This slightly modernized vintage Devil’s Food Cake recipe is 100% made from scratch, but is as moist as a boxed cake recipe. It’s rich, super chocolatey, and hands down the most tender (and moist) chocolate cake devil’s food cake I’ve ever eaten. This recipe comes from a vintage cookbook in my 95-year-old Granny’s collection. I found it we were sifting through old cookbooks together (she’s an excellent southern and german food maker and baker♡). I made a few updated tweaks to one of the many Devil’s Food Cake recipes in the cookbook and It’s one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve ever made or eaten — you can even mix it all by hand in one bowl. Try it for yourself, the proof is in the cake batter.
A Vintage Devil’s Food Cake Recipe For any Occasion
As you can see above, I use this super moist chocolate cake recipe for all kinds of desserts. It’s versatile and really hard to beat. After researching the seven or so various different devil’s food cake recipes in my Granny’s cookbook, I decided to use one submitted by Mrs. Greer as the inspiration and starting point for this recipe. I altered it to ensure it would end up being as moist as the boxed version (it really is), but more delicious and wholesome. I added a little baking powder to help with the lift and then I substituted half of the butter with oil to make sure it not only tasted great but was super moist. Lastly, I substituted regular milk for tangy buttermilk which gives this cake great flavor and texture. It’s a five-star chocolate cake recipe thanks to starting out with a good foundation, to begin with.
Why We Love This Devil’s Food Cake Recipe
As you can see it’s SO moist it looks like a boxed cake
You don’t need to go crazy creaming the butter and sugar together like most cake recipes
You can use one bowl and a whisk to stir all the ingredients together
It’s the quickest chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever made
Espresso and Dutch process cocao give it the acidity it needs for extra lift
It’s so delicious it doesn’t need any icing (really)
The Best Devil’s Food Cake Ingredients
This super moist chocolate cake recipe uses simple basic pantry staples which makes it convenient to bake any time you need a quick birthday cake or cupcakes for school projects. It’s so good!
unsalted butter
vegetable oil
sugar
vanilla extract
egg
boiling water
buttermilk *(sub faux buttermilk see recipe notes)
all-purpose flour or 00 flour
cocoa powder
baking powder
baking soda
espresso powder
kosher salt
How to Make Super Moist Classic Devil’s Food Cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F/176°C + Prep the cake pans. Heat the oven and butter or spray two 8-inch aluminum cake pans with non-stick cooking spray. Lightly flour the pans making sure to cover the inside well. Tap out any remaining flour. Line the bottoms of the cake pans with parchment paper and set aside until ready to fill.
Prepare the dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, espresso, baking powder, and salt and whisk well to combine and set aside.
Prepare the baking soda + water solution. Boil the water (or microwave it until very hot), add the baking soda, and stir until dissolved, set aside.
Prepare the wet ingredients. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or in a large mixing bowl using a whisk), beat the butter, oil, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy approximately 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice while mixing to ensure all ingredients are well incorporated. Add the eggs and whisk just until incorporated. Add the buttermilk and baking soda-water mixture and mix just until combined.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use a rubber spatula or whisk to gently combine everything until no flour streaks remain. *After combining everything you should still have some visible lumps and that’s exactly what you want.
Portion the cake batter.Split the cake batter evenly between two 8-inch cake pans.
Bake the cakes. Bake the cakes for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester (or toothpick) inserted into the middle comes out clean and the tops are just set and slightly springy when touched.
Cooling the cakes. Remove the cakes from the oven and place them onto a cooling rack for 15 to 20 minutes to slightly cool and then gently remove the cakes from the pans to finish cooling directly on the wire rack. When cakes are completely cooled, they may be frosted. Enjoy!
Why use a scale versus measuring cups and spoons? Using a scale to measure ingredients produces more consistently reliable results versus measuring cups. Plus, it makes measuring ingredients quicker and there’s less mess to clean up.
What’s the best way to prepare baking pans for baking a cake? To prepare cake pans for baking, spray them with non-stick baking spray (or rub them down with butter ensuring full coverage). Sprinkle pans with flour or cocoa powder (or a 1:1 mixture of the two) and turn the pan while tapping it to ensure the flour/cocoa powder covers the entire pan with a light coating. Tap the back of the pan over a plate or piece of parchment paper so as not to waste the mixture. Use the remaining flour/cocoa powder to coat any remaining pans. This will help ensure the cake does not stick to the pan. You may also double up and line your pans with parchment paper (bottom) after you have buttered and floured them.
Why are room temperature ingredients important in baking? Room temperature ingredients like eggs, butter, milk, and other dairy ingredients when combined form an emulsion that traps air inside of a mixture. This trapped air expands and rises during the baking process, which ultimately produces fluffier and more tender baked goods. Room temperature ingredients = tender cake crumb and moist cakes and cupcakes.
Should I frost my cake? This cake is so moist that it kind of makes its own glossy ‘icing” as it cools. It’s a cake that really doesn’t need to be frosted or iced in order to be enjoyed. It pairs really well with a scoop of ice cream.
Can I make devil’s food cake ahead and freeze it? Yes, you can freeze devil’s food cake. In fact, this cake freezes extremely well and tastes just as great when thawed in the fridge overnight or left at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Devil’s food cake is a great make-ahead cake for get-togethers or dinner parties. You can even frost or ice the cupcakes (or whole cake)with the ganache and then freeze.
Why is Devil’s Food Cake called devil’s food cake? According to most food scholars, Devil’s food cake was invented in the United States somewhere around the end of the 1800s or early 1900s. One of the first recipes for Devil’s Food Cake uses melted baking chocolate instead of cocoa powder and can be found in print as early as the 1900s. It’s believed that Devil’s food cake gets its name from being the total opposite of Angel Food Cake which was very popular in the Victorian era. But it’s also likely to have been so named because of the ingredients that give this cake an intensely rich flavor and a super moist crumb that are pretty decadent (and some thought devilishly good).
What makes Devil’s Food Cake different from regular chocolate cake? Devil’s Food Cake is simply a richer more chocolatey cocoa version of chocolate cake. This can be attributed partly to the espresso added to enhance the chocolate flavor, the addition of baking powder and baking soda in this recipe, and a hot liquid (sometimes coffee was used), but I use hot water. All of these elements provide a very moist tender crumb that isn’t typically matched by a regular chocolate cake. Also, Devil’s Food Cake almost always uses Dutch-process cocoa powder only versus using a combination of cocoa powder and melted baking chocolate like many regular chocolate cakes.
Why do you need to gently incorporate the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients? Stirring the dry and wet ingredients in cake batter too much or too aggressively can activate the gluten in the flour too much. This can ruin your otherwise perfect cake crumb by making it dense. If the wet and dry ingredients are incorporated gently and just until it’s all well combined (and no more), you’ll end up with a lighter crumb allowing your cake to be very moist and spongy.
Don’t overbeat the frosting ingredients or you will end up with a gritty texture. Beat the egg white mixture just until you have stiff peaks. A good way to check for the right consistency is to turn the bowl upside down and when the frosting will not slide or fall out, it’s ready. Another good way to know if egg whites are properly stiff is when the peaks will stand upright on a whisk without falling back into themselves.
Looking for More Delicious Cake Recipes?
Here are a few of our favorite cakes, cupcakes, and other sweet dessert recipes we think you might also enjoy.
This slightly enhanced vintage Devil’s Food Cake recipe is a keeper. It’s rich, super chocolatey, and is hands down the most tender (and moist) Devil’s Food Cake I’ve ever eaten. This recipe comes from a vintage cookbook in my 95-year-old Granny’s collection (95 at the time of writing this post♡). Feel free to use an electric handheld or stand mixer, but all you really need is a couple of bowls and a whisk. This is my go-to chocolate cake.
Ingredients
Scale
5 1/2 tablespoons butter, room temperature (75g)
5 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil (grapeseed, canola, or vegetable) (75g)
2 cups sugar (400g)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (20g)
2 large eggs, room temperature (100g)
1/2 cup boiling water (118g)
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature (250g) **(sub faux-buttermilk, see recipe notes)
2 cups all-purpose or 00 flour (240g)
1/2 cup cocoa powder (50g)
1 teaspoon baking powder (4g)
1 teaspoon baking soda (4g)
1 1/2 teaspoons espresso powder (4g)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (6g)
*I use 00 flour when I’m in Italy, and the weight of different flours varies based on the humidity content and absorption potential of the flour you’re working with. Just be sure to use the ‘scoop and level’ method to measure your flour into measuring cups and spoons and the recipe works perfectly every time.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F/176°C + Prep the cake pans. Heat the oven and butter or spray two 8-inch aluminum cake pans with non-stick cooking spray. Lightly flour the pans making sure to cover the inside well. Tap out any remaining flour. Line the bottoms of the cake pans with parchment paper and set aside until ready to fill.
Prepare the dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, espresso, baking powder, and salt and whisk well to combine and set aside.
Prepare the baking soda + water solution. Boil the water (or microwave it until very hot), add the baking soda, and stir until dissolved, set aside.
Prepare the wet ingredients. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or in a large mixing bowl using a whisk), beat the butter, oil, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy approximately 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice while mixing to ensure all ingredients are well incorporated. Add the eggs and whisk just until incorporated. Add the buttermilk and baking soda-water mixture and mix just until combined.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use a rubber spatula or whisk to gently combine everything until no flour streaks remain. *After combining everything you should still have some visible lumps and that’s exactly what you want.
Portion the cake batter.Split the cake batter evenly between two 8-inch cake pans.
Bake the cakes. Bake the cakes for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester (or toothpick) inserted into the middle comes out clean and the tops are just set and slightly springy when touched.
Cooling the cakes. Remove the cakes from the oven and place them onto a cooling rack for 15 to 20 minutes to slightly cool and then gently remove the cakes from the pans to finish cooling directly on the wire rack. When cakes are completely cooled, they may be frosted. Enjoy!
Notes
If you don’t have buttermilk, make your own by simply squeezing 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (or white vinegar) into a liquid measuring cup then add the milk until you reach one total cup of liquid. Stir the mixture and set aside for 10-15 minutes at room temperature. The mixture will thicken and might even curdle a bit and that’s normal.
If you don’t have espresso, substitute instant coffee or omit it altogether, or use hot coffee to replace the hot water that gets mixed with the baking soda.
Helping busy families cook and enjoy tastier meals at home. Born and raised in Arkansas, I've lived and worked in NYC, Sichuan China, and now Northeast Italy. Each of these places has impacted the way I cook, live, and celebrate life. You'll find a bit of everything here whether you're new to cooking, or you've made it all. If you love to eat, you're in the right place!
