Easy Chocolate Cake

I had heard rumors about this cake on the internet machine.

Was it really true? Was it really possible? Could one actually mix and bake a cake in its baking pan without having to dirty a single bowl in the kitchen (Fantasyland, here we come!)?

Yes.

Imagine taking the ingredients, tossing them into your baking pan, stirring them up, then throwing the pan into your oven. No dirty bowl. No separate little bowl to lightly beat your eggs, because this recipe doesn’t even need eggs (the vegans of the world sigh collectively in relief). Yes, you need measuring cups, but by now I’m assuming you keep them in your jars/bags of flour and sugar so you’re not having to take them out each time you bake anyways. (Really- keep both 1 cup and 1/2 cup in your flour and sugar containers, and you’ll see how much easier your life will be. Just make sure to wash them every once in a while.)

Moment of Honesty: I love convenience. I love easy. These facts aren’t news to you. In the spirit of easy, though, I found it a bit not easy to whisk the cake batter within the confines of the 8″ square baking pan. I was sort of fretting about whether there would be clumps, and whether the cake would stick to the bowl without greasing it first (not an issue, strangely), and what the purpose of mixing the cake in its baking pan was (was I a pilgrim with no bowls)? In the end I decided that the cake recipe is freaking amazing (one worth making again, very similar to my Old-Fashioned (Vegan!) Chocolate Cake), but that I’d splurge and use an actual bowl to mix the batter in the future. But I think you should do it in the pan just once. Live a little.

Adapted from “Mad Hungry’s” Busy-Day Chocolate Cake recipe (featured on Martha Stewart)…

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 cup cold water

1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar (for sprinkling on cooled cake)
1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In an 8″ square baking pan, whisk together flour, sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and coarse salt.
3. Make a well in center of flour mixture and add vegetable oil, pure vanilla extract, white vinegar, and cold water. Whisk until well combined.
4. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in pan on a wire rack before sifting confectioners’ sugar over top.
Tips:
- There really aren’t any tips, because this cake is so freaking easy.
- You really want tips? Okay. Make sure you use a good quality chocolate… when you’re making a cake with no other flavor or thick icing, you need the chocolate to confidently take the stage.
- This cake freezes well. I should know, because I froze it in the pan and then cursed myself every time I needed the 8″ little bugger for another recipe, because it was in the freezer. (Usually I remove a dessert from its pan before freezing, but I didn’t have time in this instance… and figured “who needs an 8” pan that often?”… which, as it turns out, I do.)
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June 18th, 2014 | More Sweets Please | 1 Comment | Tags: Cakes, Chocolate