Am I finally into Blogger?! I have an a.k.a. now - "Sherry Trifle and Cats"- Blogger ruined my whole Presidents' Day weekend as it would not let me log in. Quite at my wits end, I switched my browser to Yahoo and registered my new baby. I know I must reach our TWD administrators to ask them to let me in with the new blog name.
Anyway, on to Dorie's Devils Food White-Out Cake:
A great cake to make - a little bit different because of the hot water added to it but it poured very nicely into two 8-inch pans and came out of the oven looking quite satiny. I was lucky it did not sink (that happened hopelessly with my Berry Surprise effort). The cakes are not very high, however, I'd say only just acceptably risen.
Oh the frosting! How tremendously exciting - it's beautiful just to watch it turn billowy once the syrup is added to the egg white. Thanks to the P&Q posts, I didn't panic when the candy thermometer stuck at 220 degrees for goodness know how long, and I managed to juggle the egg white with the cooking syrup. Now for the halving of the 2 cakes and I'm almost done.
My new torting method: I scooped up the smallest amount of frosting from the bowl, and, using a fine knitting needle, dabbed it from the frosting onto what looked like the half-height of each cake. Did this at 2 inch intervals until finishing the circle. Then I placed the cakes, one at a time, on my revolving cake stand and cut them very gingerly with a long bread knife through the dabs of frosting while I rotated the stand. It was easy! Next time I'll use this method again (could do it with soft butter, any kind of frosting, jam or whatever, as long as it leaves little spots of a contrasting color on the cake). It's so much nicer than the toothpick method.
Done! I think this is one of the loveliest cake recipes I have ever made. The crumb is soft, the chocolate rich, and the frosting divine. Can't wait to take it in to the office tomorrow.
Thank you so much for this gorgeous pick, Stephanie of "Confessions of a City Eater".
