A lot of chocolate cake use pantry staples to make them, but over the years I have learn’t that it is the way you use those ingredients to make a cake makes all the difference. You can cream the butter and eggs or throw it all in and hope for the best but with this little cake to simple steps of separating your dry ingredients and then adding your wet and giving it a good mix makes all the difference. As does the inclusion of boiling water. It makes the cake deliciously moist and with a fine even crumb – just perfect.
INGREDIENTS
1 Cup Plain Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Bicarbonate Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Cup Caster Sugar
1/2 cup Cocoa
1 Large Egg
1/2 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Oil (I used sunflower – you can use any non-flavoured oil) Note: don’t use coconut oil it’s not suitable for this recipe.
1 Tsp Vanilla Essence
1/2 Cup Boiling Water
Icing
1 Cup Chocolate Chips
1 Tbs Butter, cubed
1 Tbs Hot Water
1 Cup Icing Sugar
LET’S PUT IT ALL TOGETHER
- Place all the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer or large bowl for a hand mixer. Mix together with a whisk.
- Add the wet ingredients (except the boiling water) mix on low until the dry and wet ingredients come together and then mix on medium speed for about 2 minutes. The mix will be nice and glossy.
- Pour in the boiling water and continue to mix until combined – about 1 minute. The mix will now be runny.
- Pour into a lined 20cm x 20cm baking dish and bake on 170 degrees Celsius for 35-40 minutes or until it bounces back when touched. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before icing.
To make the icing.
Place the chocolate chips and butter in a microwave safe bowl and heat on medium heat for 1 minute. Stir, if the chocolate and butter is melted continue making the icing otherwise place back in the microwave for another 30 seconds, stir. Once the chocolate and butter are melted and you have a glossy mix add the icing sugar and water and mix really well to get a smooth icing.
Pour over the cool cake.
Store in the fridge on a plate – cling wrapped for up to 7 days.
Freezer friendly: cut portions and place into zip locks bags and freeze for up to 3 months.
Hi, looks delicious! Is this in Australian or US cup measurements?
They are in Australian. All my recipes are in Australian. 🙂
This recipe looks awesome. Is it possible to replace the oil with butter?
Sure you can, it will just change the texture to be a little more dense.
Would it be possible to replace the dairy milk with an alternative? Perhaps almond milk?
Hi Jess, yes that would work as well.