Copycat Magleby's Chocolate Cake

I know this is not really a Thanksgiving-related post, but today is National Cake Day! I wanted to celebrate by sharing one of the two cakes my husband was given for his birthday weekend (okay, I made him cupcakes to take to work, too). He gets spoiled big time. No matter how many times I ask him what kind of cake I should make him, he always says "surprise me!" And still, every year, whatever I make him (no matter how different the flavors were from the year before) he still gushes over whatever I make, and claims it's his favorite. Good man, I tell you! 

This year, I wanted to make him something special for when we celebrated his birthday with his family. Ryan and I have been to a restaurant called Magleby's several times when we lived in Provo, Utah, and we loved skipping over to the Springville location to have a nice dinner. No matter what we had to eat, or how much we had to eat, we always made room for dessert. And not just any dessert - the EPIC LEGENDARY Chocolate Layer Cake. It's incredible, and always even better than we remembered. For Ryan's birthday, I thought it would be fun to make a cake as close to the original (and easy to make) as I could muster in the short time I had to make it. And this, my friends, tasted right back at our table in that lovely restaurant. 

The cake is typically 4 layers tall, but we were only serving about 10, and I didn't want to make a giant cake. So three served our little crowd perfectly. At the restaurant, they bring out the cake and top it with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream. Next, they smother the cake in a raspberry sauce that has just enough tartness to balance out the huge fudgy sweetness of the frosting and thick moist cake. I tossed a couple fresh raspberries on our plates at dessert time with his family. Plenty of "MMmmmmMMMm's" filled the air. Ryan leaned over and said "you nailed it!" 

Now, time for a little disclaimer. This cake recipe is definitely not theirs because well, it uses a cake mix. But before you get out the pitchforks, I've used plenty of other different ingredients to morph this cake into something so splendid, so serene, that you'll never switch to scratch again when you're in a pinch (and can make a cake that tastes this amazing!!!) Enjoy, cake lovers! 

Copycat Magleby's Chocolate Cake

makes 12 servings

ingredients:

cake (double this recipe for 3-4 layers - work in two batches, though, not one): 

1 box devil's food cake mix (I prefer Duncan Hines) 

4 egg whites

1 T vanilla

1/3 C oil

3/4 C buttermilk

3/4 C sour cream

frosting: 

two batches of cocoa buttercream frosting

thick raspberry sauce:

2 C fresh or frozen raspberries

1 T cornstarch

1/2 C granulated sugar 

serve with vanilla bean ice cream

method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a deep (2-3 inches tall) 8" cake rounds with a light spread of shortening (I use a bit of plastic wrap or a ziploc baggie over my hand) and a light dust of flour (pour the flour in, then roll it around until the flour coats everywhere in the pan). Set aside. 

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir up the cake mix, breaking up any large pieces. 

3. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg whites, vanilla, oil, buttermilk and sour cream until its thoroughly mixed together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry cake mix, and stir on medium until just combined, and no lumps are visible. Don't over-mix.

4. Pour into prepared baking round (yep, all of it), and bake for 45 minutes (longer if center is still a little under-cooked). Let cool for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack for cooling completely. 

5. Repeat a second time for the next layer. Frost with cocoa buttercream layer by layer, serve the same day or the day after for best texture/freshness. 

6. To make raspberry sauce: place all the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, let simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool. Serve warm or cold on cake with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. 

cake recipe adapted from: your cup of cake