My Mom baked the dessert items in our house most of the time – practically every other day as I recall. They didn’t last long – in a house with 4 growing kids!

There was a place for store-bought snack cakes in my childhood, however, and that was in our school lunch boxes or bags back in the 1960s and 70s. They were a quick and inexpensive option for something sweet.

Drake’s Devil Dogs were originally made in 1926. They are 2 oval shaped “devil’s food” chocolate cakes filled with a sweet vanilla cream filling. At some point in my growing up years, my Mom actually found a recipe for these. I only remember her making them a few times – but I’m sure it was those moments when she inspired me the most!

I changed 2 things from her original recipe. One is the baking temp for the cakes. Her recipe advises to bake them at 425 degrees. For such small cakes, I think that is really high, so I turned it down to 375 degrees and they baked beautifully in 8 min.

The other change is the sweet cream filling. Back in the 60s and 70s, butter was expensive. A lot of recipes from that era used vegetable shortening in its place. That was the major component of her filling recipe, and I find it to be a bit tasteless and “greasy” . So I changed my recipe to incorporate butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and marshmallow cream.

DEVIL DOG CAKES (makes about 12 cakes)

Prepare 2 sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Ingredients:

* 2 c all purpose flour
* 1/2 c cocoa powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp baking powder

* 1 c vegetable shortening
* 1 c granulated sugar
* 1 c milk
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 large or extra large egg

Sift together 1st 5 ingredients, set aside.

In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine shortening and sugar. Blend to til light and fluffy. Slowly add milk, vanilla and egg. Mix til blended. Slowly add the dry ingredients, blending between each addition til fully incorporated.

I used a large pastry bag, with a large round tip – to pipe the batter into my desired shape. If you don’t have these items on hand, shape them using a spoon, knife, or offset spatula. They should be small ovals, about 1″ x 4″. Space about 2″ apart, as they will spread. I placed about 8 per sheet pan.

Bake for 8 min., til they spring back when lightly touched.

Cool for 10 min, then gently remove them to a cooling rack.

Prepare the sweet vanilla cream filling.

Ingredients:

* 1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp
* 3 c powdered sugar
* 1 c marshmallow fluff
* 1 tsp vanilla extract

Using a stand mixer and a paddle attachment, whip the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar 1 c at a time. Add the marshmallow fluff, and vanilla. Blend til very smooth.

Pair the cakes into similar sized sets of 2. Spread the cream filling onto the bottom cake, then top with the remaining cake. Press gently.

Top with a little sprinkling of powdered sugar!