Quick Chocolate Cake

This is the cake Mom made when she made a chocolate cake. It is the perfect cake for a picnic or other casual affair. Top with a sprinkling of confectioner's sugar as she always did. No frosting needed. A reviewer on Betty Crocker's website for a recipe that is very similar says she combined powdered sugar and Swiss Miss hot chocolate powder, and sprinkled it on top with a small wire strainer. 

Even though you can't taste it, the vinegar adds an interesting depth of flavor - excellent cake. As an acid, vinegar is often included in cake and cookie batters to react with baking soda and start the chemical reaction needed to produce carbon dioxide and give those batters a lift as they bake. Do not omit it. This chocolate cake recipe also calls for boiling water, which helps bloom the cocoa powder, giving the cake a deeper chocolate flavor.

This is a "one bowl cake." It was a big deal in the 1960s when home economists discovered that cakes could be made by simply combining all ingredients in one bowl and beating them together for an extended period of time (4-5 minutes on high speed) to incorporate air, instead of the method of creaming the shortening and alternately adding liquid and dry ingredients.

According to the King Arthur website, this cake was born back in WW2. It was popular because it didn't need rationed items like eggs, milk, or butter. It's leavened with the baking soda and the vinegar, and it's usually very reliable. King Arthur calls it Cake Pan Cake and has named it their 225th Anniversary Recipe of the Centuries. The recipe is almost the same as Mom’s, although they also add some espresso powder and do not add the egg.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 T. cocoa [Betty Crocker has a very similar recipe on their website that uses 1/4 c. cocoa. That recipe does not use egg.]
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. vinegar
3/4 cup hot water [or hot coffee - often added to chocolate cakes to accent the chocolate]

Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the rest of the ingredients, beat well and pour into a buttered 9" square cake pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool on a cookie rack. Dust with confectioner's sugar or frost with Chocolate Frosting or a Chocolate or Vanilla Buttercream - you will only need about 3/4 cup frosting to frost the top.

Cut into squares to serve.