Last night a few of us gathered at our place for an extravagant, multi-course dinner cooked by Brian to ring in a new year that we can only hope holds as many good things for us as the one that has just passed. The meal had been built up for weeks and I felt a lot of pressure to deliver an amazing dessert to round it out in the wee morning hours, post ball drop. I thought about it for days and days, but the epiphany for which I was waiting never came. With just hours before our guests arrived, I decided to whip up a celebration cake, because hey, who doesn’t love cake? And celebrations? This one features a rich, yet light and delicious devil’s food cake (made with three types of chocolate!), sandwiched between big fluffy layers of the lightest marshmallow frosting you’ve ever tasted.

The cake was invented by dessert goddess Dorie Greenspan, who is something of a baking magician. Do read the recipe over several times before setting out, as there are a lot of moving parts – although do not fear, the whole thing is quite manageable thanks to Dorie’s amazing cookbook writing skills. There is no standing on your head required.

Here is chocolate #1, being whisked together with the dry ingredients. I firmly believe that high-quality chocolates yield high quality results when baking, and I recommend Green and Blacks baking cacao power.

Chocolate #2, the bittersweet chocolate, gets melted, cooled, and then poured in with the wet ingredients before the dry ones are added.

Chocolate #3 is semi-sweet, and came from the fast-depleating 4 lbs. bag of Jacques Torres semi sweet chocolate (the one also responsible for bringing us chocolate salted caramels (rumored to be president-elect Obama’s favorite!), the NYT chocolate chip cookie, chocolate dipped macaroons, and oatmeal lace cookies). This one is finely chopped and added to the batter along with a little boiling water, which melts the chocolate in the batter almost completely but leaves just a hit of solid semi-sweetness in the finished product, which is simply genius.

The frosting is super simple, unless you are like me and had your candy thermometer broken that very evening by, ahem, a certain boyfriend who was a little too excited about a recipe involving homemade fruit leather, dehydrated bacon, and butterscotch all suspended several inches above the dinner table by wires. With all the stores closed for the holiday, there was no way to buy a new one and know for sure if the sugar, cream of tartar, and water mixture ever made it to exactly 242 degrees, but with the help of our meat thermometer I was able to guesstimate.

The frosting was described as marshmallow in the recipe. Perhaps the mixture on the stove was a bit undercooked because the resulting frosting was fluffy and way lighter than what I would think when I hear marshmallow. With that said, if what came out was wrong, then I don’t want to be right.

Frosting cakes is always a lot of fun for me, even after many glasses of prosecco sometime after midnight.

The finished product was very good. I thought that the cake was one of the best I have ever had – dense yet light, obviously very chocolatey and complex because of the different chocolate textures. I found the hint of cream of tartar in the frosting a little off-putting, but my guests swore that I was nuts. I will be using the cake recipe again for sure, it was simply perfect and I can see it playing well with coconut, peanut butter, or perhaps even cherries in the future. Happy New Year!

Devil’s Food White-out Cake
Created from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

For the cake

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

1/2 cup buttermilk or whole milk, at room temperature

1/2 cup boiling water

4 ounces semisweet or milk chocolate, finely chopped, or 2/3 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

For the filling and frosting

1/2 cup egg whites (about 4 large)

1 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup water

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

GETTING READY: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-x-2-inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess and line the bottoms with parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

TO MAKE THE CAKE: Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugars and continue to beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla; don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate. When it is fully incorporated, add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, adding the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients); scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter. At this point, the batter will be thick, like frosting. Still working on low speed, mix in the boiling water, which will thin the batter considerably. Switch to a rubber spatula, scrape down the bowl and stir in the chopped chocolate. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with the rubber spatula.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans at the midway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the centers will come out clean. Don’t worry if the tops have a few small cracks. Transfer the cake pans to a rack and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up. (The cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.)

When you are ready to fill and frost the cake, inspect the layers. If the cakes have crowned, use a long serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion to even them. With the same knife, slice each layer horizontally in half. Set 3 layers aside and crumble the fourth layer; set the crumbs aside.

TO MAKE THE FILLING AND FROSTING: Put the egg whites in a clean, dry mixer bowl or in another large bowl. Have a candy thermometer at hand.

Put the sugar, cream of tartar and water in a small saucepan and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, cover the pan and boil for 3 minutes. Uncover and allow the syrup to boil until it reaches 242 degrees F on the candy thermometer. While the syrup is cooking, start beating the egg whites.

When the syrup is at about 235 degrees F, begin beating the egg whites on medium speed with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer. If the whites form firm, shiny peaks before the syrup reaches temperature, reduce the mixer speed to low and keep mixing the whites until the syrup catches up. With the mixer at medium speed, and standing back slightly, carefully pour in the hot syrup, pouring it between the beater(s) and the side of the bowl. Splatters are inevitable — don’t try to scrape them into the whites, just carry on. Add the vanilla extract and keep beating the whites at medium speed until they reach room temperature, about 5 minutes. You should have a smooth, shiny, marshmallowy frosting. Although you could keep it in the fridge in a pinch, it’s really better to use it right now.

TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE: Put a bottom layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or on a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. Using a long metal icing spatula, cover the layer generously with frosting. Top with a second layer, cut side up, and frost it. Finish with the third layer, cut side down, and frost the sides and top of the cake. Don’t worry about smoothing the frosting — it should be swirly. Now, cover the entire cake with the chocolate cake crumbs, gently pressing the crumbs into the filling with your fingers.

Refrigerate the cake for about 1 hour before serving. (If it’s more convenient, you can chill the cake for 8 hours or more; cover it loosely and keep it away from foods with strong odors.)

SERVING: I think the cake is best at room temperature or just cool, but many people prefer it cold (the texture of the cake becomes fudgier after it has been refrigerated). No matter the temperature, the cake is so pretty it should be cut at the table, so bring it out on a platter and cut it into generous wedges using a serrated knife and a sawing motion.

STORING: The frosted cake can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days; let it stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving, or longer if you have the time.