Devil-ish

I know. It looks kind of dreamy. All soft vanilla buttercream and alluring devils food cake. That is the trouble with food photography, it can be a deceiving art. The only unimpeachable teller of truth in this food journalism thing is the mouth.

In the case of a touted recipe for Charleston Devils (miniature devils food cakes), from the first and arguably greatest junior league cookbook of all time, Charleston Receipts, my mouth wishes to advise you it was less than beguiled with these devils. In fact, it wishes you to know that unless you wish to while away the dessert course on tasteless, dry, cardboard one might skip this recipe or else alter it until it is hardly recognizable.

The book was published in 1959. Where chocolate cake is concerned, we've come a long way since. But it sure sits pretty for its close up.