Quick Chocolate Cake

 

Yay!  ’Tis the season of summer!  

Yay finally!!  

So excited for summer, I can barely stand it.  Warm weather and windows open and coat-free and million layer-free and picnics and potlucks and get-togethers and block parties and all sorts of summer fun!  Or, just hanging out at home doing nothing summer fun!

Either way, summer!  

In reference to this cake though, a lovely gift from Better Homes and Gardens, it’s terrific every time of year.  Even any ol’ weekday evening — you can zip this together in minutes, no joke, minutes, and while you’re busy cooking and eating dinner, it’ll bake away, chocolate wafting through the air.  Then, by the time you’re done, tada!, you have dessert!  Right on!

And bonus, it feeds a crowd!  Henceforth and therefore, it’s fantastic for summer and summer-related events.

Or, don’t feed a crowd, feed yourself or a couple selves and whatever you don’t get through, freeze for later.  For the Chocolate Cake Crumb Pie Crust with that Salted Pretzel Ice Cream recipe, this is the cake that I’ll bake.  It’s also the cake I’ve used for the Chocolate Bread Pudding.

I know, I know.  I’ve shared a few chocolate cake favorites already and they may all seem vaguely similar.  If you hit up my “cakes” section, you’ll find an awesome handful.

So I’m sure you’re wondering why the heck do we need yet another chocolate cake?!  Becky!  

Please, c’mon, who doesn’t want more chocolate cake?  There is zero wrong with having a bunch of variations on the theme stashed away at the ready.  Chocolate.  Cake.  Amiright?!

Chocolate. Cake.  Eat this.  Yum.

I love this recipe.  Love love love:

–  For one, it is so effortless to make with ingredients you surely have on hand, it’s handily an ideal cake to bake very last minute.  As I have done on multiple occasions.

–  It is so simple to make in fact, anyone can make this cake.  It’s child’s play, infinitely accessible for a beginner, and a baking-confidence booster.

–  It’s like boxed cake mix easy but infinitesimally light years better and tastier because it’s made with real ingredients, not chemicals.

–  It literally takes less time to mix this cake than it does to preheat the oven.

–  If you’re sans dairy products, bingo, you’re golden — there are none in this cake so you can whip it together without having butter, milk, or eggs.  Ah ha, vegan cake!

–  You can likely even go gluten-free with this recipe, substituting one for one though I have not tested this.

–  The cake is a winner every single time, reliable each and every time.  

–  It doesn’t even need a frosting.  Just fork, plate, mouth, ice cold milk to sip.  Honestly, you could even go hand into pan straight to mouth, skip fork but uh, don’t get caught.  Do feel free to frost this cake but truly it’s great on its own.

–  It’s a 9×13 pan* size cake so given its size, it lasts Mike and I a good while, buying me time between dessert baking sessions in case I’m swamped with work or tearing out a wall or handling some other project.  (As a side note, I use a glass pan; adjust the time lower if you try a metal pan.  If you do use a metal pan, let me know how that goes, I’m curious.)

–  It’s one bowl,* no mixer required, just a sturdy whisk.*

–  It is darn super tasty, light and fluffy, yet moist and mmm chocolatey.

–  If you have leftovers, it’s versatile, you can make other tasty treats with it.  And by leftovers I mean if you haven’t gotten through the whole cake before it starts to get sketchy and yes I know I don’t know how that happens in this household but on occasion it does, you can freeze it.

–  But best of all, it’s deeelicious (I know, I’m repeating myself).

What more reasons could one possibly need?  That’s a lotta reasons too. 

As previously mentioned, this cake comes together in mere moments so preheat the oven first then make the cake, otherwise you’ll beat the oven and your leavening agents may fizzle out.

Get your ingredients prepped, measured, and ready first.  You don’t need the multitudes of dishes, etc., just dump it all in the big bowl. This is for arty effect, this is a blog after all ya know, haha.

And seriously, not kidding, it’s a dump, stir, dump, stir, and bake.  I seriously could not hand you an easier cake to make.

Get that arm into it with that whisk!

Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and with a whisk, stir them together.  Then add all the wet ingredients, whip that all around until nicely combined, pour the batter into the greased pan, and bake.

Mixed up and rarin’ to go!

Yep.  That’s all there is to it.  See?!  No joke.  Ain’t pullin’ yer chain.  Beyond simple.

Time to bake ‘er up!

It does take a bit to bake but eh, whatever, who cares, it is worth it.

See?!  Gimme all the cake!!

Mike’s not a big chocolate fan (which Iiii know, is cuckoo, like how do we stay together Iiii dunno) but he loves this cake and is always thrilled to see it cooling on the counter.  Ringing endorsement right there, my friends.

Heh, it’s tough to photograph a chocolate cake.  I need to re-shoot these!  But it sure is not hard to eat it.

Happy cake eating!

Note:  This content originally appeared on Flaky Bakers.

*The 9x13 cake pans, mixer bowls, and whisks are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.