One Bowl Chocolate Cake

A couple of weeks ago, in an effort to thank Mr. L for a new camera purchase while simultaneously begining to whittle away at our pantry stash, I decided to make a chocolate cake from scratch.

I hadn't baked an entirely homemade chocolate cake before, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try.  So I went searching online for a recipe, and found one that only required ingredients I already had in my pantry.  I went all out and made it with some homemade cream cheese icing as well.

The result was some seriously awesome, delicious cake.  It wasn't too chocolately or heavy, and it was incredibly moist and fluffy.  I ended up making it again for a friend's birthday over the Fourth of July weekend with the same icing, and people seemed to enjoy it there too.  It will absolutely end up becoming my go-to chocolate cake in the future -- you just can't beat quick, easy, and absolutely delicious!

One Bowl Chocolate Cake (from AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two nine inch round pans.  (Obviously you can use any pan you like, just be sure to monitor your cooking time!)

In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer.  Stir in the boiling water last.  Batter will be thin (very thin -- don't worry if it looks too watery, it's supposed to be like that, I promise!).

Pour evenly into the prepared pans.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick.

Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Finish the cake with your choice of icing (the cream cheese kind really was fabulous with it!)

Serve and enjoy, but try not to devour it in one sitting =)