Dam Good Cake!!

When I was growing up there was this cake...I should just call it "Voldemort Cake" but...that would be too odd.  But it was called "Better Than Sex Cake" when I was growing up.  The first time I heard the name of this cake the woman that was serving it was serving it at a church function and she wouldn't even speak the word "sex" above a whisper which made me laugh even back then and makes me think of "He Who Must Not Be Named" now that I am an adult and then I laugh at both.  Now...being married for 9 years and having had the cake, I can tell you...it isn't better than sex however, it IS damn good cake.  There is no denying that.  

I wonder who came up with that ridiculous name??  Usually I research my recipes but I am almost embarrassed for whomever named that cake lol...she/he was obviously a deprived individual lol...  I have to change the subject or it will veer severely to the left field and become a "how to" post for something that is NOT cake if I am not careful lol.. 

Moving on...

The overwhelming majority of these recipes begin something like this...

1 box devil's food cake mix
1 jar of caramel ice cream topping

I'm going to stop RIGHT there.  There is NO reason to do that!  There are plenty of made from scratch cake recipes that are SO awesome that they leave box mixes in the dust!  On flavor every time, but on this recipe...on ease as well.  It isn't hard to make a wonderful cake from scratch at all.  You just have to be committed before going into it.

Then there is the caramel sauce that gets mixed with a WHOLE can of sweetened condensed milk.  Store bought sauces are so convoluted these days, I mourn for the people who choose to buy them instead of just make them at home.  Homemade ALWAYS tastes better.  Always.  Period.  The cake and caramel sauce for this cake are worth making yourself and I promise...you'll never use a box mix for Devil's Food Cake again.  Ever.  I would hope that you'll never use a store bought caramel sauce after this recipe just based on the extra preservatives and JUNK that is added to the store bought sauce.  But, there are some folks that just aren't scared by that stuff or grossed out by it.  

Let's get started.

Dam Good Cake
1 recipe of caramel sauce
1 can organic sweetened condensed milk
1 tub TruWhip organic whipped topping
1-2 c. Heath or Skor toffee bits
1 recipe of Devil's Food Cake

Devil's Food Cake
4 oz. unsweetened organic baking chocolate (Camino is good)
1/4 c. Callebaut cocoa powder
1 1 /4 c. boiling water
3/4 c. flour ( I use King Arthur Flour )
3/4 c. cake flour ( I use King Arthur Flour )
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt
2 sticks of organic unsalted butter
1 1/2 c. packed organic brown cane sugar
3 large organic cage free brown eggs
1/2 c. sour cream or goat yogurt (makes a difference!!)
1 tsp. vanilla paste

Preheat oven to 350 F

Grease a 15 x 10 inch glass cake dish with butter and line bottom of the pan with parchment paper as well. 

Combine the unsweetened chocolate and cocoa in a bowl and pour the boiling water over them and whisk until it is smooth. Sift together the flours, baking soda, and salt onto large sheet parchment or waxed paper and set it aside.

Place the butter in the bowl of your stand mixer and beat at medium speed until creamy and then add brown sugar and beat on high until it is light and fluffy. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium/high and add eggs one at a time, beating about 30 seconds after each addition. Reduce speed to medium and then add your sour cream/goat yogurt and vanilla and beat until well combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down bowl again. With mixer on low, add about one third of flour mixture, followed by about one half of chocolate mixture. Repeat, ending with flour mixture and then beat until just combined. Do not overbeat. Remove bowl from mixer; scrape bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix gently to thoroughly combine.

Turn batter out into the baking pan and bake for 35-45 minutes checking it with a toothpick at 35 minutes and every 5 minutes after that until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

While cake is baking make your caramel sauce to mix with the sweetened condensed milk for the poke holes.

Caramel Sauce
1/2 c. packed organic brown cane sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1/3 c. whipping cream
2 T. organic corn syrup or brown rice syrup
1 T. organic unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla paste or vanilla extract
1/4 c. water

In a small, heavy bottomed saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch.

Then stir in the water and turn the burner on to medium heat.  After that has heated up a little bit and then add in the cream, syrup, and butter.  I always use brown rice syrup rather than corn syrup.

Cook and stir it until bubbling (it might even look like the cream is curdling).  Cook, constantly stirring, for two more minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla paste/extract.

The sauce is done, now you need to add the can of sweetened condensed milk to the caramel sauce...

Your cake should be done baking by now....

 While the cake is still warm out of the oven grab a wooden spoon or dowel (something with a small round end on it...but larger than a toothpick of course...) so you can poke holes into the cake to pour the sauce into...

Poke holes in a pattern or at random...it really doesn't matter how you do it...let the children help if they are old enough!  This is the perfect cake to turn the children loose on.  Once the holes are in the cake, pour the sauce all over the top making sure you allow it to get into all of the holes.

Now...no matter how many times I tried to top those holes off....it didn't stay, but I found out later it didn't need to....those holes were filled alright!  Filled just right...  At this stage the cake needs to cool to room temperature completely and then be refrigerated for 1 hour before adding one tub of whipped topping to the top of the cake.  Once you add the whipped topping (I used TruWhip...it is organic but not too hard to find in places that are regular grocery stores.  Even our base commissary carries it!) sprinkle on as many or as little toffee bits as you like.

 After doing this..and subsequently trying the cake, I've decided I would be more conservative with the toffee bits next time or leave them off completely.  It felt like an odd texture when it was paired with everything else.  But that was just me, the Mister LOVED it...he was devouring a slice last night in BED lol...a sure sign of true love with him.  He thinks I should keep the toffee on...I told him I can sprinkle it on the cake on a slice by slice basis in the future.  He seemed to be okay with that notion lol

 
When you fork into this cake you are enticed with every bite by the sweet, sticky caramel sauce and super moist...and tender devil's food cake to go right ahead and take another bite, and then another...and another lol...  Better than sex?  Uh...not in my opinion.  But...it IS damn good cake.  On that my husband and I both agree.  Happy baking!!