Valentine’s cake has layers of love

Our second date was on Valentine’s Day, and I offered to cook dinner at my house. No pressure, right? I made coq au vin, and for dessert I decided to try strawberry mousse in little heart-shaped cases of puff pastry. There were too many onions in the chicken, and the strawberry mousse was thin enough to drink through a straw, but my date didn’t seem to mind. He married me anyway.

Despite a few bumps in the road, I am still a big fan of celebrating Valentine’s Day at home. It’s cozy, casual, and should be relaxing. Instead of a fussy dessert that involves puff pastry and mousse, try serving an old-fashioned layer cake instead. Nothing says “I love you” like a deep, dark Devil’s Food Cake slathered with lots and lots of rich, homemade frosting.

Unlike many other chocolate cakes that are made with unsweetened chocolate, devil’s food cake is made with natural, unsweetened cocoa powder, which gives the cake a deep, intense, chocolate flavor. The name “devil’s food” is probably inspired not only by the cake’s sinful richness, but also by the reddish, mahogany color of the cake batter. When natural cocoa powder is combined with other acidic ingredients like buttermilk and coffee, and then leavened with an alkali, like baking soda, a chemical reaction occurs to reveal the red pigments in the cocoa.

When it comes to frosting your luscious Devil’s Food Cake, you can’t go wrong with either an angelically sweet and fluffy Divinity Meringue Icing sprinkled with coconut, or a devilishly rich Chocolate-Caramel Ganache. The Divinity Meringue is an old-fashioned Southern boiled icing, made by drizzling cooked sugar syrup into fluffy egg whites and beating briskly until they form voluminous, glossy peaks. More commonly used to frost coconut layer cakes, sweet meringue icings are equally tasty slathered over dark chocolate layers, with or without the coconut.

Jill O’Connor’s Devil’s Food Cake with Deep, Dark Chocolate-Caramel Ganache Frosting. — Howard Lipin

(Howard Lipin)

On the other end of the spectrum, ganache is a dense, dark chocolate cream made when equal parts chopped chocolate and warm cream are stirred together until smooth. Using warm, homemade caramel sauce instead of plain cream makes this ganache Valentine-worthy.

O’Connor is a San Diego-based food writer and cookbook author. She is the author of six cookbooks including “Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth” and is at work on her seventh cookbook.

Devil’s Food Cake

• ¾ cup (2^1/4 ounces) natural, unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1^1/2 teaspoons instant coffee
• ^2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1^1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup, firmly packed, dark brown sugar
• 1 cup canola or safflower oil

Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa, boiling water and coffee powder until smooth. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla. Set aside.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar together until thick and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. With the mixer on low, drizzle the oil into the egg mixture in a steady stream, until well blended.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl, if necessary. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the wet ingredients, beating just until well blended, about 10 to 15 seconds after each addition to the batter. The batter will be thick but pourable.

Divide the batter equally between the cake pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cool cake layers on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Unmold, and cool completely on the rack, discarding parchment paper.

When completely cool, place one cake layer on a cake stand and spread with 1 cup of either the Divinity Frosting or Chocolate Caramel Ganache. Top with the second cake layer and frost the top and sides generously with more frosting or ganache.

Store at room temperature until ready to serve.

Divinity Meringue Icing

Divinity Icing is a very sweet, old-fashioned, fluffy, Southern-style meringue icing. It’s an angelic topping for your devilish cake. For a little added sweetness and flavor, sprinkle the cake with sweetened flaked coconut.

• 1^1/2 cups sugar
• ½ cup corn syrup
• ^1/3 cup water
• 3 large egg whites
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2-3 cups sweetened flaked coconut (optional)

Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cover, and bring to a boil without stirring. Uncover the pan and boil until the syrup reaches 238 degrees on a candy thermometer.

While the syrup is cooking, beat the egg whites to soft peaks on low speed. Increase mixer speed to high and beat egg whites to stiff peaks. When the syrup has reached 238 degrees, pour into the egg whites in a thin, steady stream, while continuing to beat them. When the meringue is thick and creamy, beat in the salt and vanilla.

Immediately and quickly spread the frosting between the layers and over the top and sides of the cake and sprinkle with coconut, if using, before the meringue has a chance to set.

Deep, Dark Chocolate-Caramel Ganache Frosting

• 10 ounces chopped semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, or semisweet chocolate chips (labeled 60 percent cacao)
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1^1/4 cups heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• Pinch salt

Place the chopped chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Without stirring, melt over medium-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally. When the sugar is melted, increase the heat to high and boil until it turns a deep, golden amber color, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the cream with a long-handled spoon. Be careful; the caramel sputters and splashes when combined with cream. Reduce heat to low, and cook the sauce, stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes, then pour over the chocolate. Let sit for 1 to 2 minutes to soften. Add the vanilla and pinch of salt and whisk smooth.

Let the ganache sit at room temperature until completely cool and firm enough to spread over the cake, at least three to four hours but preferably overnight.