Re the question about “devil’s food cake,” I had always assumed it was in contrast to angel food cake, but I can’t find when the latter term first came into use. Does anyone know when people started referring to sponge cake as angel food?
RR
And, since I forgot, I am referring to this column.
RR
Since there’s a thread on this column already open, I have a question, too:
(emphasis mine)
Er, EWW! Are there any further mentions of how much people generally disliked devils food cake, since it tasted like soap? Did it become the cake you’d serve when people you didn’t really care for came over? (Mother-in-law cake?)
Seriously, how could a recipe that made cake taste like soup survive?
:smack: I mean soap, not soup. Although cake that tasted like soup would also be pretty gross. Unless it was carrot cake soup.
RiverRunner, a quick google turned up this link,, which seems to use the same sources as Una’s column, if it isn’t a source itself. Anyway, the first section deals with Angel Food Cake.
Must have been a scary topic to research. I hope that you not only used a cross, but had some holy water, just in case.
Thanks for the link. It does seem to indicate that Angel Food cake came first, so I still think it possible that Devil’s Food cake was a play off the earlier, holier food. It’s hard to be too sure, though; the entry on AFC gives a few possibilities: “1800s,” " 1871," and a few others, whereas for DFC we get the statement This cake probably goes back in history and existed in the southern states where the cake was originally made from beets and cocoa, and then follows with entries beginning at 1902.
Of course, I didn’t think that Devil’s Food cake and Red Velvet cake were the same thing, either, so I am apparently in my usual state of confusion.
RR
Ah, I see diligent readers pretty much addressed the queries…
I’ve had “original” old-fashioned cocoa cakes that had a “soapy” flavour to them, but the experience wasn’t entirely unpleasant. It was just sort of an alkaline, dry taste. I don’t know, however, if that’s an accurate description of what a contemporary cake would be like in that era.
And may I direct you to my unfortunate encounter with deviled ham?
Ah! I guess this would explain the name of my second-favorite chocolate cake recipe: Ox Blood Cake. I always knew the “ox blood” referred to the mixture of water, baking soda, salt, and cocoa, but I never understood what was so bloody about the brown goo. My recipe is similar to the one here, but with the salt and soda added to the water/cocoa mixture. Except I wouldn’t use Crisco to save my life.
And then there was the urban legend here about the cake recipe…
A newspaper typo; “angel good cake.” 