Devil's Food Cake conjures up images of a dark, moist, layer cake frosted with a thick coating of icing - sometimes fudgy, sometimes white. Even chocolatier and more richly hued than a regular chocolate cake, it is the polar opposite of its distant cousin, the fluffy, pure-white, Angel Food Cake. Is this how the name originated? It was frankly what I always assumed – the two contrasts, light angel food vs. sinfully rich devil's food.

According to food historians, this is one theory. However, as Greg Patent surmises in Baking in America, it could be from the cake’s slightly reddish tint.  The red color was thought to be due to a chemical reaction that occurred between early varieties of baking soda and cocoa, which also gave the cake a soapy taste, notes Dawn Marie Schrandt in Just Me Cookin Cakes. This eventually branched off into the southern favorite - Red Velvet Cake (originally called “Red Devil’s Cake). Today cooks add red food coloring to provide  the deep scarlet tint (or for those who eschew artificial dyes, try beets: All Natural Recipe for Red Velvet Cake). 

In any case, Devil’s Food had its origins in the last decade of the 19th century, a few years after chocolate as a cake flavoring started regularly appearing in cookbooks. Prior to this, chocolate was mainly a beverage – improved chocolate processing techniques in the latter part of the century created a much smoother, more delicious tasting chocolate, which better translated to cake baking. When recipes for this denser, richer chocolate cake first began appearing in cookbooks, they were called “Devil’s Cake,” and they were often loaf cakes, not multi-layer. The earliest reference I found was in the April 1893 issue of Table Talk Magazine:

     Devil’s Cake

     One cup of light brown sugar, one cup of grated chocolate, one and a half cups of sweet milk. Scald the milk, adding the grated chocolate and the sugar, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Beat to a cream one cup of powdered sugar and half of a cup of butter, then add to the yolks of three eggs beaten light, half a cup of sour milk, to which has been added one small teaspoonful of soda and two cups of flour. Add the first part to the second before adding all of the flour, and bake as a loaf cake.

An 1895 cookbook called the Friends' Cookbook (from Wilmington College, Ohio), was the first to feature recipes for “Devil's Food cake” (it also has recipes for Devil’s Cake). These two interchangeable names continued through the early part of the 20th century. It looks like Devil’s cakes could also obtain their darker color through the use of molasses, brown sugar and other spices, enhanced with chocolate filling and frosting.

According to a 1922 publication called National Baker (courtesy of the National Baker Publishing Company, “a good Devil's Cake may be made from an ordinary chocolate cake mixture or a spice cake mixture.” Directions for the spice cake are as follows: 1 quart molasses, 1 pound lard, 5 eggs, 1 quart water, 2 ounces soda, 3 pounds crumbs, 1 pound sugar, 1 ounce mixed spices, 3 pounds flour, 4 ounces currants, 4 ounces chopped peel. Rub the crumbs through a coarse sieve. Dissolve the soda in water. Cream sugar and lard; add molasses, spices, water and soda, and mix in the crumbs and flour. Add more water if required to make a soft mixture. This can be made in several layers if you wish, with chocolate filling between and all iced with a good chocolate coating. At the end the recipe clarifies: “Actually a Devil's Cake is a dark mixture and you can make pretty near anything that your trade will pay for.”

By the mid-twentieth century, most of these dark cakes were chocolate and called Devil’s Food Cakes. Many just added more chocolate for a richer look and taste and/or used egg yolks instead of whole eggs for a custardy texture; some call for beating whites the separately and then adding to the batter. One popular early recipe was from Philadelphia Cooking School Instructor Sarah Tyson Rorer. Published in Mrs. Rorer’s New Cook Book in 1902, she basically just doubles the amount of chocolate and cooks it with milk until smooth and thick (like a custard) to produce a richer taste. She also specifies pastry flour and warns, “The success of this cake depends on the flour used.”

The version I tried was based on one of the Devil’s Cake recipes featured in Mrs. Owen's New Cook Book (1897). It is very similar to the one printed in Table Talk a few years prior. I changed it up a bit by beating the egg whites separately and then adding them at the end because I like a lighter crumb. I also baked it in a springform pan as just one layer (instead of a loaf pan) and frosted it using the Devil’s Food Cake frosting recipe from Greg Patent’s Baking in America. You could also use the extra whites to create a boiled frosting – in fact, some of the older cookbooks suggest this. It was delicious and got rave reviews from my testers (I had made it for my Dad’s 85th birthday – Devil’s Food has always been a favorite of his). To make it more festive and give it a modern touch, I added a few rainbow sprinkles.

DEVIL'S CAKE

1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup (unsweetened) grated chocolate
1 ½ cups sweet milk
½ cup butter
3 eggs, separated
1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup sour milk (I used sour cream)
1 level teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour

Scald sweet milk, add chocolate and brown sugar until dissolved. Beat to a cream powdered sugar and the butter, add yolks of 3 eggs beaten light, the sour milk, flour and soda. Add the chocolate mixture to this before the flour is all in. Then add the 3 egg whites beaten to stiff peaks form. Bake in one loaf (or a springform pan).

FROSTING*
4 ounces (4 squares) unsweetened chocolate
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch salt
4 cups confectioner’s sugar

Melt the chocolate with the butter in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, whisking occasionally until smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside until completely cool. Whisk the sour cream, vanilla, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the confectioner’s sugar about one fourth at a time, whisking until very smooth. Whisk in the cooled chocolate until very smooth. If necessary, let stand until spreadable.

* (I halved the recipe for my version since my cake was just one layer)

Sources: Baking in America by Greg Patent; Just Me Cookin Cakes by Dawn Marie Schrandt; 
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America edited by Andrew Smith; Friends' Cookbook (Friends Church, Wilmington, Ohio); Mrs. Owens' New Cook Book and Complete Household Manual By Frances Emugene Owens; National Baker, Volume 27

Rejoice fellow epicures! Today is a noteworthy day in food history. On April 19, 1851, a magnificent feast took place. You could call it a nineteenth century “Top Chef” competition. New York’s Delmonico brothers had posed a rather unprecedented culinary proposition to fellow restaurateur James W. Parkinson of Philadelphia. Parkinson’s task was to put together an extraordinary meal that was even better and more innovative than a previous dinner given by Delmonico’s. Parkinson successfully rose to the challenge, creating a 17-course banquet referred to by Philadelphia newspapers as the "Thousand Dollar Dinner." A gastronomic turning point, the luxurious meal helped launch the era of grand banquets in nineteenth century America.

Held at Parkinson’s restaurant at 38 S. Eighth Street in Philadelphia, the dinner featured different rare wines and liquors with each of the courses, which included such delicacies as fresh salmon and baked rock fish, braised pigeon, turtle steaks, spring lamb, out-of-season fruits and vegetables and several dessert courses showcasing rich pastries, ice cream, cakes and puddings. As a sort of foreshadowing to modern fusion cookery, each of Parkinson’s courses was designed to meld familiar dishes with novel presentations. Special praise was given for a luscious sorbet that he artfully created using an expensive Hungarian Tokaj. A wine cooler was positioned behind every one of the thirty guests, who each had their own personal waiter. The meal was essentially a 12-hour event, with the guests sitting down at 6 p.m. and not rising from their chairs until 6 a.m. the next morning.

The April 19th date made things rather tricky for Parkinson, as it was between seasons. As noted by R. B. Valentine, a well-known insurance agent and avid epicure who was one of the New York guests, the timing “took the caterer greatly at a disadvantage as to both game and vegetables. He could only obtain what he did by special use of both telegraph and express.” It was still early days in the transformation to the vast network of interconnected shipping we now take for granted, and Parkinson’s influence surely pulled some strings to get what he needed to impress.

The dinner was typical of the multi-faceted affairs popular during the Victorian era where everything was over the top: opulent tables set with the fanciest china and silver, a series of multiple courses featuring rich foods, wines of the finest quality, delicious desserts, and wait-servants hired to cater to the diners every whim.  The meal was so amazing and unlike anything the New Yorkers had ever experienced that they gracefully admitted defeat. Apparently, they stood up three different times during the meal and not only acknowledged that the Philadelphians had “conquered them triumphantly,” but unanimously declared that it had “far surpassed any similar entertainment which had ever been given in this country.

I will discuss this amazing meal and its 17 lavish courses in my book, The Thousand Dollar Dinner, slated for an Oct. release. Available now for pre-order on Amazon. 

Dishes made from eggs (symbolizing fertility, rebirth, spring, and the Resurrection) are a recurring theme on the tables of Easter-celebrating cultures around the world. For Eastern Europeans, sweet yeasty breads made with copious amounts of eggs, butter, sugar and sometimes cheese or cinnamon are a beloved way to celebrate the end of the strict Lent fasting period.

Each region has a slightly different version – some are braided or twisted, some include raisins, some include festively colored Easter eggs as a decoration. One of these breads, babka, typically made in a fluted tube pan, is a favorite for Polish and Ukrainian families. “Babka” means grandmother in Polish; “baba” is the colloquial Ukrainian word for woman or grandma, with “babka” the diminutive form. As per modern sources, the name comes from the shape of the pan, said to resemble the wide, circular skirts of a peasant woman. Older cookbooks say to use a straight, high pan so that the cake rises to a considerable height. When baking, the top runs over, and generally falls more on one side than another, giving the appearance of an old woman with her head drooping.

According to James Beard, egg breads were probably introduced to America with the traditional Jewish bread challah and the French brioche. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, simple egg breads were often found in Women’s Exchanges – an idea started in the 19th century by caring women who wanted to help others who had fallen on hard times. These women discretely placed their hand-made items and home-cooked food in Exchanges where they were sold. (Exchanges still exist today in a handful of cities, but instead of food, they mainly sell fine-quality, hand-crafted items).

Although babka recipes appear in a few nineteenth century London cookbooks, I couldn’t find any references to the bread in American cookbooks until the early twentieth century, probably a reflection of when Eastern Europeans began to emigrate to America in larger numbers. My grandmother’s family was in this demographic, having arrived from Poland around the turn of the century. Although I don’t recall her ever making this bread, I’m sure it factored into her family’s Easter celebration, and I wanted to give it a try myself. The rich, yeasty, delicious bread is perfect for an Easter brunch, or could be just as well suited for dessert. I found the recipe I followed, (from About Food’s Eastern European food expert Barbara Rolek), was easy and delicious. My only tweak was substituting a mix of dried cranberries and chopped dried apples for the raisins.  In addition, a couple of my food testers commented that it was a little too sweet, so perhaps next time I will forgo the optional sugary glaze.

Babka 
·       Prep Time: 15 minutes
·       Cook Time: 60 minutes
·       Total Time: 75 minutes
·       Yield: 1 (10-inch) Polish Easter Babka

INGREDIENTS

·       1 package active dry yeast
·       1/4 cup warm water (no hotter than 110 degrees)
·       1 cup scalded milk
·       6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) butter
·       3/4 cup sugar
·       1/2 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter, increase salt to 1 teaspoon)
·       1 teaspoon vanilla
·       3 large beaten eggs
·       4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
·       2 tablespoons lemon zest (optional)
·       1/2 to 1 cup light or dark raisins
·       Confectioners' sugar (optional)
·       Icing: (optional)
·       2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
·       2 tablespoons lemon juice
·       1 tablespoon boiling water

PREPARATION

1.    In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Place butter, sugar and salt in a large bowl or stand mixer, and pour the scalded milk over it. Using the paddle attachment, mix until butter has melted and milk has cooled to 110 degrees or below. Mix in the vanilla and eggs. Add yeast and mix until well combined.
2.    Add the flour, lemon zest (if using), and raisins and mix thoroughly. The dough will be of a thick cake batter consistency.
3.   Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 10-inch babka pan, kugelhopf pan, Turk's head pan (turban pan), Bundt pan or tube pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into prepared pan and cover lightly with greased plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until double in bulk or until dough reaches the top of the pan but no higher.
4.    Bake about 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean, or until instant-read thermometer registers 190 degrees.
5.    Cool on a wire rack and dust with confectioners' sugar before serving or, when cake is cool, drizzle with a mixture of confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and boiling water.


Sources: "Easy Easter Babka Recipe - Polish Babka Wielkanocna" by Barbara Rolek; The Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson; American Cookery by James Beard; A Handbook of Foreign Cookery, Principally French, German and Danish By Amalia von Hochheim