Deep, rich chocolate, a moist crumb and super easy and quick to make — what else could you ask for in a chocolate cake to help you weather an apocalypse?
If you follow me on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/gregnelsoncooks/), you may have noticed that I have been experimenting with one-bowl chocolate cakes. It’s a good use of my time since we are in a country-wide lock down and curfew at the moment and cannot travel due to the Coronavirus.
My goal was to develop a chocolate cake that uses basic pantry ingredients, and one that requires no special equipment or skill. The use of both melted chocolate and cocoa powder delivers the depth and complexity that most of us chocolate-lovers prefer.
What are you waiting for? Bake! 😊 (and keep washing your hands!)
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A Chocolate Cake to Weather the Apocalypse
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 + 2/3 cups (200 g) all purpose flour*
- 1/2 cup (60 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons (175 g) regular white sugar
- 1 + 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- Pinch of kosher or sea salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 + 1/3 cups (300 g) whole milk
- 2/3 cup (100g) dark chocolate (51-72%)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil (40 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*Alternatively, you can use 2 cups (200g) of almond flour to make this gluten-free but the cake will have a denser, fudgier texture. It’s still delicious, although a knife won’t make clean cuts like the version with all purpose flour. If you make this cake with almond flour, you will need to add 1 large egg to the wet ingredients, omit the oil and reduce the milk to one cup.
Directions
- Pre-heat oven to 325F (160C)
- With vegetable or olive oil, brush or spray a 9-inch (23cm) springform or regular cake pan and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper
- In a small saucepan, heat the milk until small bubbles appear at the edge of the pan. Finely chop the chocolate. Remove the pan of milk from the heat and add the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is fully melted and incorporated into the milk. Let cool for 10 minutes (if you don’t, you’ll risk cooking the egg in the batter. Just be patient and let it cool. ;-))
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt)
- Add the wet ingredients ( cooled chocolate milk, vanilla, and oil) to the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix well, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl
- Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly and the sides of the cake have pulled slightly away from the sides of the pan. Let cool completely in the pan
- Once cooled, transfer to a cake stand or serving tray and dust with cocoa powder or powdered sugar (10X). Alternatively, spread a thin layer of jam over the top of the cake, or top with barely sweetened whipped cream. Or… go crazy and do a combination of the toppings (pictured above are two versions. One is finished with stripes of powdered sugar and apricot jam and the other with whipped cream)!
This recipe was influenced and adapted from a recipe by Enrica Panariello.
Greg Nelson Cooks 