Devil's Food Sheet Cake

Devil's Food Sheet Cake is a rich, moist, and chocolatey sheet cake topped with a silky peanut butter and honey Italian meringue buttercream.

The Devil's Food Sheet Cake has a deep and chocolatey flavor that is accentuated by the addition of coffee. You can't taste the coffee at all, it just makes the chocolate taste more like chocolate! The chocolate sheet cake is super moist and perfectly complemented by the Italian meringue buttercream.

For the buttercream I used my Italian Meringue Buttercream recipe as the base. I flavored the buttercream with peanut butter and honey, this tones down the sweetness of the actual buttercream.

Italian buttercream can be a bit intimidating, so if you're not up for the challenge I suggest using my American buttercream recipe. This recipe is much easier but still delicious. You can flavor it with the same amount of peanut butter and honey.

Ingredients for Devil's Food Sheet Cake:

Ingredients for devils food cake:

• All-Purpose Flour. Measuring the flour correctly is very important. I suggest weighing your flour out (I use this scale). If you want to use a measuring cup, make sure you spoon the flour into the cup and level it off with a knife. Don’t use the cup to scoop directly from the flour.
• Cocoa Powder. This will give our sheet cake its chocolatey flavor.
• Baking Soda. This is a leavening agent that will help the cake to rise as it bakes.
• Baking Powder. This will also help the cake rise.
• Salt. Salt is a must in baked goods. It will help to balance out the sweetness and improve the overall flavor.
• Unsalted Butter. I always make sure to use unsalted butter when baking because there is no “standard” for the amount of salt they can add to butter. So if you add salt to a recipe and then use salted butter you could end up with a very salty end product.
• Granulated Sugar. This is going to sweeten the cake.
• Eggs. It will be easier to incorporate the eggs into the batter if they are at room temperature.
• Buttermilk.
• Vanilla Extract. Vanilla is a must in baked goods just like salt. Real vanilla adds a better flavor than imitation vanilla.
• Brewed Coffee. You won't actually be able to taste the coffee in the cake, but it will enhance the chocolate flavor.

Ingredients for Peanut Butter and Honey Italian Meringue Buttercream:

• Granulated Sugar. This will be used to help strengthen the egg whites and create a sweet syrup to build the buttercream.
• Water. This is combined with part of the sugar to create a sweet syrup.
• Egg Whites. The egg whites are whipped to stiff peaks to give the buttercream its silky texture.
• Unsalted Butter. See above note.
• Vanilla Extract. See above note.
• Creamy Peanut Butter. You can use whatever peanut butter you prefer, just make sure it is creamy.
• Honey.

How to make Devil's Food Sheet Cake:

Devil's Food Cake

STEP 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Spray a 9×13 pan with non-stick spray and line with parchment paper or foil for easy removal once cooled.

STEP 2: In a large bowl whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until well combined and free of lumps. Set aside.

STEP 3: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

STEP 4: Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between each addition.

STEP 5: In a medium bowl combine the buttermilk, vanilla, and cooled coffee. They should combine easily.

STEP 6: Slowly add the liquid ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the dry ingredients. There should be at least 2 additions of the wet and dry ingredients.

STEP 7: Mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure it is fully combined. Be sure to get the bottom of the bowl.

STEP 8: Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with only a few moist crumbs.

STEP 9: Remove the devil's food sheet cake from the oven and allow the cake to cool before frosting.

Peanut Butter and Honey Italian Meringue Buttercream

STEP 1: In a small saucepan combine the ¾ cups of sugar and water. Place over high heat and do not stir. You need to get the sugar to the soft-ball stage, which is around 235-240 degrees (F). Read more about this in my Italian Meringue Buttercream Recipe.

STEP 2: Using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer, beat the egg whites on medium speed until they start to get frothy. Slowly add the 3 tablespoons of sugar to the egg whites. Turn the mixture to high speed and whip until stiff peaks form. If the meringue is done before the sugar mixture, then turn the mixture down to the lowest speed until it is ready.

STEP 3: When the sugar mixture is ready keep the mixer on the lowest speed and VERY CAREFULLY AND SLOWLY pour the sugar mixture down the side of the bowl into the meringue. If you pour the sugar too fast or onto the whisk in the center of the bowl it might fling the boiling sugar back at you.

STEP 4: When all of the sugar mixture has been added (it’s okay if some is stuck to the side of the bowl) turn your mixer up to high. The bowl of the mixer will be hot. Beat the meringue until the bowl feels warm.

STEP 5: Start to add cubes of softened butter slowly, about 1 every 10 seconds. Continue to whip the buttercream as you add the butter.

STEP 6: Add the vanilla and continue to beat the buttercream for about 10 minutes or until it reaches the desired consistency.

STEP 7: Add the peanut butter and honey. Beat until fully combined.

STEP 8: Once the cake has cooled frost the chocolate cake with the buttercream.

More Sheet Cake Recipes

• Lemon Poppy Seed Cake- A fluffy and moist lemon poppy seed cake topped with a whipped cream cheese frosting.
• Pumpkin Cake- A moist pumpkin cake topped with a whipped cream cheese frosting and drizzled with caramel sauce.
• Texas Sheet Cake- This chocolatey sheet cake is topped with a fudge frosting.
• Peanut Butter Sheet Cake- A moist peanut butter sheet cake topped with a peanut butter frosting.

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