Devil's Food Cake - gluten free

[Ollie]

Devil’s Food Cake is a moist, rich chocolate layer cake. Traditionally it has more chocolate than a regular chocolate cake. And not only that, paired with it is a velvety, rich, chocolate buttercream, that again, is heavily loaded with chocolate and generously applied as both filling and outer coating. It is listed as one of North America’s top 6 Chocolate Cakes (Reference: the blog of tasteatlas, Top 6 North American Chocolate Cakes ( https://www.tasteatlas.com/best-rated-chocolate-cakes-in-north-americatop )). In fact, it was listed as number 5 in the above list.

The first known recipe for Devil's Food Cake is believed to have been published in 1902 in the highly influential Mrs Rorer's New Cook Book: A Manual of Housekeeping. It should be noted that the first chocolate cakes were not even very chocolatey. According to the Food Historian Stephen Jones Schmidt, bakers in the mid-late 1800's originally added cocoa powder to cakes only as a means to darken their batter. Also, the original recipe required the eggs to be separated, and the whites whipped and then folded into the rest of the cake batter.

There are several theories as to the origins of how the Devil’s Food Cake came about. The first is that it was the opposite of, or counter to, the existing white or yellow Angel Food Cake, and, the big trend at that time was making very white, light, and fluffy sponge cakes; cakes so ‘pure’ that they seemed to be of ‘angelic origin’ or could be considered as food good enough for angels (hence the name, Angel Food’). It was at a time when baking chocolate and unsweetened cocoa powder became readily available and affordable, and thence, suitable for making cakes. Originally it was also known as Satan Cake. According to Stephen James Schmidt, it was a very dark cake — ‘one so dark that it suggested some affiliation with the devil’.
The other theories on its origin are based on the different names associated with the cake: Red Velvet Cake, Red Devil's Cake (originally, it was a mild chocolate cake that was red in colour), Waldorf Astoria Cake (some people believe that this cake originated in the 1950s at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, however there is nothing in the restaurant archives to confirm this, although as Devil’s Food Cake is so popular, the restaurant likes to take credit for it) and finally, the $100 Dollar Cake. How this latter name came about is as follows: apparently in the 1940s, it was said that a customer asked for a copy of the recipe and was given a bill for $100. According to the rumour, the angry customer, then began circulating the recipe along with her story, as a form of revenge.
Take your pick for the origin of Devil’s Food Cake.

This recipe is based upon a total of four recipes, of various ‘ages’: Authentic Devil’s Food Cake Recipe (of unspecified date), by tasteatlas (Devil's Food Cake Authentic Recipe | TasteAtlas), a 1902 recipe for Devil’s Food cake from Jefferson’s Daughters (https://www.jeffersonsdaughters.com/2023/05/28/old-fashioned-cooking-devils-food-cake/), a 1921 recipe (that inspired a 1923 recipe provided in The Settlement Cookbook: The Way to a Man's Heart) provided by Sense of Taste ( https://sensetaste.com/1923-devils-food-cake/ ), and a 1994 recipe for a Velvet Devil’s Food Cake from My Year Cooking with Chris Kimball Recipes from Cook’s Illustrated, Cook’s County, and America’s Test Kitchen (this is from the latter). (Velvet Devils Food Layer Cake).

From analysing what each recipe was attempting to do, by using various ratios, the best was taken from each to arrive at this particular recipe.
After due consideration it was decided to use an existing recipe for a Basic Dark Chocolate Buttercream, as it is easy to make at home and meets the needs for a Devil’s Food Cake Buttercream more closely than those given in the above recipes. It is for a basic buttercream, flavoured with chocolate. It is quick and easy to make (rather than the professional style of buttercream, which uses a hot sugar syrup, which is then beaten into egg yolks (which is fussy and tricky to make)), however, the texture is not as good as that derived from the more professional styles, yet it is perfect for cakes.

Note: this cake is very rich.




The recipe is gluten free, and if the Coconut milk, or Hemp milk option is taken, dairy free too.

Devil’s Food Cake ingredients:
Devil’s Food cake
Basic Dark Chocolate Buttercream

Devil’s Food Cake is made like an old-fashioned mayonnaise cake. Mayonnaise cakes descend from the chocolate infused spice cakes made popular in the 20th Century, of which there was a variation called the Red Devil Cake. The earliest printed recipe for a mayonnaise was made in 1927. The cake was popularised by Hellman’s to promote their mayonnaise, which during the Depression and WWII was an economic substitute for butter. The mayonnaise acts as an emulsifying oil, allowing the cake to be moist, rich and tender, and at the same time avoids the taste of oiliness that often happens through using too much butter. In this case, the combination of butter and vegetable oil acts as an equivalent for mayonnaise; the higher proportion of vegetable oil in the recipe, compared with butter, avoids the taste of oiliness that would have occurred if only butter had been used.

This gluten-free version of a Devil’s Food Cake is influenced by the gluten recipe, for a Devil’s Food Sheet cake, given by Shirl Gard (shirlgard.com) which is made like an old-fashioned mayonnaise cake.

Ingredients (cake): (sufficient for a two layered 23cm (9in) cake)
Cocoa powder (alkaline) 50g
Instant coffee 1Tbsp
Salt 1/2tsp
Water (boiling) 265g
Milk (or non-dairy option) 230g
Dark chocolate (chopped) 110g (finely chopped pieces (6mm (1/4in max))
Dark brown sugar (superfine) 220g (if not got, use a coffee grinder to blitz the sugar)
Cane sugar (superfine) 200g (if not got, use a coffee grinder to blitz the sugar)
Butter (softened, sliced) 110g
Vegetable oil 120g
Eggs 150g (3 large)
Vanilla essence 1Tbsp
Gluten-free Flour mix* (sifted) 276g
Bicarbonate of soda (Baking soda) 1tsp

*Gluten-free flour mix: Brown rice flour 440g; Sweet rice flour 125g; Potato starch 45g; Tapioca starch 95g; Arrowroot powder 55g. Total weight: 760g

Method:
Preheat the oven at 180°C (356°F) for 45 minutes.

Lightly grease the sides and bottom of two 23cm (9in) round cake pans with softened butter; line the sides and bottom with parchment paper; and lightly grease with softened butter.

In a large bowl (1), add the cocoa powder, instant coffee powder, and salt, and combine.

Bring a kettle of water to the boil; measure out 265g boiling water.
Pour the measured boiling water over the cocoa powder mix and stir with a rubber / silicone spatula until all of the cocoa powder mix is dissolved.
Add the milk, or non-dairy option, and stir until the mixture is smooth.
Set aside and allow the cocoa mixture to cool: until it is at a temperature below simmering.
Add the chopped chocolate and let it sit for one minute. Then, using a rubber/silicone spatula, start to stir the chopped chocolate from the middle outwards and back inside; repeating until all of the chocolate has dissolved and the chocolate mixture is smooth and uniform. This is the chocolate mix. Set aside.

In a small bowl (2) add the separate, superfine, sugars and thoroughly mix together.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (3), fitted with a paddle attachment, add the sliced butter and vegetable oil; then beat the two together, initially at low speed, then slowly increasing the speed to medium high, to beat the fast mixture for a total of 30 seconds, the mixture will look bitty, rather than pale, smooth and shiny (which will happen later), approximately 2 – 3 minutes in total.
At low speed, gradually dribble in the superfine cane sugar and superfine dark brown sugar into the beaten fat (butter and oil) mixture (stand mixer bowl 3), spread over about 5 minutes; stopping and scraping down the sides and bottom of the mixer bowl after each incorporation, or as required. Turn the speed up to medium-high and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, thick and paler in colour than when the process was started.
With the mixer running at medium-low speed, add the eggs one at a time (each lightly whisked with a fork, to combine the yolk and white), mixing and combining well after each addition; scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl before adding the next egg.
Add the Vanilla essence and combine.
This the base batter.

In a medium sized bowl (4), add the sifted Gluten-free Flour mix* and Baking Powder, and whisk (using both a dessert spoon and a whisk) to combine. This is the final flour mix. Set aside.

Remove the mixing bowl, containing the base batter, from the stand; fold in one third of the flour mix with a rubber/silicone spatula; add half of the chocolate mix and combine, ensuring that all of the flour mix is incorporated. Repeat with another one third of the flour mix and another half of the chocolate mix; combine and incorporate. Finally, fold in the remaining third of the flour mix until it is fully combined (reaching all the way down to the bottom of the bowl, where the flour likes to settle, and incorporate that too). This is the Devil’s Food cake batter.

Pour and scrape the Devil’s Food cake batter into the prepared cake pans, filling them to between one third and three quarters of their height. Tap each pan lightly on the worksurface a few times to eliminate any air bubbles. Then, smooth the surface of the batter with a thin metal offset spatula, pushing it out to the sides to make a slight depression in the centre.

Place the filled cake pans on a baking sheet on the middle shelf of the preheated (180°C (356°F)) oven and bake for 40 – 45 minutes, or until the Devil’s Food cake layers start to pull away slightly from the sides of the pan, and the tops are firm to the touch. Then the cake layers are done. If they do not pass these tests, they are not done, and bake for a further 5 minutes.
As an additional test (although it is totally unnecessary, and doesn’t really prove anything), place the tip of a paring knife in the centre of the cake layer, and if it comes out wet yet clean, Devil’s Food cake layers are done.

Remove the baked Devil’s Food cake layers from the oven, and leave them to cool in the cake pans for 10 minutes; then run a paring knife around the perimeter, between the cake pan and the cake, to loosen the cake layers, and remove parchment paper lining the sides; then the cake layers onto a parchment paper covered wire rack.
Using another parchment paper covered wire cooling rack. flip one of the cake layers, so that the loose bottom and the parchment paper on the bottom of the cake layer may be removed. Flip back over and allow the cake layer to cool, the right way up, completely. Take care in doing these procedures as the cake layers are very fragile.

The Devil’s Food cake layers may be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days, if stored in an airtight container, or covered airtight in a fridge for up to 3 days too. Alternatively, cut slices and wrap in clingfilm and freeze for up to 2 months in a freezer. If frozen, defrost overnight in a refrigerator, then unwrap the Devil’s Food cake layers, place on a wire cooling rack for at least 3 hours before using.

Whilst the Devil’s Food cake layers are cooling, or are refrigerated, make the Basic Dark Chocolate Buttercream.

Basic Dark Chocolate Buttercream
Ingredients: (sufficient for filling, topping and covering the sides of a two layered 23cm (9in) cake)
Dark chocolate (72% min) 500g (chopped)
Salt 1/8tsp (pinch)
Vanilla extract 2tsp
Confectioner’s Cane sugar 360g (or grind 325g Cane sugar and 35g Cornstarch)
Butter (softened, sliced) 425g
Cocoa powder (alkaline) 4Tbsp plus 3/4tsp

Method:
Over medium heat, melt chopped chocolate in the bowl (5) of a double boiler slowly and gently, using a spoon to, encourage the final pieces to melt; add salt and vanilla extract and stir until the salt dissolves. Remove from the heat and set the bowl of melted chocolate mix aside.

To make the Confectioners’ Cane sugar, place 325g cane sugar granules and 35g Cornstarch in a coffee grinder and grind granules to a fine powder.
Mix the Confectioner’s cane sugar and cocoa powder together in a bowl (6).

In a separate large bowl (3) beat the butter with a handheld mixer for 36 – 60sec at a medium-high speed until smooth; reduce speed to medium-low and slowly add the mixed Confectioner’s cane sugar and cocoa powder; beat until smooth, 2 – 5mins.

Beat in the chocolate mix, and increase speed to medium-high, until the mixture is light and fluffy, between 5 – 8mins.

Divide up the Chocolate buttercream in half, and place in two bowls (7 & 8). One half for the middle of the cake and for the top, and the other half for the sides.

Place the Chocolate buttercream in a refrigerator for 15 - 30mins to firm up, but only if it seems as if it is too ‘runny’ to stick to the side of the cake without it running loosely down the side.

Assembly 1:
To assemble the cake, first, cut three or four strips of wide (enough to fit under edge of cake and overlap plate edge, all the way round) parchment paper.

Using a thin, metal, offset spatula, gently and carefully ease up one side of the Devil’s Food cake layer (the one that is on the plate), and ease in one of the cut strips of parchment paper, so that it overlaps the edges of the plate. Remember that the cake layers are fragile. Repeat on the other three sides, interleafing the strips, clockwise, so that there is a seemingly continuous surface (this will help with spreading the Basic Dark Chocolate Buttercream on the sides, as well as keeping the plate surface clean).

Bring the Chocolate buttercream (bowl 7 only) up to room temperature, if it is not already there. Divide the Chocolate buttercream in half, and place one half in another small bowl (9). This will be used as the filling.

Scoop the Chocolate buttercream filling (that remaining in bowl 9) onto, and over, the flat surface of the Devil’s Food cake layer that is on the prepared plate. Using a thin metal spatula, spread it generously over the flat surface, starting around the outer perimeter, going right to the edge; finally, place any Chocolate buttercream left into the centre of the cake surface. Spread the buttercream evenly, smoothing the buttercream in towards the centre.

Again, remember that the cake layers are very fragile when moving.
Take the other, set aside, Devil’s Food cake layer, which is right side up, and place it on top of the filling; press down to firm up the filling, and to force it out to the side of the cake. Using a set square against the side, check that the two layers are level, adjust as necessary. Rotate the cake a quarter turn and repeat. Then, using a thin, offset metal spatula, clean up any excess filling and smooth the filling edges flat to the cake layers. Any excess may be spread thinly on the top of the cake.

Place the filled, and becoming, Devil’s Food cake in a refrigerator to firm up the Basic dark chocolate buttercream filling.

Assembly 2:
Remove the filled Devil’s Food cake from the refrigerator. Ensure that the Chocolate buttercream filling (bowl 7 and 8) is at room temperature.

Scoop a little of the Basic dark chocolate buttercream (bowl 7 only) on to the middle of the cake surface, and spread around, to evenly crumb coat the cake surface (filling in any depressions, etc, so that the surface is smooth). Allow this to set.
Scoop the rest of the Chocolate buttercream filling (bowl 7) onto, and over, the cake’s top surface, using a thin metal spatula, spread it generously over the flat surface, starting around the outer perimeter, going right to the edge; the idea is to spread the chocolate buttercream evenly, yet with a rough, swirl-like (think of turbulent vortices and eddy currents) appearance.
Using a clean, thin metal spatula to scoop a little of the remaining Basic dark chocolate buttercream (bowl 9), starting at the base of cake, spread the chocolate buttercream, diagonally, up the side of the cake; repeat with the rest of the chocolate buttercream, moving around the cake perimeter. Again, the idea is to have an even layer, yet with a rough appearance. Then, merge the top and side coatings, to blend together.

When finished, place the Devil’s Food cake back into a refrigerator, so that the chocolate buttercream may set.
If the cake is to be decorated, leave it in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes before removing and then making any decoration on the chocolate buttercream surface.
Allow the Devil’s Food cake to come up to room temperature before eating.

Enjoy!!!