DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE LAYERS

Devil's Food Cake Layers image

Provided by Martha Stewart

Yield Makes one 9-inch cake and one 11-inch cake

Number Of Ingredients 10

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1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (3 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus more for pans
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water
3 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
2 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cups whole milk

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 11- by-2-inch round cake pan and a 9-by-2- inch round cake pan. Line bottoms with parchment rounds, then butter parchment. Dust pans with cocoa powder, and tap out excess.
Mix cocoa powder and the boiling water in a bowl until smooth. Let cool. Sift together cake flour, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, and scraping sides of bowl as needed.
Whisking constantly, pour milk into cocoa mixture in a slow, steady stream; whisk until smooth. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture in three additions, alternating with cocoa-milk mixture, and starting and ending with flour mixture.
Transfer 5 cups batter to the 11-inch pan and 3 cups batter to the 9-inch pan. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer pans to wire racks and let cool completely. Invert cakes onto racks, then remove parchment and re-invert, top sides up. Use a serrated knife to trim top of each cake to make level.