This Devil’s Food Cake from Zoë Bakes Cakes is the best chocolate cake recipe I have ever tried and believe me, over the past 20+ years, I’ve tried them all. It is perfect for devil’s food cupcakes with cream cheese icing.
Want a Devil’s Food Cake fit for a celebration? Try my layer cake with Champange Buttercream!
My Secret Devil’s Food Cake Ingredients
- Lyle’s Golden Syrup
- Rum
- Coffee
The dark chocolate cake has a texture that is smooth and rich. The flavor is not overly sweet, because of the intensity of the coffee (you don’t actually taste the coffee, it just cuts the sweet). The rum makes it a great match for cream cheese frosting sweetened with Lyle’s Golden Syrup.
If you haven’t tried Lyle’s you are in for a huge treat and a new addiction. I first had it when a friend from South Africa gave it to me on a peanut butter sandwich. It is a decidedly British snack and like nothing you’ve ever had before. It’s a syrup made of sugar cane that looks and feels like honey, but the taste is not nearly as cloying. It can be found in some grocery stores and even on Amazon, gotta’ love the internet!
How to Pipe Icing
For those of you who want to learn to decorate your devil’s food cupcakes with a little more flair, here is a post on piping icing roses.
pottery by Kevin Caufield
Ingredients
Devil’s Food Cupcakes
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 2 1/3 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup (50g) Cocoa Powder (I like the flavor and color of Dutch-processed cocoa but Natural cocoa produces a more even crumb)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/8 cups (300ml) hot coffee
- 1/4 cup rum
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Icing
- 1 1/2 pounds (680g) package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (I am really brand loyal, having tried lots!), softened
- 1 1/2 cups (330g) unsalted butter softened
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract optional
- 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 5 cups (600g) confectioner's sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Lyle’s Golden Syrup use honey if you are in a pinch
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare 1 dozen large muffin tins with Paper Baking Cups (or two 9-inch rounds).
- Combine all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and whisk until combined, set aside.
- Whisk together, eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla until well combined. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk, while slowly adding the coffee and rum to the batter and whisk until totally blended and smooth, about 2 minutes. The batter will be quite runny.
- Fill a measuring cup or pitcher with the batter and then fill the muffin cups about 3/4 full.
- Bake the devil's food cupcakes for about 18-20 minutes (about 25-30 for 9-inch rounds) or until a tester comes out clean.
- Allow to cool on a cake rack and then frost with cream cheese icing (recipe follows).
- Cream Cheese Icing: Combine all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and cream together until smooth. I used a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip to decorate these devil’s food cupcakes. You may want to double the icing recipe just in case you find yourself dipping into the bowl with a spoon!
Update! I went for it… the recipe fills two 9×2 rounds perfectly. Thanks for the recipe!
That is great Annie,
Thanks for the update! Zoë
Hi Zoe – This recipe looks AMAZING! I am going to make it for my son’s first b’day party (for the adults to enjoy!) Does this recipe make enough batter to fill two 9″x2″ rounds, or would I need to double? Thanks so much!
I can’t help myself 2 say that ur piping is EXTREMELY beautiful! I am a novice decorator and i just hate piping!!! could u help me with some tips plz?
Hi Angie,
I’ve been meaning to do a piping post, thanks for reminding me!
Thanks, Zoë
Zoe,
I found your site by accident, but these cupcakes look great and I can’t wait to try them. At Christmas I make carrot cakes for my friends and neighbors (try to stay healthy with them) and I make my cream cheese frosting with Publix brand whipped cream cheese, combo of brown sugar & splenda and vanilla. I am going to try adding some kind of lowfat whipped topping into that mix. Also a great quick frosting is Chocolate instant pudding (can use sugar free) mixed with lowfat whipped topping. Excellent on cupcakes like these and on an angel food cake. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
Hi there,
Recipe sounds great would like to make it as a cake in bundt pan 9 inches and use a chocolate ganache.
Thanks,
Hi Zoe! We are not that used to “generous” icing on cupcakes. Although they do look fantastic! I think that I am a little bit reluctant to use icing with too much c.sugar. I do not like too sweet icings (yes, I know, I am weird…). This icing seems not to be so sweet as it has cream cheese – am I right? If you have, could you please give me a link to a icing that “looks plenty”, gets into piping bag,can be decorated with some sparkels AND does not taste too sweet and sugar…?
Hi Zoe, I have been grazing your site for the past hr and when I came to this post I just had to tell you that I am in love. Not only does everything you make look absolutely sinful but I have one of the biggest sweet tooth, so this is perfect. 🙂 There’s something about chocolate and cream cheese frosting that just makes me swoon.
Soooooooo Yummy!
Thanks for sharing!
-Natasha
Hi Zoe,
I’ve been a fan of your website ever since reading “Artisan Bread in 5 Min’s”. I finally tried out this recipe for my sister’s tea party shower: so luscious and chocolate-flavored without being overly sweet. And the rum just gives it the most lovely ‘what’s-in-it? scent’. I will definitely use this recipe again and again!
Thank you!
Hi Zoe. I made this buttercream a while back and it is absolutely amazing! I’m getting ready to make it again and want to put it on your devil’s food cake. Do you have baking instructions for that recipe somewhere on your site? (I mean for cake layers, rather than cupcakes.) I’m assuming 2 nine-inch pans at 350 degrees, but it would be great to know how long you bake them, although of course I can guess and then watch them closely. Thanks for all the inspiration in your wonderful posts!
Emilie
Hi Zoë,
Thanks for the tip! I’ll definitely try the recipe again. I just have to finish the ugly (but yummy) ones that I kept from the morning tea that I donated the rest to. 🙂
Have a great week!
Hi Eve,
An inexpensive oven thermometer will be a big help if you suspect your oven is acting a bit wonky. If you know it is off, you can always adjust the temp.
To make buttermilk in the future add a 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice to the cup of milk.
Your explosions in the oven may have been due to the cream of tartar reacting with the recipe. That is a substantial amount of acid.
Thanks and enjoy the cupcakes! Zoë
Heya Zoe,
Thanks very much for the recipe. I am still getting used to my temperamental oven so I had a few problems with my cupcakes (uneven rising, exploding out of muffin tins!). Also, I think my kitchen was too hot after all that baking so the cream cheese topping was quite runny. No matter, I am not a chocolate lover and I still liked how they tasted. I put in a mix of rum, brandy and espresso…yum!
By the way, I did not have buttermilk so I used a ratio of 1 cup milk plus 1 3/4 tbsp cream of tartar for the first batch. Was not a good idea, the cupcakes were too light and fluffy.
I used only whole milk for the second batch, which resulted in a much firmer crumb. I will persevere until I get pretty goodies like yours! Thanks again.
Hi, Zoe,
This is a terrific recipe!I’ve made these cupcakes for work and my colleagues just wolfed them down. Now they’re asking when I’m going to bake them again!
Loved it!
I just made these Devil’s Food Chocolate cupcakes and blogged about them, they were amazing! Thank you so much for this great recipe it will definitely become a staple for me!
http://noshandtell.blogspot.com/2009/07/lookie-at-my-cookies-devils-food.html
-Whitney
these cup cakes look really good. I am trying new things to cook for Wednesday night dinners at church and this looks promising. I am a desert chef wanna-be
Zoe,
I used half buttermilk, half 2%, and at room temp.
Oh, if you’re interested, I’m still searching for the perfect white cake for my daughter. lol. Seriously, I need something as decadent as this beautiful item. Please feel free to post one. ;)She wanted a red-velvet, but I have too many children that will be in attendance, and I don’t want to worry with allergies or reactions to the red food dye.
Thank you!!!
Margie
Hi Margie,
Just out of curiosity did you use milk or buttermilk?
Thanks, Zoë
Hi Margie,
Sorry to hear that they overflowed, but I’m so glad they tasted so great! 🙂
Carry on with the butter, I too am a huge fan!
I’ll put a warning in the post about overflowing cups!
Thanks, Zoë
Zoe, I made these on my quest to find the perfect chocolate cupcake for my daughter’s upcoming wedding. They oozed all over the place, and my first thought was, “OOPS, I used butter instead of oil” (I’d already room-temp’d the butter), and then I reminded myself, “No, you simply over-filled the cup.” Either way, this recipe was going into FILE #13.
When I’d finally finished up the baking (I had to do two separate bakes because of oven size)I left the kitchen a bit defeated knowing that I was still not satisfied with yet another cupcake trial.
I returned an hour later to whip up a frosting (I altered yours a bit by adding 3/4 c. cocoa, 2 T. milk and 1 tsp. orange oil, and omitted the syrup). I piped the cupcakes and placed them in the fridge.
At dinner I offered them along with an apology for a saggy and less than attractive mess of a wrapper, along with the explanation, “I have no idea what these will taste like.”…………..
OMG! I had no idea anything could taste so divine, be so moist, and overcome such odds.
I don’t think they oozed because of the butter, they did so because of the amt. I placed in each well. I’m testing these again in a week or so, but I’ll probably stay with my use of butter, it’s difficult for me to be converted, ;), but I will fill the baking cup 1/2 to 2/3’s of the way. I need to get the amt. figured out for sure because this is the very cake that I will bake for my future son-in-law. They are so moist, chocolaty and definitely, gourmet. AND I so agree…use good chocolate. If they ooze, do as I did, peel and roll the excess into small golf-ball sized treats and plop them atop a frosted cupcake. I sprinkled a little tiny bit of confectioners sugar on them and the whole effect was suuprising.
“Hey, if I can fool my MIL, I can fool anyone!”
Seriously, this recipe is a winner; just be advised that filling 3/4 of the way is NOT the way to go.
Hi Tika,
I think you can bake them in shifts. I’ve done it in 2 batches, but never 3. You could also bake a half recipe.
Thanks, Zoë
Hi Zoe…
I only have small oven that only enough to bake 12 cup. Is it ok if i made this receipt with three shift bake ?
Hi Sarah,
My first thought is that you are over filling the cup cake cups? Try filling them about 1/2 way or just a tad more and see if they still over flow.
If your icing is too thin, just add more cream cheese. Is your kitchen very warm, it may just need to be refrigerated a bit before working with it?
I hope this helps!
Enjoy, Zoë
Hi Zoe,
I am completely in love with these cupcakes! I am considering using them for my wedding cupcakes….I love their taste, but I am having some small problems….I’ve only tried to make them once,and about half the cakes spilled over the top of the papers and made an awful mess. Any thoughts as to why this happens? I’m using a gas oven (non-convection)…also my icing turned out really runny. I really want it to look like yours in the pictures!! Any advice??
Many thanks,
Sarah
Hi Zoe:
No convection oven. But I do have an oven thermometer.
Zoë-
It was requested that I make the cake for my friends bridal shower, she’s a chocolate nut. So I was thinking about pairing this recipe with your Mocha Buttercream, and perhaps some fresh raspberries (any thoughts on that?). I was wondering, in terms of cake sizes, how much does this recipe make? Ideally I’d like to do a double tiered round cake. Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks so much in advance!
-Genevieve