Classic Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake Recipe

My great-aunt used to collect old cookbooks and had amassed quite the collection before she passed. When cleaning out her things I boxed up 9 boxes of cookbooks and 2 boxes of “cut-out” recipes that she had saved over the years. There were hundreds upon hundreds of newspaper clippings, recipes cut from food packages, etc. for me to sift through. She loved to cook and was one of the best cooks in our family.

Two weeks ago I was going through a pile of her clipped recipes and came across a Classic Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake Recipe that I decided to make. Oh my gosh, it was so good and moist! Here’s the vintage recipe that I used. I opted to bake the cake in round Cake Boss cake pans, but you can use square as the recipe suggests.

Classic Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake Recipe

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup soft shortening
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3 squares (ounces) baking chocolate, melted
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift together the cake flour, baking soda & salt. Cream shortening, granulated sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Add in the eggs, one at a time and beat thoroughly. Blend in chocolate. Add dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, blending well after each addition.

Bake in two lightly greased 8″ Bake King square cake pans in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until done. Cool thoroughly and then frost with your favorite frosting.

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