Because of differing recipes and changing ingredient availability over the 20th century, it is difficult to precisely qualify what distinguishes devil's food from the more standard chocolate cake.

[1] Devil's food cake was invented in the United States in the early 20th century.

However, contemporary recipes typically use cocoa powder for its convenience over the more traditional chocolate baking squares.

[4] Some recipes use hot or boiling water as the cake's main liquid, rather than milk.

[1] The name probably had several sources of inspiration, including the culinary term deviled to describe flavorful foods like deviled eggs and the contrast of this dark, dense, flavorful cake with the light and airy angel food cake.