Devil's Food Layer Cake

My year has been so busy I have let Food Friday go by the wayside.  Since Sunday I have had a fever and it's really weird, it's just a fever and I'm really tired.  I am so tired of laying in bed that last night I made a dinner of meatloaf, leek and potato gratin (from Country Living) oh and I spent $12 on leeks! (oops, yes I went to target sick).  And for dessert I made Devil's Food Layer Cake from my Williams-Sonoma cookbook Comfort Food.  I LOVE  this cookbook, it's a must have.  I woke up still sick today, wondering how long this fever will last.  My poor sister has had her fever since last Friday and her's is way worse then mine, close to 105 this morning.  Please say a prayer for her.

Devil's Food Layer Cake

cake
Boiling water, 1 Cup
unsweetened natural cocoa powder, 3/4 Cup
all purpose flour, 1 3/4 Cup
baking soda, 1 1/2 t
salt, 1/4 t
sugar, 2 Cups
unsalted butter, 1/2 Cup plus 2 T at room temperature
large eggs, 3
vanilla extract, 1t
buttermilk, 1 1/4 Cups

frosting
confectioners' sugar, 3 3/4 Cups
unsweetened natural cocoa powder, 1 Cup
unsalted butter, 1/2 Cup, at room temperature
vanilla extract, 1t
heavy cream, about 1 Cup

To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350.  Lightly butter two 9 in. round cake pans.  Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment paper.  Dust the pans with flour, tapping out the excess.

In a small heatproof bowl, whisk together the boiling water and cocoa powder until smooth.  Let cool completely.  In a bowl, sift together the flour, bakingsoda, and salt.  In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer on medium high speed, beat together the sugar and butter until the mixture is light in color and texture, about 3 minutes.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the vanilla and the cooled cocoa mixture.  Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with the buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed, beating until smooth.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the tops.  Bake the cakes until they begin to pull away from the sides of the pans, 35-40 minutes.  Transfer to wire racks and let cool in the pans for 15 minutes.  Run a knife around the inside of each pan to release cake.  Invert the pans onto the racks, lift off the pans, and peel off the parchment paper.  Turn each cake right side up and let cool completely.

To make frosting, in a bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa.  Using the mixer on low speed, mix in the butter until it is crumbly.  Mix in vanilla, and then gradually mix in enough of the cream to make a spreadable frosting. 

Place 1 cake layer, bottom side up, on a cake plate.  Using an icing spatula, spread the top of the layer with a generous 1/2 Cup of the frosting.  Place the second layer, top side down  on the top of the first layer.  Frost the top, then the sides, with the remaining frosting.  Slice the cake into thick wedges and serve.

This cake is so moist and delicious!  And the frosting is like nothing I have ever made!  It is amazing.  Of course I don't feel the greatest so that will help me not devour the whole thing.

I have been watching nothing but food shows while in bed.  I love food shows, and they are making me want to cook and bake!

And I am pooped again, so off to bed I go!