Naked Devil’s Food Cake with Dripping Chocolate Ganache

This Naked Devil’s Food Cake is perfectly spooky for Halloween. Rich and decadent super moist chocolate cake is layered with creamy vanilla buttercream and raspberry preserves. The cake is topped with thick chocolate ganache that drips down the sides. It’s truly a cake to die for.

I made this cake for my 30th birthday dinner. Did I have the option to chill and have someone buy me a cake? Yes. Am I a psycho that wanted to be in control and make one for myself. Yes. I’m a Libra and it’s all about the aesthetic. I needed the perfectly spooky dripped cake. I let them buy the macaroons haha. They were the only thing on the menu not homemade.

Naked cakes are my absolute FAVORITE to make. If you have never made one they look complex, but if you are using buttercream they are SO much easier to smooth out. You don’t have to worry about smoothing out that last little line that stays from your bench scraper.

What is Devil’s Food Cake?

Devil’s food cake is angel food cakes gothic twin sister. The cake gets its name because it is darker, richer and fluffier than a traditional chocolate cake. The cake contains a fair amount of cocoa powder to create the deep chocolaty flavor. Oil is used instead of butter to add make the cake extra moist. Oil also has less of a flavor than butter and this leaves you tasting the decadent chocolate flavor even more. Baking soda is also added to the cake to add extra air bubbles during the baking process. This creates a fluffier cake.

What method should I use to drip the ganache?

I used a teaspoon to drip my ganache. I used this technique here, from In The Kitchen with Elisa. It’s super simple and you don’t need any special tools. It’s important to have the ganache be the perfect consistency. If it’s too thick it won’t drip and if it’s too thin it will run all over the place. It’s best to pick the back of the cake and start there to check the consistency.

Can I use other frostings?

I chose to use my classic vanilla buttercream because I wanted the chocolate cake layers to pop. However if you love chocolate this cake would be amazing with a Chocolate Buttercream as well. If you want a lighter frosting my Raspberry Whipped Cream Frosting, shown here on cupcakes, would also be very good and add to the raspberry flavor.

How to make this Naked Devil’s Food Cake

1. Combine the dry ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 3 cake pans with parchment paper. In a large bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. Mix the wet ingredients. To the bowl of a stand up mixer add the oil, eggs and vanilla and beat on medium speed until combined. Add the buttermilk and mix until combined.
3. Add the dry ingredients into the wet. Add the flour mixture into the mixing bowl and add the hot coffee. Mix until just combined, the mix will be thin.
4. Bake the cake. Pour the cake batter evenly into the 3 pans. Bake for 23-25 minutes. The cake may sink a little in the middle but this is normal for a cake made with cocoa. Don’t worry if this happens it will even out when layered!

Make the Raspberry Preserves

1. Make the preserves. Add the raspberries, sugar, water and lemon juice to a medium saucepan. Heat on high until rapidly boiling. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the sauce has thickened, around 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

Make the Vanilla Buttercream

1. Beat the butter and sugar. To the bowl of a stand up mixer add the butter and sugar and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, around 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the heavy cream and vanilla. and beat until creamy, an additional 2 minutes.

Make the Chocolate Ganache

1. Melt the chocolate and heavy cream. Add the chopped chocolate and heavy cream to a microwave safe bowl. Heat in 20 second increments until the cream and chocolate are melted together.

Assemble the cake

1. Frost the cake. Place a layer of the cake down onto a cake spinner or stand. Add a layer of buttercream and smooth it out. Place a thin layer of raspberry preserves on top of the buttercream and smooth across. Place another cake layer on top and repeat. Add just buttercream to the top of the cake. Using a spatula, spread frosting around the side of the cake. Take a bench scraper and start to smooth out and remove most of the frosting so the cake gets a naked effect.
2. Drip the ganache. Using a teaspoon, dip the spoon in the ganache. Touch the spoon to the edge of the cake and form drips. More ganache/ thinner ganache will result in longer drips, see notes above. Drip around the entire cake. Using a spatula, take the ganache and spread it evenly over the top of the cake, connecting it to the drips. Place in the fridge to chill and harden the ganache.
3. Cut the cake, serve and enjoy! I placed red black baccara roses on mine for an added spooky effect.