My parents and brother gave up chocolate for Lent and since it’s over now, I wanted to make them something extra chocolatey and delicious. Devil’s food cake sounded like the perfect thing to quench their chocolately cravings. With half the batter I tried an experiment, but it didn’t work out. I will be trying this experiment again in the future, so I won’t divulge it now.
Luckily as a back-up I made the other half into these cupcakes and they were a big hit. My parents, brother and Adam all agreed that these were delicious and super moist. Again, I didn’t try any because I’m trying to lose weight for our vacation. I also have plans to make this as a layer cake in the near future, so be on the lookout for that.
I found this recipe on Martha Stewart (surprise, surprise-haha!)-her recipes just never fail! To frost the cupcakes, I used my tried and true buttercream. Unfortunately, the color caused some separation in the icing. If you have any tips on how to prevent that, let me know. Maybe I need to mix it more in the Kitchen Aid once I add the food coloring. I also made some mini cupcakes, and those follow the same directions as below, but bake for about 10 minutes if you want to do that. they are super cute.
Moist Devil’s Food Cake
Source: Martha Stewart
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus more for pans
1/2 cup boiling water
3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus more for pans
1/2 cup boiling water
3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Sift cocoa powder into a medium bowl; whisk in boiling water. Set aside to cool.
Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl; set aside. Put butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until creamy. Gradually mix in sugar until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs, a bit at a time, mixing well between each addition; mix until well blended. Mix in vanilla.
Whisk milk into reserved cocoa mixture. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the cocoa mixture.
Spoon batter evenly into cupcake liners, fill about 2/3 full.
Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Let cool in pans on wire racks about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.
Once completely cooled, frost with icing of your choice. I reccomend this buttercream.
Welcome! I'm Stephanie, a thirty something girl loving life with my husband Adam and our two little miracles living in gorgeous Southeast Tennessee. I'm passionate about Jesus, traveling, sports (Go Titans!), and of course food! Read more about me 
You can never go wrong with Devil’s Food Cake! I’m not sure how to avoid the color separation in the icing, but I was originally going to comment on how much I loved it! Can’t wait to hear about your experiment… 🙂
Mmm – this recipe looks fantastic and what a delicious way to enjoy chocolate once again!
Yum!!!! I kinda like the look of the frosting, it gives it that rustic look!
I really like the look of the frosting actually! It looks neat. 🙂
What a great way to break the Lenten fast! I made a decadent dessert as well this week for my church group!
Hi Stephanie – thanks so much for your sweet comment on my blog! These cupcakes look great! The buttercream looks bluish-purple to me, and purple is my favorite color. I think the color separation looks really cool, it’s very artistic. I was wondering how you got it to look like that! 🙂
hey!
i was looking through your website when i came across this. i’m a pastry-chef-in-training but i’m no buttercream gd (i happen to prefer whipped topping frosting). i wanted to see how you make your buttercream but the link wouldn’t pop up so i’m gonna base this off a regular recipe.
most call for eggs or milk, something liquidy. so if you use a liquid icing, it’s not usually strong enough and will cut through the buttercream. try whipping it in a kitchenaid, then slowly adding gel or paste coloring.
if you want a light shade, you could use liquid, but do it slowly, just a drop or two at a time. for a dark or bright shade, use gel or paste because it’s not so liquidy and it won’t break up.
also, just keep mixing the buttercream in the kitchenaid…it will reform on its own; but if it’s still not working, usually a little shortening will help. remember – you want your butter soft and room temperature, but not too soft that it’s overheated and melting. (that could have been your original problem, btw.)
hope this helps =)