three hole cake

[sixbeforelunch]

This is perfect for late night chocolate cravings. If you bake at all, you're likely to have all the ingredients already on hand.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 heaping Tbsp. cocoa
1 Tbsp. vinegar (I use white or red wine vinegar. I don't suggest any other specialty or balsamic vinegars.)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 c. cold water

Sift/mix (you can sift if you like, I never do) dry ingredients together into a bowl. Make three holes or indentations in the mix, one large, one medium, and one small. Into the large hole, add the oil. Into the medium hole, add the vinegar. Into the small hole, add the vanilla. Pour the water over all and mix well. Pour into an ungreased 8x10" baking dish.

(Lazy person's less clean up alternative: follow directions as above, but skip the mixing bowl and put all ingredients directly into the baking dish. If you go this route make sure to pay special attention to the corners as you mix.)

Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

That's it! I don't like frosting, but if you want something extra, you can dust it with confectioner's sugar or serve with whipped cream. If you really want frosting, I suggest a simple glaze, nothing heavy.

The thing I love about this cake, aside from the fact that it's super easy and quick, is that it's not too sweet and not overwhelmingly chocolatey. If you're looking for death by chocolate, go elsewhere. But for those times when it's 8 o'clock at night and you need a chocolate fix but don't want to be much bothered in search of one, it's perfect.

Comments

[hilarytamar]

Yes! I make essentially this same recipe for exactly that – the late-night chocolate fix. And also the chocolate-for-breakfast fix, but let's not go there. The other good thing about this recipe is that it's vegan. That doesn't matter for me, but it's useful to know about if you've got friends who are vegan and you're trying to feed them something beyond lettuce.

[sixbeforelunch]

It didn't even occur to me that it's vegan. I just updated the tags to reflect that. *g*

vegan = great!

[gillaan]

It can be surprisingly difficult sometimes to find a vegan recipe - at least, to find one which is tested, and isn't just a poor imitation of a non-vegan recipe.
Thanks muchly for this one, I'm always keen to add to my repertoire of vegan delights. All the better to placate my vegan mates!

[neekabe]

This is my favourite cake too, and the first thing I learned to bake when I was a wee one. No egg cracking required, plus lots of digging and playing in the dry ingredients.

[kerrick]

I'll have to try this. I bet apple cider vinegar would be fine. Or lemon juice, although that may be rather more water and less acid so you might have to use more, and could come out with a damper cake. (I assume the vinegar is just to activate the baking soda.)

Thanks!

[sixbeforelunch]

Yeah, I think apple cider would work fine. I suspect you could even use rice wine, but I've never tried either.

I'm not sure about lemon juice, but now that you've suggested it, I'm intrigued by the idea. Someday if I have an hour to waste and don't mind risking the loss of an entire cake, I might try it.

(Yes, I'm pretty sure the vinegar works to activate the baking soda. This cake ends up very light and fluffy, like it would if you used two or three teaspoons of baking powder.)