Martha Washington Devil's Food Cake

This devil’s food cake is a proper old-school recipe, the kind baked from real unsweetened chocolate melted on the stove rather than cocoa powder stirred into a bowl. That distinction matters. Melted chocolate gives the cake a denser, fudgier crumb with a deeper flavor than cocoa alone can deliver.

The method has an extra step most modern recipes skip: the melted chocolate gets blended with sugar and buttermilk first and cooled completely before it joins the batter. This tempers the chocolate so it incorporates smoothly without seizing or creating streaks. It also lets the buttermilk’s acidity interact with the chocolate, developing a more complex, slightly tangy richness.

Alternating the remaining flour and buttermilk into the creamed butter mixture keeps the batter tender. Dumping all the flour in at once overworks the gluten. Adding all the liquid at once breaks the emulsion. Back and forth, a little at a time, is how you get a crumb that’s both light and moist.

Pro Tips

• Cool the chocolate-buttermilk mixture completely before adding it to the batter. Warm chocolate will melt the creamed butter and deflate all the air you’ve beaten in.
• Cream the butter and sugar until genuinely light and fluffy, at least 3 to 4 minutes. This step builds the cake’s structure.
• Add eggs one at a time and beat thoroughly after each. Rushing this step leads to a heavy, flat cake.
• Grease AND flour the pans. Devil’s food cake sticks stubbornly without both.

Variations

• Frost with a classic chocolate buttercream or a fluffy seven-minute frosting for a retro look.
• Add a teaspoon of instant espresso powder to the chocolate mixture for a deeper, more complex chocolate flavor.
• Bake in three 8-inch pans instead of two 9-inch pans for taller, more dramatic layers.