Saturday, October 27, 2018

Easy Chocolate Snacking Cake (No Eggs. No Dairy.)

Yes, this is the frosted top. Trust me, there is yummy cake below the surface.

It's the wacky cake! The light, easy-breezy treat that miraculously appears when baking soda, vinegar, canola oil and other common ingredients are brought together in your mixing bowl and baked up in the oven. Is this what you want to serve the queen on her birthday? Maybe not. But for an ordinary afternoon with coffee, it is delicious. I particularly like the addition of cinnamon to this chocolate flavored cake.

Mix it up!

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups AP flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. white vinegar
5 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 cup cold water

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil an 8 x 8 cake pan.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Using the back of a large spoon, create three wells in the flour mixture. Pour the vanilla in one well, the vinegar in another, and the vegetable oil in the last well. Pour the cold water over all the ingredients and stir to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, being sure to check the cake at the earliest time. Use the toothpick test: Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the cake is finished, it should come out clean or with just crumbs -- no batter.

Sift confectioners sugar over the cake and serve with ice cream. Or top it with frosting, such as the one below.

Frosting

1 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tbs. butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 - 3 tsps. milk (more as needed)
Cake / cookie sprinkles

Melt the butter. Combine the sugar and cocoa powder. Stir the melted butter and vanilla into the sugar mixture. Add milk, a teaspoon at a time, until mixture gets to spreading consistency. Spread over cooled cake. Definitely add some colorful cake sprinkles if you have them!



Enjoy!


If you have a box of this, you are on your way to cake.