Devil's Food White Out Cake

The cover cake of Dorie Greenspan's Baking book has always looked so yummy. This past weekend I caved in and made it. I had some buttermilk in the fridge that needed to be used up and it was a perfect excuse to make the cake. It's a devil's food cake with a marshmallow cream frosting.

I used Valhrona cocoa and it made all the difference. I've used Ghiradelli cocoa powder in the past with other baked goods and the outcome was that the chocolate cake/cookie/etc tasted only ok. Mundane would be a good descriptive word. Ghiradelli cocoa is an ok cocoa powder but it certainly does not make the cake shine. The Valhrona cocoa powder, however, made the cake have a terrific depth of flavor and I didn't want to stop with just one piece.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a good bittersweet chocolate while at Whole Foods and had to pair the terrific cocoa with Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate. Again, I've used the Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate without good results. Since I know what Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate tastes like, I was surprised that when paired with the Valrhona cocoa, the Valrhona manages to make up for all of the Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate's shortcomings .. and then some! It goes to show that premium chocolates make a difference and I'll continue to buy Valrhona's pricey cocoa in the future knowing that I can probably get away with the cheaper Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate and everyone will enjoy the finished baked product.

The one change I'd make to the recipe is to eliminate the chocolate shavings/chocolate chips. At the very end of the recipe you are supposed to add chocolate chips or chocolate shavings. This adds texture and more chocolate goodness to the cake. I personally found the chocolate made the cake too sweet (the cake and marshmallow frosting were sweet enough) and the compounded extra sweetness was slightly overwhelming. Also, I found the texture to be a slightly irksome and not enjoyable. I enjoy my cake without bits of chocolate pieces interspersed.



Recipes for this cake are seamingly everywhere on the web. One such user who posted the recipe is here

The cake was light and fluffy, just the way I like cakes. I did not refrigerate it, as was suggested by Dorie, since refrigeration makes the cake denser and more fudgey. The cake had a great chocolate flavor without being overly chocolatey and the marshmallow cream frosting was nice and light. This cake is a keeper and I intend to make it again. The next time I make it I'll probably add strawberries between the layers since I like that flavor combination.