Busy Day Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting Recipe

One of the best Chocolate Cakes out there with truly decadent Fudge Frosting! You won’t believe how easy it is to make!

Few days ago, I went grocery shopping with my three kids. This was the scene:
Me: list in hand, excited to get eggs, flour and chocolate (obviously), head filled with positive thinking: “I can do it! So what I have three kids with me. It will be just in-and-out”.
Inside the store: Halloween candy and decor EVERYWHERE.
My kids: oh yeah! Halloween candy!!! We are going to have so much fuuuuuuuuuun!

Soooo….. do you want to guess how it all went down for me? Do you want to know if I got everything on my list or run out of the store pledging not to do it EVER AGAIN?
Do you want to bet if at least I got the chocolate?

If you ever want to see how hard you can concentrate in a highly-stressful situation, I suggest you go shopping with little kids during holiday season. You would be surprised how much you can learn about yourself and find out how strong (or not?) person you actually are.

So what do you do after a busy day? My answer is always chocolate.  Especially if it’s in a form of a cake and it’s as easy as 1-2-3.

You see, every time I find a great recipe, I instantly have million variations of it in my head and quickly write them down on a paper. And every attempt of a new version that turns into a success, only fuels the need to make more!

The same thing happened with these Crumb Bars (I made 5 versions so far and I am far from being done! ) and this eggless chocolate cupcake recipe. I knew the cupcake recipe was a keeper but how would the batter bake into a cake?
It was only a matter of time before I had to try it. And I am so glad I did!!

You can really see how gorgeous the cake is with it’s almost reddish hue. Almost red velvet, but not quite. But it looks rich and it tastes fantastic! It’s stays moist for at least 3 days (I doubt you will have any pieces left for more than that).

I used my 9″x13″ pan first but the cake looked more like a Texas Sheet Cake, a little too thin.
So I went with the 8″x8″ square pan (although you could easily use a round cake pan). I liked the thick pieces much more.
It was obvious that a fabulous cake like this needed a great frosting. And because the cake is eggless and comes together in just one bowl (!!!), the frosting had to be easy and quick to make too.
Enter fudge frosting: melt few ingredients in a saucepan, whisk in sugar and you are ready to go!

So if you are having one of those crazy busy days, want a cake but without all the fuss of layers and buttercreams, you are out of eggs but want to bake something delicious, you have unexpected guests or a dessert recipe failed you – THIS CAKE IS FOR YOU!

I tested and tested and tested this recipe so many times and it works perfectly. I think everyone should print it out and keep it on hand.

Busy Day Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting Recipe

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 1 8"x8" cake, 12 regular size cupcakes or 36 mini cupcakes

                                                        

One of the best Chocolate Cakes out there with truly decadent Fudge Frosting! You won’t believe how easy it is to make!

Ingredients

for the cake:
1. 1 and 1/2 c all-purpose flour
2. 1 c granulated sugar
3. 1 tsp baking soda
4. 1 tsp salt
5. 1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder
6. 1/2 c vegetable or canola oil
7. 1 c water
8. 1 tsp vanilla extract
9. 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
for the frosting:
10. 1/4 c unsalted butter
11. 4 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
12. 3 Tbsp sour cream or Greek yogurt
13. 1 and 1/2 c confectioners' sugar
14. 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a 8"x8" square pan with parchment paper. Grease the paper. Set aside.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, soda, salt and cocoa).
4. In another mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (oil, water, vanilla and vinegar).
5. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and whisk together until smooth.
6. Pour the batter into prepared pan.
7. Bake for 23 to 28 minutes, or until the toothpick inserted into few place in the cake comes out clean. (Out of toothpicks? Use an uncooked spaghetti noodle!)
8. Cool in pan for 2 minutes. Transfer onto a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
to make the frosting:
9. Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Take off the heat.
10. Whisk in cocoa and sour cream/Greek yogurt.
11. Place back on the burner and cook just until it starts to bubble.
12. Alternately, you can melt the butter in a microwave safe dish, whisk in the cocoa powder and Greek yogurt and cook for 10 to 15 more seconds, just until it starts to bubble.
13. Transfer the mixture into a bowl.
14. Sift the sugar over the bowl and whisk it in.
15. Add vanilla and mix well.
16. Let the frosting cool for 10 minutes.
17. Spread over the cake.
18. It will set more as it cools.

author: Anna