National Devil's Food Cake Day

Today is National Devil's Food Cake Day. I posted a Devil's Food Cake recipe on National Angel Food Cake Day.  I like that recipe a lot, but my favorite Devil's Food Cake recipe comes from David Lebovitz. It's fabulous!

Want to make cupcakes instead? Here's a great recipe adapted from Martin Howard (The Cupcake Challenge) on the FoodNetwork site.

Chocolate Devil's Food Cupcakes

Ingredients
3/4 cup boiling water
3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
6 ounces sweet European butter
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon Madagascar vanilla extract
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
* Ganache, recipe follows
* Violet Buttercream, recipe follows

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Whisk together boiling water and cocoa. Cover and set aside. With a mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and continue creaming until light and fluffy. Sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder and add this mixture, alternately with the buttermilk. Add cocoa and water mixture and mix until thoroughly combined. Scoop into cupcake pans (lined or not) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Let cool completely before decorating. Dip tops of cooled cupcakes in the warm ganache and let set. Pipe more ganache on top for decoration.
4. To fill, put buttercream in a pastry bag with a small round tip. Stick tip into the center of each cupcake and pipe in filling. Be careful not to pipe too much or you will break the cupcake. Serve.

Ganache:

8 ounces chocolate
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter

Chop chocolate and place in a stainless steel or glass bowl. Bring cream and sugar just to a boil in a small saucepan and then pour over chocolate. Whisk together and then stir in butter until melted.

Violet Buttercream:  (I haven't tried this yet, so I'd love to hear what you think)
4 ounces egg whites
6 ounces sugar
8 ounces butter, cut into small pieces, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon violet essence
Violet food coloring

Whisk together the egg whites and sugar in a stainless steel bowl. Place bowl in a water bath set over low heat. Whisk occasionally until sugar is dissolved and mixture is very warm, about 150 degrees F. Remove from water bath and whip with a hand-held mixer on high speed until stiff peaks. Lower speed and add the butter in small pieces. Add vanilla and violet essence and mix until smooth. Add violet color, 1 drop at a time, until desired shade is reached. Use to fill cupcakes as directed above.