Devil’s Food Cake is a classic American creation that contains a larger amount of chocolate, in the form of cocoa, than a regular chocolate cake, thus making it darker in colour and richer in taste. A soft, moist crumb leads to the most fudgy and rich cupcakes, making these Devil’s Food Cupcakes Decadence Central!
Ensure that you use good quality cocoa powder as most of the flavour in this dish is derived from it. The steeping of the cocoa, instant coffee and brown sugar in hot water at the start of the process (as opposed to simply adding those ingredients directly into the batter) creates an added depth of flavour.
I prefer to use a chocolate buttercream to frost these cupcakes since it provides an added chocolate flavour. It also provides the required sweetness as the cupcakes on their own are not too sweet due to the large amounts of cocoa. However, you can ice the cupcakes with any frosting of your choice.
This recipe yields 21 large cupcakes.
Ingredients for Cupcakes:
75 g unsweetened cocoa powder
100 g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee
250 g hot water
113g unsalted butter, softened
150 g castor sugar
187.5 g all-purpose flour
½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
Method to prepare Cupcakes:
Preheat your oven to 180C.
Line a cupcake tin with cupcakes liners.
Add the cocoa powder, instant coffee, brown sugar and hot water into a small bowl. Mix the ingredients to form a homogeneous mixture and set the bowl aside.
In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set it aside.
In another large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until pale, light and fluffy.
Add one egg to the creamed butter and sugar and whisk well to combine.
Fold in a cup of the flour mixture before adding the second egg and whisking to combine all the ingredients thoroughly.
Fold in half of the remaining flour mixture followed by half of the cocoa mixture, alternating between the two until all the ingredients have been combined, and fold using a rubber spatula to incorporate.
Do not use a whisk or an electric whisk to combine the flour and cocoa mixtures as it will cause the air in the batter (that formed by creaming the butter and sugar) to deflate and your cupcakes will turn out dense and chewy.
Pour the batter into the lined cupcake moulds until half full.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
Allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack before icing them with a frosting of your choice.
Ingredients for Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
110g unsalted butter, softened
250g icing sugar
40g cocoa powder
1 ½ tbsp vanilla essence
4-5 tbsp milk, room temperature
Method to prepare Frosting:
Add your softened butter to a large bowl and beat it for 2-3 minutes using an electric whisk until it is light and a little fluffy.
Add the icing sugar to the butter and fold using a spatula (to prevent the icing sugar from flying while beating) until it is well combined.
Beat the icing sugar and butter together for 3-4 minutes until it is pale, light and fluffy.
Add the cocoa powder and vanilla essence and beat them together until stiff peaks form.
Add the milk 1 tbsp at a time, until your desired consistency is obtained.
The frosting should be a little loose but not fully liquid so that it can be piped with ease onto the cupcakes and hold its shape.
Once all the ingredients have been added, whip them for an additional 3 minutes on high speed to make the frosting soft.
Add the frosting into a piping bag and pipe it on the cooled cupcakes.
NOTE: Do not let the frosting sit out on the counter for too long as it will melt. Therefore, prepare it only once all the cupcakes have cooled.
Store the cupcakes in airtight containers under refrigeration.
These cupcakes remain fresh for one week.
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