Did you know that you can make devil’s food cake at home? You can! This easy homemade devil’s food cake recipe tastes just like the perfect chocolate cake you’ve been dreaming of!
This is such a yummy recipe, it will be your new stand-by when you’re dying for something moist and chocolatey! You can find it in volume 1 of our Dining On A Dime Cookbook.
This easy devil’s food cake recipe is my Great Grandmother’s Great Depression recipe. It’s a super easy chocolate cake you’re sure to love. You can make this cake in thin layers and serve it plain as you would a light brownie, or you can frost it with your favorite frosting. I prefer chocolate (recipe below) or buttercream frosting with it, but you can frost it with any flavor you like.
You can easily make this devil’s food cake recipe into a layer cake by placing one layer, frosting it and then placing another layer. I often make it as a 2 layer or 3 layer cake, including frosting between each of the layers and then frosting the top.
If you want to make this Devil’s Food Cake recipe extra fancy, you can frost it with one color or flavor of frosting and then pipe a different color frosting on top in a pretty pattern. You can also add designs in the frosting or add sprinkles or candy on top if you like.
Easy Homemade Devil’s Food Cake Recipe
This easy devil’s food cake recipe makes a light chocolate cake that is super delicious.
- Yield: 9 servings
Ingredients
1/3 cup cocoa, packed
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. shortening
1 cup boiling water
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour milk or buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Dissolve cocoa and shortening in boiling water.
- Mix all remaining ingredients into the bowl with the cocoa and shortening.
- Beat for 2 minutes.
- Pour into a well-greased and floured 9×13 inch baking pan or two 9 inch pans.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes clean.
This tastes just like the package mix! Serves 9 or makes 20 cupcakes.
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Easy Chocolate Frosting Recipe
This easy chocolate frosting recipe is a standard chocolate frosting you can use to frost virtually any cake or cupcakes. You can easily make it in just a few minutes with ingredients you already have. When you make it, you will wonder why you ever used store-bought frosting!
- Yield: Frosts one 9×13 inch cake
Ingredients
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients into a bowl.
- Beat until smooth. Frosts one 9×13 inch cake.
Notes
For A Vanilla Frosting Recipe
Make the chocolate frosting recipe above, but leave out the cocoa and only use 2-3 Tbsp. milk.
Yummy indeed! This recipe is similar to (if not the same as) the classic Hershey’s Chocolate Cake recipe with the boiling water. It is honestly the best chocolate cake recipe ever! A couple of years ago my sister-in-law made the cake and iced it with a caramel sea salt frosting. The combination of chocolate sea salt caramel frosting was to die for, the best birthday cake I’ve ever had! I tried to duplicate her icing, but couldn’t. Perhaps you have a recipe for this frosting? :-)
You know Jeanne I have never tried one myself but here is a really simple one you might want to try. Sea Salt Caramel Frosting
I love chocolate cake – that picture looks so good! Do you have suggestions on an alternative to sour milk or buttermilk. Although I’m not vegan – I will eat dairy products – I don’t normally keep them in the house. I buy almond milk, probably for the main reason they don’t go sour. Or maybe they will, but I’ve always consumed mine before that happens! I do keep skim milk powder in my freezer for the occasional times I come across a recipe that wants milk. I should mix up half a cup and add a bit of vinegar maybe?
You can use the skim milk to make the sour milk or since you are using only 1/2 cup in the recipe you could try yoghurt or sour cream and add just a little liquid to it.
I was curious about this, too, as I don’t keep regular milk in the house either. Livestrong says this for vegetarian buttermilk: Use 1 cup of soy or almond milk for every cup of buttermilk called for in the recipe. Stir in 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar per cup of plant milk. Let the mixture stand for five to 10 minutes, then use it in place of the buttermilk.
So, same as the basic recipe for making buttermilk out of regular milk.
There is a lot of confusion about buttermilk and sour milk and substituting one for the other. They really aren’t the same at all because buttermilk has had a special bacteria added to it. In the same way the fungi in yeast helps with leavening of breads and things, the bacteria and all helps with that in buttermilk. When you just “sour” any kind of milk the texture of the cake or what ever will not be the same – usually not as fluffy and will be heavier. Now the difference isn’t huge so that many say I have uses sour milk for years and my cake turns out fine and they are passable but if ever you would compare something made with “sour” milk next to something made with buttermilk you will see a difference. Here is a post I wrote that goes into more detail in explaining it and how to make your own buttermilk that might help. 10 Ways to Use Buttermilk and Sour milk
I’m gonna try this cake tomorrow! it looks really yummy and good. Thank you for such a simple recipie. I tell everyone to check out your website and to get the books they are great!
Susan
Thank you Susan we really appreciate that and it does help us so much.
The frosting looks so great, too. What is the recipe for that?
Is that also in the cookbook?
It is butter creme frosting and is in Dining on a Dime page 241.
This cake sounds so good! We (my adult son and I ) Love Devil’s food cake. I am going to try to half the recipe for 1 round cake pan.
But I was wondering if there is something else I can use instead of the shortening? I never have shortening on hand.
Like vegetable oil? How much?
You could use margarine or butter-same amount