Devil's Food Cake with Buttercream Icing

Howdy! Here in Aggieland, it's Ring Day! At Texas A&M, class rings are a bit of a bigger deal than at most colleges. Almost all Aggies get their ring and wear it for the rest of their lives, and it's a huge deal when you've taken enough hours (90!) to get it. An Aggie ring represents all of the things Aggies stand for, like honor and pride, and it makes you an official part of the Aggie family, a huge network that will supposedly help you out for the rest of your life. Here's more information - you can look at the symbolism, too!

A lot of people celebrate getting their rings with a big party called a Ring Dunk. It's based on a tradition with mysterious origins, but basically you have to dunk your ring in a pitcher of liquid and down it to get your ring back. It's ridiculous, but that's college for you. The tradition started with beer, of course, but now people use all sorts of liquids (I dunked in sweet tea when I got my ring last semester), and even dunk in ice cream sundaes and brownies and all sorts of things. And three of my good friends - Katie, Shelby, and Sarah - are dunking their brand-new rings tonight. I offered to make a cake for them, and Katie requested a Devil's Food Cake with Buttercream Icing. So, another friend volunteered to help out, and we took 4 hours to make them their cake. And here we are. :)

This recipe almost failed. I happened to put one of the cake pans on a stove burner set to low (not turned off, as I thought it was), so one of them is short because we had to shave the (burnt-to-a-crisp) bottom off. But the cake is still yummy, and quite festive. I hope you guys like it!
Devil's Food CakeRecipe from cooks.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. cake flour, sifted
• 1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
• 1/2 c. cocoa
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2/3 c. shortening
• 1 c. buttermilk, divided use (sour cream can be used instead)
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 unbeaten eggs

Before you start: Have shortening at room temperature, pam 2 8-in cake pans (or Crisco them), preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Recipe:
Sift together cake flour, cocoa, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Stir until well-combined.
Add shortening and 2/3 c. of buttermilk. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes.
Add the rest of the buttermilk and 2 eggs, and beat at medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally.Pour the batter into prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes. The top of the cake should not jiggle and an inserted toothpick should come out mostly clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Buttercream Icing
Recipe from cooks.com

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. Crisco shortening
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp water
• 1 lb powdered sugar, sifted

Recipe:
Mix shortening, vanilla, and salt thoroughly together.
Add powdered sugar and water and mix with an electric mixer at top speed to the consistency of whipped cream.

To ice your cake:
Take each cooled cake pan, run a knife around the edge and upend onto a plate. The cake should come out easily. If one side of the cake is domed, cut off the dome with a knife.
Slather the top of one with buttercream, then stack the other on top of it. Then ice on top and around the edges. If you have extra icing, color and decorate with frills. :)

Here's the finished product! It's certainly home-made-looking, but it's a yummy cake (and that's what's important). For the decorations, I used a variety of Wilton products (like decorating bags and icing colors and tips. For the border I used an 18-pt. star tip and for the detail I used a 2-pt. writing tip. We put little pictures on the side for all three of the dunkers - there's a Texas, a Mexican flag (for Shelby, who studied in Mexico), a whale for Katie (save the whales!) and a cow for Sarah (who worked with them all summer). Congrats, guys!