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How to make devil’s food cake the old-fashioned way by soaking the flour overnight for a melt-in-your-mouth treat for birthdays or other special occasions.
Devil’s food cake is often the birthday goodie my kids choose for me to make when their special day rolls around. Recently though, this recipe for chocolate chip cookie cake is giving it some good competition!
The inherent moistness of devil’s food cake combined with nutrient-loaded buttercream frosting makes for a melt-in-your-mouth experience that your child (and guests) won’t soon forget.
This old-fashioned version varies from modern recipes in that it is soaked in sour raw milk (or yogurt) overnight.
This simple, traditional step greatly improves flavor and moistness, while also significantly enhancing digestibility.
For those new to traditional cooking, soaking flour is one of the three methods used by ancestral cultures to prepare their grains.
The great thing about traditional preparation of grains is that you eat far less because you feel full faster. This is very important when it comes to cake and dessert in general because you won’t easily overeat!
Preparation Tip
The recipe below is for a large, double-layer devil’s food cake to serve many guests at a birthday party.
If you wish to make a single-layer cake only, cut the recipe in half and frost just the top.
Homemade Devils Food Cake (traditional method)
How to make devil's food cake the old-fashioned way by soaking the flour overnight for a melt-in-your-mouth treat for birthdays or other special occasions.
Ingredients
- 4 cups flour freshly ground is best
- 3 cups whole milk yogurt or lightly soured raw milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup expeller pressed coconut oil
- 3 cups sucanat unrefined cane sugar
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 3 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
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Sift the fresh whole grain flour and feed the discarded bran to chickens, ducks or other birds. Removing the bran increases the lightness of the cake considerably without using toxic commercial white flour.
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Mix the sifted fresh flour with the yogurt or soured raw milk, cover, and leave on the counter overnight or for about 8 hours. I usually mix the flour and the milk in the morning and make the cake in the afternoon.
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Blend in the remaining ingredients. Pour the batter into 2 – 9×13 glass baking pans greased with expeller coconut oil, dividing the batter equally between the 2 pans.
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Bake at 350 °F/177 °C for about 30 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Take care not to overbake.
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Cool the cake completely and then remove one cake layer onto a serving platter and ice the top with raw butter frosting.
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Remove the second devil's food cake layer and carefully place on top of the frosted cake layer. Cover the remaining cake with more butter frosting.
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Store devil's food cake for up to 2 days in the microwave which makes the ideal, airtight pastry cabinet! After that, refrigerate any leftovers in a sealed container (there probably won't be any).
Recipe Notes
Substitute 1 cup carob powder and 1 tbsp chocolate extract for the cocoa powder if desired.
Substitute coconut sugar or date syrup for the cane sugar if desired.
**Do not use honey, as baking with honey is not healthy.
Budget-wise tip: Using homemade vanilla extract is much less expensive than buying it.
More Healthy Cake Recipes!
Love making cake using traditional methods and ingredients? Try these other old-fashioned recipes too.
Who needs Little Debbie’s?
Oh gosh.
Perfect timing! I was going to check your site today to see if you had any cake recipes I could try for my daughter’s 1st birthday on Tuesday. I’ll be trying this one. Thanks!
OOOMMMGGG I cant wait to make this!!!!! And random question….I just got my dehydrated milk kefir grains in the mail yesterday and Im in the process of trying to rehydrate to use…tonite I drained the culture from the old milk and put in new milk (they say to do this for 5-7 days). When I was looking for the culture, its like I could barely find it!!! When I got the culture it wasnt totally intact but I was hoping it would come together a little bit! I sifted through the milk as much as I could and scooped out whatever clumps I thought was the grains and put them all together in the new milk. Are the grains supposed to start out like this? I hope they didnt get broken up in the mail and now they’re ruined. What do you think?
I would call or email the company and ask .. I have not ever attempted to rehydrate kefir grains before as I have just gotten fresh ones from a friend and they last for years and years.
I have an assignment to do today and clearly now I cannot continue until I have baked this guy… thanks a lot, Sarah! :p
Can I just ask, is the cake incredibly sweet with the three cups of sucanet? Since I changed my diet for the better a few years back I find I really can’t handle extremely sweet desserts and usually halve the sweetener in standard recipes…
Thanks! x
This recipe makes a large, double layer cake intended for a birthday party so feel free to cut in half for sure!
Hi there this lloks delicious! Let me just say that I love love love your site, it has completely revolutionized the way I think about healthy eating. Anyway…I was wondering: if I buy wheat berries from my local bulk store and then grind it myself…is it fresh flour?
Yes, that is perfect! Try to find a grain co-op to buy wheat berries in bulk though .. you will save a lot going this route. They store well in large buckets with gamma lids even in hot garages for long periods of time.
Fantastic timing! My hubby LOVES chocolate cake and his birthday is tomorrow! He will be THRILLED to have a surprise homemade cake!
Thanks SO MUCH Sarah!
Woohoo! This came right in time! My daughters birthday is on Monday and I’ve been searching for a cake to make. Do you think almond flour would work okay with this recipe? Thanks!
Never tried it with almond flour. If you give it a try, please let us know how it turns out!
What do you recommend if I don’t have access to a grain mill or freshly ground flour? Your site has been so helpful! Got my first bottle of FCLO today, in fact! Thanks!
Just buy organic all purpose flour and put a grain mill on your wish list 🙂 You will love this cake when you make it with fresh flour for the first time!!
Cake makes me feel better after reading the last few articles you’ve posted. Thank you for something that doesn’t depress me. It looks delicious.
Homemade cake makes all things better!