Devil's Food Cake with Raspberry Filling- Scratch Recipe

Instructions

For the Devil's Food Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Grease and flour three 8 inch cake pans, add a wax paper or parchment paper circle to the bottom of each pan

Microwave the coarsely chopped chocolate for 30 seconds, let sit for a couple of minutes, stir, then microwave another 20 seconds.

It will not be completely melted at this point. Add the chocolate to the hot coffee and whisk the two together until the chocolate is completely melted.

Once you are sure the chocolate is melted, add the sifted cocoa and blend, then the buttermilk and oil, blend. A large 4 cup measuring cup is a good choice for holding this amount and for pouring. Set aside

In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk for at least 30 seconds to blend. Set aside.

Add the softened butter to the mixing bowl and mix until smooth. Gradually add sugar and mix at medium speed 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape the side and bottom of bowl.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each egg just until the yellow of the yolk disappears. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl as needed.

Mixing no higher than medium speed alternately add the flour mixture and liquid mixture to the bowl, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry and 2 of liquid.

Pour into 3 prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes (test at 25 min.). The cakes are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.

Makes 9 cups batter

For Cupcakes: Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes

For the Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

Puree approximately 2 cups thawed raspberries in a food processor or blender. Put the pureed raspberries in a mesh strainer to strain out the seeds.

Press the raspberries through the strainer with the back of a spoon. It is thick so you will need to scrape the puree off the back of the strainer. You will use this for the buttercream recipe as well as for lightly glazing the cake layers.

In a separate bowl, cream the softened butter until smooth.

Gradually add the powdered sugar, ⅓ c. + 3 Tablespoons (180g) pureed raspberries, and raspberry extract, beating at medium speed until blended.

Continue mixing on medium speed another 3 to 4 minutes (longer if using a hand mixer), scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally. Slow the mixer down (#2 on a KitchenAid) and mix another minute, this will help to eliminate air pockets. If the buttercream is too thin add more powdered sugar, too thick, add more puree or a bit of milk.

Any extra raspberry puree can be thinly spread between the cake layers

Makes 6 to 6 ½ cups

*NOTE: If using Seedless Raspberry Preserves, instead of frozen raspberries the color will not be as pink so add a bit of pink gel coloring (we use AmeriColor Deep Pink). We added the color using a toothpick to control the amount. The amount of preserves will be the same as the frozen raspberry puree

For the Ganache

Place your chocolate into a microwave safe bowl.

Pour heavy cream over the chocolate and place in the microwave for 1 minute. (Times may vary, see our note below).

Remove and allow to sit for one minute.

Gently stir and press chips to aid in melting. If there are still unmelted chips, microwave for 5-10 seconds. Stir and repeat as necessary. Be very careful not to overheat.

*Microwave times may vary. If you are making a smaller amount of ganache, you should reduce the microwave time. If your chocolate hasn't melted after the recommended amount of time, simply microwave in small 5-10 second increments until it has nearly completely melted. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth

Assembly

I piped a raspberry buttercream dam around the edge of the first layer of cake (about ¼ inch from the edge) using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.

I glazed the layer with a thin layer of raspberry puree, followed by a thin layer of ganache.

Next, I piped on raspberry buttercream and spread it with a spatula.

Repeat these steps for the next layer of cake.

Top with the third layer of cake and frost with raspberry buttercream. (Before frosting, my layers were sliding a bit and so I chilled it in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm things up.)

After frosting the cake, I loaded a disposable piping bag with ganache, snipped away the tip, and created a ganache drip around the top edge of the cake as I rotated it on my turntable.

I then piped a quick ganache pattern over the top, and piped raspberry buttercream around the edge of the cake using a french tip 869.

I topped every other piped star with raspberries.