Devils' Cake - Djöflaterta

Devil's Cake with cocoa icing.

This devilishly good chocolate cake is very popular all over Iceland, and you can buy a slice in most cafes and bakeries, although they are usually covered with buttercream icing and sprinkled with dessicated coconut.

I like it best when it has been frozen and thawed before glazing, because the cake will then be nicely moist.


Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs or 1 egg and egg 2 yolks (if you're making Angel's créme icing)
1/2 cup dark cocoa * (or more, if you prefer your cake really dark and chocolatey. Proper Devil's cake should be almost black in colour)
100 g margarine/butter (soft)
1 tsp vanilla essence

Mix together the dry ingredients. Add milk and mix well. Add eggs, soft margarine/butter and vanilla essence and mix well. Pour into two cake pans and bake at 175° Celsius until firm (usually 25-30 minutes). Remove gently from pans and cool.

When cold, spread one half with rhubarb jam (leave it out if you don't have any), and spread cocoa icing over the jam. Put the other half on top and cover with icing. OR use

Englakrem - Angel's Créme Icing:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
2 egg whites

Boil water and sugar together until a clear syrup forms. Cool slightly. Be careful not to burn. Whip the egg whites until they are stiff and form peaks. Continue whipping and pour the warm syrup very slowly into the egg whites. Continue whipping until mixture is cold. This créme should be quite stiff. Spread on the cake and decorate with chocolate shavings.

With chocolate buttercream icing.

Variations:

• Put chocolate chips in the batter for an extra chocolatey taste.
• Cover with cocoa-butter icing. Put mashed bananas between the layers.
• Put white butter icing between the layers and serve.

Butter icing for cakes and cookies - Smjörkrem

Since I am about to start posting some cakes and cookies that require butter icing, here is the recipe for this excellent substance.

125 g sweet butter or margarine
125-200 g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
to taste: flavouring (see notes)
1 tbs cream (optional)
few drops food colouring (optional)
a pinch of salt (leave out if you're using salted butter)

Soften the butter at room temperature, or put in the microwave for a few seconds. Whip together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Adjust amount of sugar according to how sweet you want the icing. Add the egg yolk and flavouring, and cream, if using (will make the icing smoother). Frost the cake and enjoy.

Notes:
Vanilla essence is the usual flavouring for white icing, but many other flavours are excellent. Rum, sherry, amaretto/almond and hazelnut are good flavours for many kinds of cake. Fruit, berry and flower flavours, such as orange, lemon, strawberry, cherry, peppermint or rosewater, are good with vanilla-flavoured cakes.

Other variations:
-add some cocoa powder or melted chocolate to make chocolate-flavoured icing
-flavour with fresh, strong coffee. This combines well with chocolate.