERVES27 (Makes three 8-inch cakes)

TIME1½ hours, plus 2 hours cooling

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

To develop a devil’s food cake recipe with a very moist, velvety texture, we used a combination of unsweetened chocolate and Dutch-processed cocoa powder (which is less acidic than regular cocoa and therefore enhances browning) and mixed it...

This is a members' feature.