Devil's Grown-Up Food Cake

On for yet another desert, now. To be fair, it's by learning how to bake that I got interested in cooking, so I figure there's no harm in filling your eyes with delicious sweets! I first learned about this recipe when a high school friend volunteered to make a cake for 10 people for an occasion I can't remember right now. I tasted it and loved the texture right away, but I didn't really like how bland it tasted. I've personalized her recipe over the years, and finally got to this:

Ingredients

1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tespoon allspice
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup salted butter at room temperature
2 large eggs
1/2 cup coffee
1/2 cup Bailey's
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Note: Traditionally, a devil's food cake requires baking soda instead of baking powder. However, my mother never baked with baking soda because it made my father sick, so I never even bothered to change that habbit. Also, you can replace the coffee and Bailey's with one cup of milk and make it children-friendly.

Step By Step

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.

Sift the cocoa powder, allspice, flour and baking powder together.

Beat the vanilla, sugar and butter until light and creamy.

Separate the whites from the yolks, set the whites aside and incorporate the yolks to the butter-sugar mix.

Add the coffee, half the flour, the Bailey's, then the other half of the flour and finally the milk to the mix.

Beat the whites until stiff and fold into mix.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Decoration

If you are in a hurry, just sprinkle with decorative sugar before popping into the oven. Otherwise, you can frost the cake with your choice of frosting once the cake is cooled.

Enjoy!