I'd like to introduce you to my favorite Devil's Food Cake recipe - or perhaps you've already met. You may recognize it from my cookbook (in a different kind of heart shape) or from this recent post on Food52. It's soft yet substantial and deeply chocolate with a velvety texture. The recipe yields exactly one 9-inch round cake, but I also bake it in an 8x8-inch square brownie pan. I used the latter to make this cake.
This cake revealed itself to me while I was sketching on my tablet. I've been recording some of my cake sketches, and I thought it might be fun for you to see one. More often than not, this is where my confections begin - on a drawing board. You can find a short video below (or here, for email subscribers).
Believe it or not, after years of curating a specialty cake pan collection (an accidental one), I've never splurged on a heart-shaped cake pan. It's just so darn easy to cut your own heart-shaped cake from a template! Just trace the bottom of the cake pan onto a piece of parchment paper, cut out the shape, fold the paper in half and then cut into a heart.
Trimming the cake into a heart is easy-peasy, just lay the template on top of the cake and cut around it with a serrated knife. The rest comes together rather quickly - just spread on a layer of frosting and go crazy with the berries.
It's important to make sure you have enough berries to cover the entire cake, so don't leave the grocery store with less than 3 pints of fresh raspberries.
Check out the inside of this cake. It's seriously dark and rich and so delicious with tart raspberries.