This devil’s food cake made with fresh milled flour is so soft, moist, and decadent! All of the ingredients come together to give you a cake that you or your guests wouldn’t even guess was made with fresh milled flour. Top with your favorite frosting and enjoy!
What Is Devil’s Food Cake?
Devil’s food cake is a rich, moist chocolate cake. It can be topped with your favorite frosting.
Here are a few different theories on how the name came about.
- It is the opposite of the light, white, and airy angel food cake. Boasting with it’s deep chocolate flavor and dense, but moist crumb.
- The richness of the cake can be referred to as “sinfully indulgent”.
- Devil’s food cake came about during a time when food that was spicy, rich, or dark was described as deviled, like deviled ham and deviled eggs.
What You’ll Need To Make Devil’s Food Cake Made With Fresh Milled Flour
Butter
Milk
Coffee/Water
Dutch Process Cocoa Powder– If you only have regular unsweetened cocoa powder on hand it will work!
Soft White Wheat Fresh Milled Flour
Sugar
Brown Sugar
Salt
Eggs
Sour Cream– This makes your cake moist.
Vanilla Extract
Baking Soda– Make sure to add at the very END after your batter has rested for 15 minutes.
Baking Powder– Make sure to add at the very END after your batter has rested for 15 minutes.
White Vinegar– Believe it or not this is completely necessary! I tested this recipe and it kept sinking in the middle, until I added one teaspoon to the batter. GAME CHANGER! You can’t taste it, either! Make sure to add at the very END after your batter has rested for 15 minutes.
Can I Use Regular Unsweetened Cocoa Powder Instead of Dutch Process?
If you don’t have dutch process cocoa powder you can substitute regular unsweetened cocoa powder. The dutch process gives the deeper almost black look to the cake. Regular cocoa is just a tad lighter in color, but still tastes and looks great.
If you want to read more in depth about dutch process vs. regular cocoa powder check out this article.
Jump to RecipeHow To Prepare Cake Pans
I like to coat the pans in a thin layer of softened butter and then line the bottom with parchment paper. This creates a soft outside layer and helps the cake release from the pan in one piece. If you don’t want to use butter you can spray with a non-stick spray. Some people also coat the pan with butter and flour. This hasn’t been necessary in my stainless steel pans.
What Frosting Should I Use?
You can use any frosting you’d like. I really like this buttercream recipe and it’s what I used to frost and decorate my layered cake. I made a 1.5X batch of it and it was just enough to crumb coat and frost my 8″ 2 layer round cake. If you are going to decorate more than a basic design like I did, I’d recommend making at least a double batch of buttercream. For piping the frosting swirls pictured below I used the Wilton 2D tip. You can find just the tip here or a set of decorating tips here.
Tips For Frosting A Cake
- Make sure your cake is completely cool before frosting. (Tip: You can even wrap in plastic wrap while slightly warm to keep additional moisture in and put in the fridge and this will make it easier to handle and frost.)
- You can either just frost a simple layer and call it good or you can do a crumb coat and chill and then do a final layer of frosting. This helps keep crumbs out of your frosting as you decorate.
- Use an offset spatula to spread frosting. The angled shape helps spread frosting smoothly and evenly across a cake’s surface, creating crisp lines.
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Devil’s Food Cake Made With Fresh Milled Flour (Moist Chocolate Cake)
Ingredients
- 226 grams butter (1 cup=2 Sticks)
- 120 grams milk (1/2 cup)
- 227 grams brewed black coffee See note below
- 75 grams dutch process cocoa powder (3/4 cup) See note below
- 190 grams sour cream (3/4 cups)
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 264 grams fresh milled soft white wheat flour (approx. 2 3/4 cups flour)
- 200 grams sugar (1 cup)
- 213 grams brown sugar (1 cup, firmly packed)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp white distilled vinegar
Instructions
- Add the butter, milk, coffee/water, and cocoa powder in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and well combined.
- Add sour cream and stir until combined. Then whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract until combined. Set aside while you mix dry ingredients.
- In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, and salt. Whisk until combined.
- Add your wet ingredient mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk/stir until batter is smooth. Don't overmix. Let your batter rest for 15 minutes to help fully hydrate the flour.
- While that is resting preheat the oven to 350℉ and prepare your cake pans. I spread a thin layer of softened butter to completely cover the pan and line the bottom of my 8" round stainless steel pans with parchment paper.
- Next add baking soda, baking powder, and vinegar to batter and mix in until combined.
- Evenly divide the batter into prepared cake pans and bake at 350℉ for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs. You don't want to overbake it or you risk having a dry cake.
- Cool cake in the pan/s for 20-30 minutes and then run a knife along the edge to loosen it from the edge and carefully invert cake onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Frost when cake is completely cool.
2 questions,
Anyone tries this in a 9 x 13?
Anyone tried replacing the sugar with monkfruit sugar in this recipe?
Thanks
This will work in a 9×13 pan. I am going to do it soon and update the recipe with approximate baking times. If you do it start with 30 minutes and then keep an eye on it for when it is done.
I am not familiar with using monkfruit in recipes at this time.
Do you think I could make this in cupcake form?
Yes, just adjust the bake time.
Do you measure 264 grams wheat berries and that’s the correct amount or ground approximately 264 grams but make sure you have almost 2 3/4 cups once it’s ground. This always confuses me! I’m sorry if this is a dumb question. New to freshly milled wheat! Thanks
I just measure the wheat berries, mill my flour, and use in the recipe. Not a dumb question! I include the amount in cups for anyone without a scale, but it can vary by volume since everyone scoops/packs flour differently.
My first successful fm wheat cake. Taste delicious. Thank you so much!!
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed it!
Can I make this cake with hard white wheat?
Do you think this cake could be baked ahead and frozen like regular all purpose flour cakes? I usually bake my cakes a few days ahead, freeze them and then defrost, frost and decorate the day before event. I started our freshly milled wheat journey a couple months ago and this will be my first freshly milled wheat cake! Thanks so much!
Yes, that should be fine!
I made this November 2024 for my husband’s 40th bday. I didn’t have any coffee so I just put 3 spoonfuls of espresso powder. I made a homemade peanut butter buttercream and chocolate butter cream. I put the chocolate butter cream in between the two layers and then the peanut butter butter cream all over the outside and then topped with candles and Reese’s. After we ate dinner out a restaurant I offered our waitress a slice. Her and 3-4 other wait staff came over praising the cake and saying it was the best cake they ever had. My husband and I and our families completely agreed! This is the only chocolate cake recipe I will ever make ever again! 10/10, 5 stars, best cake hands down!
This makes me so happy to read! That sounds amazing and my peanut butter loving daughter would love this combo!