A good dose of chocolate should fix that!

You say you've had a bad day? Things ain't goin' your way?

You're bored with your life? You got nothin' but strife?

Is that what's troublin' you, Bunky? 

A good dose of chocolate should fix that!

Chocolate on Chocolate

Over-the-top ooey-gooey chocolate frosting with velvety rich chocolate cake inside. Pure evil.

A recipe shamelessly stolen from the wonderful Nigella Lawson. The debil made me do it.

Hey, you can't improve on perfection! And if I get cuffed for copyright infringement?

A good dose of chocolate should fix that!

Devil's Food Cake
From Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the heart of the home, by Nigella Lawson

For the Cake

½ cup best-quality unsweetened cocoa (sifted)

½ cup dark brown sugar

1 cup boiling water

9 tablespoons soft unsalted butter (plus some for greasing)

¾ cup superfine sugar

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs

For the frosting

½ cup water

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1½ sticks unsalted butter (cubed)

11 oz. best-quality bittersweet chocolate (finely chopped) or 2 cups of chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Line the bottoms of two 8 inch round sandwich tins with baking parchment and butter the sides.

Put the cocoa and 1/2 cup dark brown sugar into a bowl with a bit of space to spare, and pour in the boiling water. Whisk to mix, then set aside.

Cream the butter and superfine sugar together, beating well until pale and fluffy; I find this easiest with a freestanding mixer, but by hand wouldn’t kill you.

While this is going on – or as soon as you stop if you’re mixing by hand – stir the flour, baking powder and soda together in another bowl, and set aside for a moment.

Dribble the vanilla extract into the creamed butter and sugar – mixing all the while – then drop in 1 egg, quickly followed by a scoopful of flour mixture, then the second egg.

Keep mixing and incorporate the rest of the dried ingredients for the cake, then finally mix and fold in the cocoa mixture, scraping its bowl well with a spatula.

Divide this fabulously chocolatey batter between the 2 prepared tins and put in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Take the tins out and leave them on a wire rack for 5–10 minutes, before turning the cakes out to cool.

But as soon as the cakes are in the oven, get started on your frosting: put the water, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 1 1/2 sticks butter in a pan over a low heat to melt.

When this mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, swirling the pan so that all the chocolate is hit with heat, then leave for a minute to melt before whisking until smooth and glossy.

Leave for about 1 hour, whisking now and again – when you’re passing the pan – by which time the cakes will be cooled, and ready for the frosting.

Set one of the cooled cakes, with its top side down, on a cake stand or plate, and spread with about a third of the frosting, then top that with the second cake, regular way up, and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides, swirling away with your spatula. You can go for a smooth look, but I never do and probably couldn’t.