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When it comes to desert you pretty much can’t go wrong with chocolate cake. The rich flavor hits the spot every time. But, you can improve on the standard chocolate cake recipe by leaps and bounds. Enter Nana’s devil food cake. This vintage recipe has been circulating by word of mouth and memory in one Reddit user’s family for years. Recently they shared the recipe online and home bakers have been trying the recipe out ever since- with many proclaiming it to be the best chocolate cake they’ve ever tasted.
This chocolate cake recipe gets a boost to the cocoa flavor from 1 cup of warm coffee. This is a frequently used trick to bring richness and depth to chocolate desserts and it works wonders in this recipe.
Once the cake is baked and cooled you can start on the glaze which is just powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and a little salt. We made ours in a simple 9″x13″ pan and poured the glaze over top in a random pattern.
You can make this recipe in a 10″ bundt pan. Or you can use 2 round pans (9″) instead. If you the 2 rounds then you can use a different frosting sandwiched in between the two layers if you’d rather have a layer cake. Boiled brown sugar frosting would be an excellent replacement for the glaze in this recipe for a even richer taste experience.
However this cake is so tender that you don’t need anything more than the simple glaze to enjoy this wonderful vintage cake recipe- and it’s so easy.
The next time you’re craving chocolate cake give this recipe a try. You will not be disappointed with this wonderfully rich and tender devil’s food cake.
Nana’s Devil Food Cake
Allergens: Gluten
Diet: Vegetarian
For the cake:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup coffee - cooled but not cold
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
For the icing:
- 3 cups confectioners sugar
- 6-9 Tbsp whole milk
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375˚F. Grease a 9”x13” pan or a 10” bundt pan.
- Sift dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. In a separate large bowl combine wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet in thirds, stirring each time.
- Pour cake batter into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool before adding the icing.
- Combine icing ingredients into a medium bowl. Mix well until you have a runny glaze texture. You can make the icing drier by adding a bit more powdered sugar at a time or wetter by adding a bit more milk. Once cake is cooled and icing is correct consistency pour the icing over the cake and spread even with an icing spatula or with the back of a serving spoon. Or drizzle in a pattern if you prefer.
Recipe adapted from Reddit.