E-Z Duz It

Here is a recipe for the easiest cake ever. I couldn't remember whether I had posted it before, but google thinks not. It's so easy that when you read the recipe, you're going to think it's not very good. Nuh-uh! This is tasty! Plain, but tasty. A no-special-occasion, week-night kind of cake. You can even let small children "help" (i.e. massively retard your progress) make this cake, without problems. Except cocoa powder might get everywhere. Seriously, it takes about 10 minutes to mix, plus another 5 for the icing. If you were ever considering making cake from a mix, make this instead.

Cake:
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c unsweetened natural cocoa (not dutch-process)
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c sugar
1 T white vinegar (yes, I know, but it's needed for chemical reasons to make the leavening happen. Trust me.)
6 T flavorless cooking oil, like canola
1 t vanilla extract
1 c cool water

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together. Add sugar and stir. Make three wells in the surface of the ingredients, big, medium, and litttle.
3. Put the oil in the big well, the vinegar in the medium one, and the vanilla in the small one. Pour the water over all and mix till just combined (lumps are OK).
4. Pour into ungreased 8 x 8 pan.
5. Bake 30 minutes and cool on rack (in pan).

Icing
1/3 c unsalted butter, softened to room temp.
2 c confectioner's sugar
2 T cocoa powder
1-3 T milk, as needed
1 t vanilla extract

1. Mix butter with 1 c sugar and cocoa till blended. May be dry. Add 1 T milk, vanilla, and next cup of sugar. Mix well. Add more milk if needed to reach a nice consistency. Spread on top of cake in pan and serve out of pan.

Voila! You don't have to listen to E-Z E's solo album E-Z Duz It while making this cake, but it might be fun, because you probably haven't listened to it in a while, and it's so killer. You do have to have a glass of cold milk while you eat the cake, though.

Comments

[Jeremy Osner]

Thanks for the recipe! My mouth is watering as I look forward to cake this evening; Ellen says she and Sylvia will be cooking it this afternoon with Sylvia's friend Natalie.

[Jeremy Osner]

Nice... a very chocolatey chocolate cake. I think the batter could have done with another tablespoon or two of sugar, without thereby becoming too sweet or detracting from the rich chocolate flavor; but otherwise it was just great! Sylvia enjoyed her baking time and (as she told me later) "we didn't fight at all." -- Though Ellen clued me in that she and Natalie had a hard time sharing at some junctures. And the texture! I have only had cakes made from mix for the past little while and it is nice to remember what I have been missing.

[Jeremy Osner]

("she and Natalie" = "Sylvia and Natalie" above)

[Belle Waring]

Glad you all liked it, Jeremy. I agree that if you eat the cake by itself it could use a little more sugar, but with the icing I think it's fine. If you follow the trackback you'll see another blogger has posted a variation with more cocoa and coffee instead of water; it sounds good too.