Quick and Easy Chocolate Snack Cake
No buttermilk on hand? Before you do anything else, measure out an equal amount of regular milk and stir in a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice - by the time you need it, it will be ready to go!
Servings: 9 to 12
Ingredients
The Cake
- 1 &1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup natural baking cocoa
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup water [you can use coffee if you like]
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
The Frosting
- 1/2 cup room temperature butter
- 2 to 2 1/2 cups 10x [confectionery] sugar
- about 1 tablespoon heavy cream half and half or milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Make the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350º and generously butter an 8 x 8 baking pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking cocoa, sugar, baking soda and salt.
- In a 2 cup measure, or small glass bowl, measure in the buttermilk and water, and add the butter, but into a few pieces.
- Microwave for a minute or long enough to warm it enough to melt the butter. This will vary, depending on your microwave, but you just want it warm enough to melt the butter - not boiling. Once it is warm, stir to combine.
- Stir the vanilla into the buttermilk.
- Pour the buttermilk into the flour.
- Break the egg into the now empty measuring cup or bowl and beat lightly - pour the beaten egg into the rest of the ingredients in the bowl.
- Stir together with a wooden spoon or a rubber scraper, until well combined.
- Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes, turning once, halfway through the baking time.
- At 25 minutes, begin checking for doneness, by inserting a wooden skewer or toothpick near the center - it should come out with some moist crumbs, but no wet batter. If it's not quite done, return to the oven for another 2 minutes, and check again to see if it's done. If not, bake another 2 minutes and check again. It is easy to over-bake a chocolate cake, so stay close, and go by how the crumbs look more than the time.
- Cool the cake on a rack, right in the pan. If frosting, cool completely, but it is nice served still warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Make the frosting
- Using an electric hand mixer and a medium bowl, cream the butter for 30 seconds or so.
- Add 2 cups of 10x sugar, the cream and the vanilla, and beat on low speed until it is a creamy and smooth consistency.
- If it is too stiff, add more cream, a few drops at a time, if it is too loose, add more sugar, a few tablespoons at a time. The exact proportions depend on the dryness of your sugar and how soft the butter is - just keep fiddling with it until it is spreadable, but stiff enough to form peaks when you spread it.
- When the cake is completely cool, spread the buttercream frosting evenly over the top. To serve, cut in squares.
- Will keep at room temperature, tightly covered for 2 days - after that, refrigerate.