First, make a devil’s food cake.
Second, make Mocha Filling; put it between the four layers (that have been split from two).
Third, make Mocha Satin Glaze and put it on the top layer.

Devil’s Food Cake (or use your favorite recipe)

Prepare two round cake pans, either 8” or 9” (20 or 23 cm dia.): grease and flour the sides, and cover the bottom with a circle of waxed paper. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C, Gas mark 4).

Measure out:
0.75 c (144 g) butter-flavored Crisco plus 4.5 tsp (22.5 ml) water
OR 0.75 c (170 g) butter or margarine (with the Crisco, the layers rise evenly in the oven)
1.5 c (340 g) sugar
1.5 tsp (7 ml) vanilla
2 eggs
1.34 c (210 g) unsifted flour
0.5 c (40 g) unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp (4.5 g) baking soda
0.25 tsp (1.5 g) salt
0.5 c (120 ml) buttermilk
OR 2 Tbsp (30 cc) powdered buttermilk and 0.5 c water
0.5 c (120 ml) boiling water (set on stove ready to heat)

Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla thoroughly. Add the eggs, and beat. Sift the dry ingredients together (including the powdered buttermilk, if that’s what you're using) and add in thirds, alternating with thirds of liquid buttermilk or the cool water, and mix well while the last half-cup of water comes to a boil. Add the boiling water and stir it smooth.

Split the batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Set the pans on a cake rack and leave them to cool for 10 minutes. Turn the layers out onto cake racks and let them cool completely. While they do, make the filling.

Mocha Filling

Prepare: find a mass market paperback, preferably one you've read before, which can be held in one hand.

Measure out:
1.3 c (300 g) sugar
0.3 c (70 g) cocoa
0.3 c (45 g) cornstarch (cornflour)
2 tsp (10 cc) instant coffee granules
3 c (7 dl) milk
3 Tbsp (45 g) butter
1.5 tsp (7 ml) vanilla

Combine sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and coffee in a medium saucepan that can stand quick temperature changes. Stir the milk in slowly, so that the result is smooth. With a book to read in one hand and a spoon in the other, set the pan on medium heat. Keep the spoon moving slowly in a figure 8, covering as much of the pan as possible. As you finish each page, swing the spoon around the edge of the pan and return to figure 8s. When lumps start to form, ignore them; keep stirring as before. The lumps will get bigger; ignore them and keep stirring. The lumps will begin to coalesce; continue to ignore them. Suddenly, the coalescing will be complete! The liquid will have thickened. Keep stirring. When it says "Pflumpf," it's boiling -- keep stirring while it boils for 3 minutes. Remove from the burner and stir in the butter and the vanilla. Leave the pan with filling alone on a cool part of the stove for 5 or 10 minutes, then put the pan with filling in the refrigerator for about an hour or two -- the filling should not be absolutely solid, but moundable.

Construction

Split each layer of the cake into two horizontally. A good eye and a steady hand can accomplish this simply with a carving knife, OR stick toothpicks into the sides halfway up all the way around; wrap a long piece of dental floss over and under the toothpicks around the layer, cross the ends, and pull. Set a layer that was uppermost in a pan smooth side down on the cake stand and pile a third of the filling on top. Set a down-in-the-pan layer on top, and pile another third of the filling on top. Set the other down layer on that, and pile the rest of the filling on top. Cover the smooth side of the other upside layer with Mocha Satin Glaze (below) and set that layer atop all. Put the whole thing in the refrigerator for a total of four hours before serving.

Mocha Satin Glaze

2 Tbsp (10 ml) water
2 Tbsp (30 g) sugar
a few granules (no more than 0.125 tsp) of instant coffee
0.5 c (85 g) little semi-sweet chocolate chips (polka dots) (In the absence of the little ones, regular-size ones can be used.)

Use the smallest, heaviest saucepan you have. Mix the water and sugar in the pan and put over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and it boils. Take it off the stove and immediately dump the coffee and chips in; stir madly to get it all melted and mixed. Keep stirring until it is of spreading consistency -- fairly thick, beyond soaking-in stage, even beyond pour-and-run, but pretty far from solid.

And it's done!

Base

Preheat oven to 325 F (160 C, gas mark 3, slow)

8 Tbsp (0.5 c, one stick, 115 g) butter
4 oz (115 g) baking chocolate
eggs -- 4 U.S. Medium, 4 (or 3) U.S. Large, 3 U.S. Extra Large; 3 U.K. Large
0.25 tsp (1 g) salt
2 c (450 g) sugar, sifted
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla
1 c (115 g) sifted flour
If you must, 1 c (270 cc) chopped walnuts (definitely optional!)

Line a 9x13-inch (about 20x30 or 25x35 cm) pan with waxed paper (yes, up the sides as well as on the bottom).

Melt the butter and the chocolate together, then cool them. (Cool: stop the sink drain and run about an inch of cool water into the sink. Turn the faucet well to the side, and set the pan containing the melt in the sink.)

Beat the eggs thoroughly, with the salt. Gradually pour the sugar in while continuing to beat. Stir in the melt and the vanilla. Add the flour, beating until the batter is smooth. Add the nuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it into the corners. Bake for about 30 minutes. When a toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven and turn onto a rack to cool. When cold, cut into 24 squares (2-inch or 10 cm), using a sharp knife dipped into ice water. Turn each one over so that what was up in the baking pan is up now. Set the rack on a drip tray.

Glaze

1 c (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
8 oz (240 g) semisweet (bittersweet) chocolate
2 Tbsp (30 g) butter

Chop up the chocolate. If the cream is ultrapasteurized, scald it; if it is not, boil it three times. Either add the chocolate to the cream, or put the chocolate in a deep heatproof bowl and pour the cream over it. Stir until the chocolate and the cream meld and become smooth. Stir the butter in. Let it cool, becoming thicker, to where it will still pour, but not run everywhere. Pour (or spoon) a little on each square and smooth it across the top, over each edge, and around the sides with a metal spatula. Let it harden.

Decorate

Here's an easy, but very delicious and rather sinful, one for you:

CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE! BUNDT CAKE

1 box devil's food cake mix
1 pkg. chocolate instant pudding
1 c. sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 c. salad oil (or sub the same amount using smooth applesauce)
3/4 c. water
1 pkg. (6 oz.) chocolate chips
1 c. nuts (optional)

Mix all ingredients. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes. Cool and remove from pan. No icing is necessary.