Mad Dash Chocolate Cake (Fast & Easy)

This tender, moist, slightly chewy, not too sweet chocolate cake will become your go-to favorite, even when you have all the time in the world.

If there is a faster, easier chocolate cake in the galaxy, I don’t know about it. (Okay, maybe Chocolate Snacky Wacky Cake (Depression Cake), but that’s another cake altogether and another story.)

This is THE CAKE to let your budding 8-year-old cook loose on. You may have to help with the boiling water, but your little chef should be able to handle the rest. You don’t need a mixer. There’s no butter to beat. No wildly fancy ingredients.

And it’s also the cake for YOU to make when time and energy are running short.

But rest assured that this is not your run-of-the-mill, better-than-nothing-but-not all-that-good, super-fast chocolate cake. Noooo. I didn’t compromise flavor and texture for mere speed.

And the result? Amazing! The texture contends for the best chocolate cake anywhere. The cake is tender, moist, and a little chewy. Well actually, I’m not quite sure that “chewy” is the right word, but you’ll see what I mean when you taste the cake. It has a great mouth feel. And the texture keeps improving for 2-3 days. Seriously!

And the flavor? It’s as good as the cocoa powder you use. Just that simple. Of course, use the best cocoa powder you can get.

I was going to call this 10-Minute Chocolate Cake, but it takes 45 minutes to bake, and so that wouldn’t be quite accurate, now would it?

Nevertheless, if you’re focused and fast, your ACTIVE time investment is about 10 minutes. You can jog around the block a few times while you’re waiting for the cake to bake. If there’s a grocery store nearby, grab a quart of Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream while you’re at it. This delicious cake just begs for ice cream. “Please lady, I need some really good ice cream.” You heard that, right?

Mad Dash Chocolate Cake (Fast & Easy)

This tender, moist, slightly chewy, not too sweet chocolate cake will become your go-to favorite, even when you have all the time in the world. It’s hard to believe such a fast and easy cake can be so darned good.

Tip: If you have chocolate cake lovers in the house, mix up a triple batch of the dry ingredients, so that you can make this cake even faster on demand. Or layer the dry ingredients in a small mason jar to give as a gift, along with the recipe.

Frosting: Gild the lily with your favorite chocolate frosting if you want to. But I prefer a counterpoint, so would rather accompany with this Caramel Walnut Topping,  White Chocolate Crema,  Creamy Dreamy Peanut Butter Frosting, Peanut Butter Caramel, or Toasted Hazelnut Streusel. (For the streusel, put it on a baking sheet, bake until crunchy crisp, cool, and then break into pieces with your hands. If you are in a hurry, simply portion some of the streusel onto a glass plate, and microwave until nice and bubbly. It will crisp as it cools.)

Pan Prep
unsalted butter
unbleached all-purpose flour

Cake
1¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 ounces)
1½ cups sugar
¾ cup unsweetened, natural process cocoa (not Dutch or alkalized process)
½ cup golden brown sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 large eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup vegetable oil
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1 cup water or coffee, brought to a boil

Serving
powdered sugar in a sieve
premium vanilla ice cream, optional

1. Butter and lightly flour a 9x9x2-inch baking pan (ceramic or metal).
2. Arrange an oven rack in the middle of the oven with plenty of head room.
3. Heat oven to 350ºF.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. push the dry ingredients to one side of the bowl and add eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla to the other side. Whisk the wet ingredients together to combine, and then whisk everything together for 2 full minutes to incorporate.
6. Add boiling water, and whisk to incorporate. The batter will be thin.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan.
8. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for about 45-50 minutes. Cake should not jiggle when shaken gently, but it should also not be pulling away from the sides of the pan. A wooden cocktail pick inserted in the center of the cake should come out almost clean, with no gooey batter clinging to it.
9. Remove cake from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. (Who am I trying to kid here? We dive in while it’s still warm.)
10. To serve, dust with powdered sugar, and cut into 2-inch squares.

Makes 5 cups batter, or one, 9-inch-square cake; serves 4.

More Lush Chocolate Cakes from LunaCafe

• Bittersweet Chocolate & Cabernet Butter Cake
• Chocolate Almond Pound Cake
• Chocolate Ginger Chipotle Stout Cake
• Chocolate Shortcake with White Chocolate Crema, Strawberry Lime Sauce & Strawberry Lime Salsa
• Heavenly Chocolate Beet Tea Loaf
• Mexicano Chocolate Ebelskivers (Aebleskivers)
• Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea Loaf
• Warm-Spiced Molten Chocolate Cake
• White Chocolate, Cardamom & Coconut Beignet

Cookin’ with Gas (inspiration from around the web)

• Homesick Texan: Are You Familiar with Wacky Cake?
• Savory Sweet Life: Chocolate Wacky Depression Cake
• Sweet Little Bluebird: Chocolate Crazy Cake

Copyright 2014 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.