Dead Simple Chocolate Cake




I love having dead easy cake recipes at my disposal. This Swedish Visiting Cake is amazing, as is this summer fruit cake. No need to pick up one of those nasty, chemical-laden cakes from the grocery store. While I can honestly say that this isn't my all-time favorite chocolate cake, this is still a very good cake – especially when you need something fast.




I made this cake for a friend's birthday. She loves chocolate and I was running short on time. It's a no-brainer. It's quick and easy and you probably have all the ingredients in your cupboard right now! Bonus: there are no eggs so it's perfect if your fridge is looking bare, like mine was. This makes it real easy to make it vegan - just swap out the dairy yogurt for soy and you'll be fine.


This sits on the dense side of things - so don't expect a light and airy cake. The missing eggs are the culprit but I'm okay with that, and so should you. Frosting is a must, so dig out your favorite chocolate buttercream - or do like I did when I realized that my butter was frozen - go to the corner store and pick up a can of Betty Crocker frosting. Add some festive sprinkles and you've got a cake that goes down easy.


Dead Simple Chocolate Cake
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup oil (I used walnut, but canola will work well)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons dutch cocoa

Your favourite frosting (canned is okay!) & sprinkles

Preheat oven 350F.

Prep an 8" round cake tin by greasing the insides with butter and adding a spoonful of flour. Tilt the pan and make sure that all the flour is coated, shake off the excess.

Mix together the sugar, yogurt, oil and vanilla in one bowl until combined. In another bowl, blend together the flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa. Add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir until just mixed. The batter will be thick.

Spoon into prepared cake tin and smooth out the top. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes and then invert on a wire rack until totally cool. Turn it back top side up. Frost and sprinkle as needed.

By Jeannette Ordas of Everybody likes Sandwiches

Jan Halvarson

16 comments:

silverpebble said...

Oh top tip! I DO have the ingredients in the cupboard and two little girls clamouring for cake to eat with their tea set. We're sorted - thanks!.

Janine Claire Robinson said...

Super yummy and looks so easy. My little girls are going to love trying out this one! Thanks :)

Merci Paris said...

This recipe looks wonderful - with yogurt, yay! Putting this recipe in the box for my son who is a 4 year-old avid chocolate enthusiast. We don't do cake that often here, but I'm sure he'd love this. I've just got to find the best easy frosting recipe. Of course, the sprinkles are a must! Thank you.

Peggy said...

I do believe this is going to be a must for either today or tomorrow! We have a child going in for foot surgery today and I think he could use a little cheering afterwards. I know he will be starving as it is! I wonder how this would taste with just powdered sugar sprinkled over the top, sliced strawberries, and fresh whipped cream??? (I'm not a big frosting lover unless its a chocolate ganache... just didn't grow up eating frosting. I know different...)

Jan Halvarson said...

i love that betty crocker icing! : )

Jan Halvarson said...

Oh also meant to tell you, this cake reminds me of an old recipe of my grandma's. It was called "Wacky Chocolate Cake" - and of course anything wacky was and still is, fun! I think it's wacky because first off you mix it in the actual baking pan, and second of all - you make three wells into the dry ingredients, adding an egg in one, water in the other and oil in the other - and voila! it's so easy it's wacky!

michie said...

You know what is funny. I love baking... and if I were faced with cake from a box or canned icing, I take the box cake every time. Canned icing to me always tastes fake, but most people can't tell the difference between a cake baked from a box versus homemade.

kickpleat said...

Peggy, definitely he'll need some chocolate cake kind of cheering! Yes, this would be fantastic with some lightly sweetened whipped cream and berries. Yum!

Jan, I always used to make wacky cake - the version I had was called wacky because there was also no eggs in the recipe (it's a wartime recipe). The recipe uses vinegar & it does get a very light and airy texture. But I think I'm burnt out on wacky cake (& so is my husband), so he was super happy to eat the leftovers of this cake!

Michie, I've never tried cake from a can EVER. My mom always made icing from scratch & so did I. But my butter was still frozen, so I figured Betty Crocker would serve well. And there were no complaints at all!

Rosy said...

This is my type of chocolate cake!

zombivish said...

do you think this would be too heavy to use for cupcakes?

Leti! said...

it looks AMAZING! I'm at work so now I'm craving one piece like crazy... Cheers from Argentina! :)

Erika said...

It looks so delicious! ^^

Janee Lookerse said...

This sounds like an awesome recipe! I can't wait to try it and I even have all the ingredients already! Thank you for sharing :)

xoxo
Janee
yellowbirdyellowbeard.blogspot.com

kickpleat said...

zombivish, I don't think this would work well as cupcakes because it doesn't rise at all. I'd find another recipe for cupcakes....like the infamous "wacky cake".

Joanne said...

I can never get tired of chocolate cake even when the frosting comes from a can. Simple and fast. I have everything in my kitchen to make this. That's great!

zombivish said...

i went ahead and used this recipe for cupcakes (i'm lazy and i had all the ingredients at home)
You're right the recipe is dense and so they didn't really rise. Only 2 or 3 had that traditional "cupcake". However, once out of the tray and covered with some frosting they looked fine and tasted better.

in the tray, right out of the oven: http://plixi.com/p/81835147
plated and frosted: http://plixi.com/p/82097086