This One-Bowl Chocolate Cake Is So Good, It Doesn’t Even Need Frosting
This simple chocolate cake is as good on day one as it is one day two, especially if you warm it just slightly so the chocolate chunks melt a bit.
Makes1 (8-inch) cake
Last year, when I first heard a cookbook called Snacking Cakes was coming out, I got inordinately excited. The title alone felt like a mantra of mine. You see, when I get a cake craving, I want it fast. I don’t want to frost multiple layers, bother with my KitchenAid, or track down some esoteric liquor that is somehow essential for the recipe. Also, as a rule, I require a lot of snacks.
Moreover, as a casual baker — the kind of person who owns a cheap cake pan but doesn’t have a springform pan because it leaked too much and I decided it wasn’t necessary for my life — I don’t want to buy fancy equipment in order to eat cake.
Considering all of that, I feel like author Yossy Arefi somehow was inside my brain as she worked on this cookbook. She truly understands her reader and makes sure that every single recipe is extremely easy to follow, with the vast majority of recipes hovering around the 10-ish-ingredient mark. There are a few small but ingenious inclusions she has for each recipe.
- She offers substitution or addition options (Add nuts! Or don’t! Make a glaze! Or don’t! Or make a different glaze you can find on page 144!).
- She tells you how long to bake each snacking cake in different pans (i.e., loaf versus round versus square).
- She gives options for dressing each snacking cake up, like adding ice cream, a dollop of coffee whipped cream, or a dusting of powdered sugar.
This past year has required a lot of sugar, whether it was stress eating while doomscrolling at 3:12 p.m. or an 8:37 p.m. we-got-through-the-day treat. So yeah, Snacking Cakes foolproof recipes really showed up for me when I needed them but didn’t have the energy for a more involved dessert.
I’ve made Pumpkin Olive Oil cake (added chocolate chips, because you can) for an outdoor, socially distanced Shabbat; baked a Mostly Apples Cake (skipped the whiskey, because it was optional) when I had some apples that were about to turn, and eaten Cocoa Yogurt Cake as a breakfast snack (skipped the glaze, because … breakfast). That one might be my favorite so far, and it’s the one I’m sharing here.
Are these showstopper cakes that make you think “Ohmygosh, this may be the best thing I’ve ever made”? Frankly, no. But does each one of them make you go, “Wow, this is really good and it was also refreshingly easy”? Very much yes. And that is exactly what I crave right now.
Cocoa Yogurt Cake
This simple chocolate cake is as good on day one as it is one day two, especially if you warm it just slightly so the chocolate chunks melt a bit.
Makes 1 (8-inch) cake
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
Cocoa Yogurt Cake:
Butter or cooking spray
- 1 cup
light brown sugar
- 2
large eggs
- 1 cup
plain whole-milk yogurt
- 1/2 cup
neutral oil, like canola or grapeseed
- 1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon
kosher salt
- 3/4 cup
unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 cup
all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon
baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon
baking soda
- 1/2 cup
chopped chocolate or chocolate chips (optional)
Cocoa Glaze (optional):
- 1 cup
confectioners’ sugar
- 3 tablespoons
unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon
unsalted butter, very soft
Pinch of salt
- 2 to 3 tablespoons
boiling water
Instructions
Make the cake:
Position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter or coat an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray. Line the pan with a strip of parchment paper that hangs over two of the edges.
In a large bowl, whisk the brown sugar and eggs until pale and foamy, about 1 minute. Add the yogurt, oil, vanilla, and salt. Whisk until smooth and emulsified. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until well-combined and smooth.
Add the flour, baking powder, and baking soda and whisk until well-combined and smooth. Fold in the chocolate, if using.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, tap the pan gently on the counter to release any air bubbles, and smooth the top of the batter with an offset spatula.
Bake the cake until puffed and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Set the cake on a rack to cool for about 15 minutes. Then use the parchment paper to lift the cake out of the pan and set it on the rack to cool completely.
Make the glaze (optional):
Add the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa to a bowl. Whisk until combined and any lumps in the cocoa have been broken up. Add the butter, salt, and 2 tablespoons boiling water and quickly whisk until smooth; if the glaze is very thick, add a few drops of water until it has a smooth and pourable consistency.
Immediately pour the glaze over the cooled cake (the glaze will harden to a more spreadable rather than pourable consistency if you let it sit). Let the glaze set for about 20 minutes before slicing the cake. (Store the cake, covered, at room temperature or in the fridge for up to three days.)
Recipe Notes
Use another pan:
BUNDT: Double the ingredients for the cake and bake in a prepared 15-cup Bundt pan until puffed and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert it onto a rack to cool completely. Double the ingredients for the glaze, too.
CUPCAKES: Bake in a cupcake tin lined with paper liners, filling them no more than halfway full, until puffed and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 12 to 18 minutes. Makes 12 to 18 cupcakes.
LOAF: Bake in a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan until puffed and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 55 to 65 minutes. You’ll need a half batch of glaze to coat the cake in a thin layer.
ROUND: Bake in a 9-inch round pan until puffed and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes.
Reprinted with permission from Snacking Cakes: Simple Treats for Anytime Baking by Yossy Arefi, 2020. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House.