Devil’s food cake

by Ed Halmagyi

Ingredients

  • 125g unsalted butter, softened
  • 1½ cups dark brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • 2 cups self-raising flour
  • 50g dark cocoa powder
  • 1⅓ cups milk
  • 100g dark chocolate, melted and cool
  • ½ tsp white vinegar
  • sweetened whipped cream and berry compote, to serve

Instructions

1 Preheat oven to 180°C. Combine the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 5 minutes, until very light and creamy. Add the egg yolks and beat until smooth.
2 Sift in the flour and cocoa and beat gently, adding the milk in a steady stream. Beat until smooth. Mix in the chocolate and vinegar. Whip the egg whites to soft peaks and fold in gently, then spoon into two lined 20cm cake tins and bake for 30 minutes, until a skewer can be inserted and removed cleanly. Cool on a rack.
3 Sandwich the cake with sweetened whipped cream and top with berry compote.