Most everyone is in a hurry these days, right? And most everyone loves
chocolate and needs a little chocolate fix from time to time. Well, if
you’ve got a big craving but a small amount of time, this easy chocolate
cake is for you. It takes about 40 minutes or so to bake, but it only
takes a few minutes to put together once you have all your ingredients
together. Let’s get started.
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
hot water
whole milk as needed
4 tablespoons of soft butter or butter flavored shortening (like
Crisco)
1 cup of white granulated sugar
1 medium egg yolk at room temperature
1 cup of white flour
a small pinch of salt (about 1/2 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon of real vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of baking soda
extra cocoa for dusting
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. (350 degrees F.).
Place the 1/2 cup of cocoa powder into a 1 cup measuring cup and add
just enough hot water so that you can stir it into the cocoa and the
powder dissolves. Add the whole milk to that measuring cup to bring the
level of mixture up to a full cup.
In a small or medium mixing bowl add the white flour, the salt and the
baking soda and mix them together very well. When you are confident they
are completely blended together, set the flour mixture aside for the
time being.
In another mixing bowl, use a mixer to beat together the butter or the
butter flavored shortening along with the granulated sugar and the room
temperature egg yolk. You should beat them for about a minute. Stir the
vanilla extract into this mixture.
Prepare a small shallow cake pan (about the size of a pan used for
making brownies) by dusting it with the additional cocoa. Shake any
extra cocoa powder out of the cake pan.
Mix all the ingredients from above, the cocoa and milk mixture along
with the flour mixture and the egg, sugar and butter mixture, all
together in one mixing bowl and blend them together very well for one or
two minutes. This is your batter for the easy dark chocolate cake. Pour
it into the prepared cake tin and place in the preheated oven for around
40 minutes. As cooking time is nearing the end, do the wooden toothpick
test to make sure you don't let the cake over-bake (insert the toothpick
into the center - if it comes out clean or almost clean, the cake is
done).
If you like, you can always dust this easy chocolate cake with powdered
sugar, or drizzle some honey on it. Use your imagination and you will
make the cake even more enjoyable.
