This old fashioned devil’s food cake comes from a Southern cookbook printed in 1922, and it tastes different from the boxed-mix version most of us grew up with. The layers are made with brown sugar, buttermilk and melted chocolate, then warmed up with cinnamon, cloves and allspice. A cooked chocolate frosting, close to soft fudge, holds it all together.

It is a plain, honest home cake: one bowl, two layers, no fancy technique. Below you will find the full recipe with modern measurements, plus notes on the few things the 1922 cook left to your judgment.

Why this 1922 cake is worth baking

Devil’s food cake showed up in American cookbooks in the early 1900s as the dark, rich opposite of the snow-white angel food cake. Early versions like this one look a little different from today’s: brown sugar, buttermilk and baking soda give the crumb a deep, slightly reddish brown color, and the moist texture comes from boiling water stirred in at the very end.

The spices are the real surprise. A tablespoon and a half of cinnamon sounds like a lot, but together with cloves and allspice it makes the cake taste like chocolate gingerbread. If you like spice cake and chocolate cake, this is both at once.

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups (about 425 g) packed brown sugar
• 1 cup (227 g) butter, softened
• 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
• 3 cups (about 375 g) all-purpose flour
• half a cake (about 4 oz / 115 g) unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1/2 cup (120 ml) boiling water

Fudge frosting

• 2 cups (about 400 g) white sugar
• 1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
• half a cake (about 4 oz / 115 g) unsweetened baking chocolate
• 1 egg yolk
• butter the size of an egg (about 4 tablespoons / 55 g)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to make old fashioned devil’s food cake

Cake layers

1. Heat the oven to moderate, 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour two round layer pans.
2. Melt the chocolate gently over hot water or in short bursts in the microwave, then let it cool a little.
3. In a large bowl, cream the softened butter with the brown sugar until light and fluffy.
4. In a second bowl, beat the eggs well. Add the creamed butter and sugar to the eggs and mix until smooth.
5. Stir in the buttermilk, then the melted chocolate.
6. Add the flour and beat it in lightly, just until no dry streaks remain. Mix in the vanilla, cinnamon, cloves and allspice.
7. Last of all, dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water and stir it into the batter. It will become thinner and glossy.
8. Divide the batter between the pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the layers for 10 minutes in the pans, then turn them out onto a rack to cool completely.

Fudge frosting

1. Put the sugar, milk, chocolate, egg yolk and butter in a heavy saucepan. Keep the vanilla aside.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until the chocolate melts and the mixture boils and turns thick.
3. Take the pan off the heat and beat until the frosting is creamy and starts to lose its shine.
4. Beat in the vanilla and quickly spread the frosting between the layers and over the top before it sets.

Tips

• Chocolate. The book asks for “half cake of chocolate”. Baking chocolate was sold in half-pound cakes at the time, so half a cake is about 4 oz (115 g) of unsweetened chocolate. That is our reading, not a note from the book.
• Pans and baking time. The 1922 recipe only says “layer tins” and “moderate oven”. Two 9-inch (23 cm) pans work well, and the layers need roughly 30 to 35 minutes. Start checking at 25 minutes.
• Vanilla. The method mentions vanilla for the cake but the ingredient list gives no amount. One teaspoon is plenty.
• Frosting. “Cook until thick” is all the book says. If you have a candy thermometer, take it off the heat at 234 to 238°F (112 to 114°C), the soft-ball stage. Too short and it stays runny, too long and it turns grainy.
• Spice level. Keep the full amount of cinnamon the first time to taste the cake as it was made in 1922. If it is too strong for you, use 2 teaspoons next time.
• Storage. Covered at room temperature the cake keeps moist for 3 to 4 days. The buttermilk crumb is even better on day two.