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Moist and Tender Devil's Food Cake

By America's Test Kitchen

Published on May 17, 2012

Time

1½ hours, plus 2 hours cooling

Yield

Serves 8 to 10 (Makes three 8-inch cakes)

Moist and Tender Devil's Food Cake

Ingredients

4 ounces (113 grams) unsweetened chocolate, chopped¼ cup (¾ ounces/21 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder 1 ¼ cups water (boiling)¾ cup (3 ¾ ounces/106 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour ¾ cup (3 ounces/85 grams) cake flour 1 teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon table salt 8 ounces (227 grams) unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened, plus extra for greasing pans1 ½ cups packed (10 ½ ounces/298 grams) dark brown sugar 3 large eggs, room temperature½ cup sour cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Before You Begin

Regular, or natural, cocoa like Hershey's can be used with good results, though the cakes will bake up a bit drier, redder, and with slightly less chocolate flavor.

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, grease three 8-inch cake pans with butter and line bottom of each pan with parchment paper round. Combine chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl; pour boiling water over and whisk until smooth. Sift together flours, baking soda, and salt onto large sheet parchment or waxed paper; set aside.
  2. Place butter in bowl of standing mixer and beat at medium-high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add brown sugar and beat on high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium-high and add eggs one at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition. Reduce speed to medium; add sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined, about 10 seconds. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl. With mixer on low, add about one third of flour mixture, followed by about one half of chocolate mixture. Repeat, ending with flour mixture; beat until just combined, about 15 seconds. Do not overbeat. Remove bowl from mixer; scrape bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix gently to thoroughly combine.
  3. Divide batter evenly among cake pans, smooth batter to edges of pan with rubber spatula. If baking three 8-inch cakes, place two pans on lower-middle rack and one on upper-middle rack. Bake until skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 23 minutes for 8-inch cakes. Cool on wire rack 15 to 20 minutes. Run knife around pan perimeter to loosen. Invert cakes onto large plate; peel off parchment, and reinvert onto lightly greased rack. Cool completely before icing.
Moist and Tender Devil's Food Cake

Moist and Tender Devil's Food Cake

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By America's Test Kitchen
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Time

1½ hours, plus 2 hours cooling

Yield

Serves 8 to 10 (Makes three 8-inch cakes)

Ingredients

4 ounces (113 grams) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
¼ cup (¾ ounces/21 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 ¼ cups water (boiling)
¾ cup (3 ¾ ounces/106 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup (3 ounces/85 grams) cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon table salt
8 ounces (227 grams) unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened, plus extra for greasing pans
1 ½ cups packed (10 ½ ounces/298 grams) dark brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ingredients

4 ounces (113 grams) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
¼ cup (¾ ounces/21 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 ¼ cups water (boiling)
¾ cup (3 ¾ ounces/106 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup (3 ounces/85 grams) cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon table salt
8 ounces (227 grams) unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened, plus extra for greasing pans
1 ½ cups packed (10 ½ ounces/298 grams) dark brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ingredients

4 ounces (113 grams) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
¼ cup (¾ ounces/21 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 ¼ cups water (boiling)
¾ cup (3 ¾ ounces/106 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup (3 ounces/85 grams) cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon table salt
8 ounces (227 grams) unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened, plus extra for greasing pans
1 ½ cups packed (10 ½ ounces/298 grams) dark brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Why This Recipe Works

To develop a devil’s food cake recipe with a very moist, velvety texture, we used a combination of unsweetened chocolate and Dutch-processed cocoa powder (which is less acidic than regular cocoa and therefore enhances browning) and mixed it with hot water rather than milk, since milk tends to dull the flavor of chocolate. A mixture of cake and all-purpose flour provided both structure and delicacy. Sour cream deepened the flavor of the cake in our devils food cake recipe and made the texture more substantial.

Before You Begin

Regular, or natural, cocoa like Hershey's can be used with good results, though the cakes will bake up a bit drier, redder, and with slightly less chocolate flavor.

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, grease three 8-inch cake pans with butter and line bottom of each pan with parchment paper round. Combine chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl; pour boiling water over and whisk until smooth. Sift together flours, baking soda, and salt onto large sheet parchment or waxed paper; set aside.
  2. Place butter in bowl of standing mixer and beat at medium-high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add brown sugar and beat on high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium-high and add eggs one at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition. Reduce speed to medium; add sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined, about 10 seconds. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl. With mixer on low, add about one third of flour mixture, followed by about one half of chocolate mixture. Repeat, ending with flour mixture; beat until just combined, about 15 seconds. Do not overbeat. Remove bowl from mixer; scrape bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix gently to thoroughly combine.
  3. Divide batter evenly among cake pans, smooth batter to edges of pan with rubber spatula. If baking three 8-inch cakes, place two pans on lower-middle rack and one on upper-middle rack. Bake until skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 23 minutes for 8-inch cakes. Cool on wire rack 15 to 20 minutes. Run knife around pan perimeter to loosen. Invert cakes onto large plate; peel off parchment, and reinvert onto lightly greased rack. Cool completely before icing.
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