Devil’s Food Cake, frosted with the requisite puffs of Seven-Minute Frosting, is sinfully good. Fluffy and somewhat airy, Devil’s Food Cake is sometimes called the “chocolate” version of Angel Food Cake.
It is an old-fashioned type of chocolate cake, with the bakers among us possessing hand-me-down recipes that go back decades. Many of these recipes call for unsweetened chocolate, melted over hot water in a double boiler. The recipe here is for a Devil’s Food Cake such as that.
I’ve also converted the recipe for use with cocoa, Hershey’s of course, the cocoa most of America had on hand in the pantry. For making hot cocoa and cakes, brownies and cookies, candy and other sweet things, Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa imparted the natural cocoa flavor (and aroma) we still associate with the Devil’s Food Cakes that came from places like grandma’s kitchen.
My grandmother made fudge with a wooden spoon and beat her cakes and frostings with a rotary eggbeater. She must have been stronger than she appeared because it takes some endurance to beat anything for seven minutes with a rotary eggbeater, especially something that needs to be beaten, without stopping, over boiling water.
I tried it — just once — and timed the operation. It took precisely seven minutes to make Seven-Minute Frosting with a rotary eggbeater. Using my hand held electric mixer, which was — forgive the expression — a piece of cake in comparison, the frosting was far less strenuous to make and good to go in a little less than six minutes.
Devil’s Food Cake is the stuff and substance memories are made of. Why not make some of your own today?
Sue Ade is a syndicated food writer with broad experience and interest in the culinary arts. She has worked and resided in the Lowcountry of South Carolina since 1985 and may be reached at kitchenade@yahoo.com.
For voluminous whipped egg whites, be sure your mixing bowl and utensils are free of grease and oil. Eggs are easier to separate when they are cold, but egg whites will whip better when they are first brought to room temperature.