devil's food cake is an old fashioned chocolate cake made of chocolate or cocoa and baking powder. it is moist, soft, rich, and very good for keeping. it is a light-textured chocolate layer-type cake with a deep reddish brown color. the cake gets this bright red color from the large amount of red food dye used in the preparation. devil's food cake is usually thought of in terms of dark chocolate, but originally it was red. today cooks, using modern processed cocoa, sometimes add a touch of red food coloring to bring back the authentic color.