Deeply Dark Devil's Food Cake

I simply adore the combination of bananas and chocolates.

When I was much much younger, whenever these two of my favourite food items were available, I would slice a banana into two, sandwich it with some chocolate bars, wrap it up nicely with foil and toast it in the oven toaster. Within minutes, I was able to indulge in one of the best dessert I could afford at that time.


I made a Deeply Dark Devil's Food Cake from a recipe found in The Cake Book by Tish Boyle. I had initially planned to make a plain, fuss-free cake, but when I spotted the bananas dangling on the hook, I thought I should not miss the chance of creating my favourite combo.

After the cake was cooled off, I made some chocolate ganache and layered it with banana slices.

Since it was a last minute decision, I was totally clueless when I was about to frost the cake. I didn't want to fuss over the cake decoration, so I tried creating swirls with the back of a spoon. As the consistency of ganache was not right, I wasn't able to get the effect I had in mind.


In the end, I simply made small little peaks all over the top of the cake...a rather shoddy job I must say, but it was the best I could managed at that time.


Even the layering of the cake was quite badly done...the layers were completely lop-sided :(

The cake lived up to it's name...it was indeed a very dark and rich cake. One single slice was able to fill up my stomach the entire morning! With the chocolate frosting, I had to chill the cake in the fridge, as a result, it wasn't that moist and the texture became quite dense and fudgy, almost brownie-like.


Ingredients:
(half recipe)

106g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
78g (5 1/2 tablespoon) unsalted butter, softened
150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
31g (1/3 cup) Dutch-processed cocoa powder (I used unsweetened)
1 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
160ml (2/3 cup) warm water

Method:

1. Position rack in the centre of the oven. Preheat oven to 325 degF. Line the bottom of an 8 inch cake pan with parchment paper, grease and dust the sides with flour.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix until well blended, set aside.
3. With an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually add the sugar and beat on high speed for about 3 minutes until the mixture becomes pale and well blended.
4. Add the cocoa powder and beat at medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides with a spatula when necessary. Beat in the egg, followed by the vanilla.
5. At low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the warm water in two additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix at low speed for 30 seconds.
6. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes. Unmold cake and let cool completely before frosting.