This easy-to-make chocolate cake is dark, moist, rich--and only dirties one bowl! Not quite as easy as boxed cake mixes, but those often contain trans fats. Our simple “from scratch” recipe gives you a home-baked cake with healthful canola oil and whole-wheat flour.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

whole-wheat pastry flour, (see Ingredient Note)

sugar

cocoa powder

baking powder

baking soda

salt

nonfat buttermilk, (see Tip)

½ cup packed light brown sugar

egg,

canola oil

vanilla extract

hot strong black coffee

Confectioners' sugar,

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. Line the pan with a circle of wax paper.


Whisk flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add buttermilk, brown sugar, egg, oil and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add hot coffee and beat to blend. (The batter will be quite thin.) Pour the batter into the prepared pan.


Bake the cake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes; remove from the pan, peel off the wax paper and let cool completely. Dust the top with confectioners' sugar before slicing.


Best chocolate cake recipe, and so easy! I used some honey Greek yogurt In place part of the buttermilk and sprinkled chocolate chips on top after a few minutes of baking. It came out SO moist and delicious.

This is so delicious, moist and most requested cake at my house.  YUM!

I have made this cake numerous times serving it with ice cream or whipped cream. It is delicious! I have made it with whole wheat pastry flour as directed or regular flour at times too.  Either way it always comes out great!  Highly recommend - and so easy to make with basic pantry ingredients!

i have not tried it yet. wanted to know if i can use just regular flour in this.

This was a moist and rich chocolate cake. I added 2 extra tablespoons of cocoa powder and only 1/4 cup of white sugar. I added 1/4 cup of applesauce to replace the other 1/4 cup of the white sugar (I had read somewhere in a different recipe how 1/4 c. of sugar can be replaced with applesauce). I also added 1 tablespoon of vinegar because I didn’t think my powdered buttermilk that I reconstituted was acidic enough to activate the baking soda.  The cake was not like a brownie at all, but it wasn’t like a boxed mix of white cake either, which is usually super light and airy. It was somewhere in between but definitely cake-like. I loved this simple-to-make cake, and I’ll make it again. I topped it with store-bought cream cheese frosting.

This is very good. I topped it with whipped cream and raspberries when serving and it wasn't to sweet.   Everyone really enjoyed it.  It's an easy way to have homemade cake.  I didn't use canola oil.  I used walnut oil.

I will make this again, but will use dark chocolate next time.  Not chocolate enough with the type of cocoa powder I used.  Very light and fluffy.  I was surprised because others were saying it was brownie like and dense.  Maybe I mixed it too much.  Also I think this will go very well with berries.   Not too sweet, so a few strawberries or raspberries will make this cake perfect.

Used 1/2 cup WW Flour, 1/4 cup almond flour, 2 TB cornstarch
Substituted walnut oil instead of buttermilk ( as that is what I had on hand)
As suggested increased cocoa powder
And added a few strawberries sliced.
The cake was delicious, light, airy and delicate, not heavy or fudgelike  as some complained 
Very easy would definitely make again

Doubled recipe to make a two layer Black Forest cake (cherry filling between layers).   No problem. Substituted half of Canola oil with Hazelnut oil.

Light, moist and delicious.  I cut sugar in half and just used brown sugar and reduced  baking time to about 25 minutes.  Perfect for those who do not like overly sweet cake.  A dusting a confectionary sugar makes it perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.

I used only brown sugar, but less than 3/4 cups of sugar altogether. I also added more buttermilk than needed, used less oil(olive oil) and skipped the coffee step. To "spice up" the cake I added ~75g sour cherries (because I love them in cakes). I baked it for 17-20 min (should've baked it for a little less long though) in a doubletta cooking system and it turned out very fluffy, sweet (although i used 1/3 of the quantity of sugar), didn't stick to my pan and this way it had less calories per slice (168 cal-8 slices in total). I tried a variation of this recipe by using 2 bananas instead of too much flour and ditched the cocoa powder. It was very moist and didn't grow (because of the bananas) but it tasted very "bananey" and had less calories/ slice (109 cal -8 slices in total). I baked it for 15 min in the same cooking system, turned out great. I  will definitely try it again.
Pros: easy to make, low in calories, easily customizable;

Very Good Cake!
Followed directions as written and it turned out perfectly for me.  It was very moist and did not have the heaviness that one would expect from using whole wheat flour of any kind.  I go back to this recipe often.  
Pros: Easy and tasty.


It's A HItThis is a great quick cake to satisfy.  I don't make dessert very often, so when I do, I want it to be good!  I did make a few substitutions.  I used 1/4 c + 2 Tbs Almond flour with the 1/2 c whole wheat flour.  Gave the cake a rich flavor and texture.  I used a Starbucks Italian bold instant coffee packet.  Full packet to 1/2 c water.  Perfect to bring out the rich chocolate flavor.  That is what the coffee does.  Leaves no coffee taste.  Just enhances the chocolate flavor.  I don't use white sugar.  Raw turbinado instead.  I baked this in a spring form pan.  Made removal easy and no middle fall.  Had fresh strawberries and a little whipped cream with it.  Decadent.  This is a do over for me!  Pros: Easy, Tasty

It's A HIt
This is a great quick cake to satisfy.  I don't make dessert very often, so when I do, I want it to be good!  I did make a few substitutions.  I used 1/4 c + 2 Tbs Almond flour with the 1/2 c whole wheat flour.  Gave the cake a rich flavor and texture.  I used a Starbucks Italian bold instant coffee packet.  Full packet to 1/2 c water.  Perfect to bring out the rich chocolate flavor.  That is what the coffee does.  Leaves no coffee taste.  Just enhances the chocolate flavor.  I don't use white sugar.  Raw turbinado instead.  I baked this in a spring form pan.  Made removal easy and no middle fall.  Had fresh strawberries and a little whipped cream with it.  Decadent.  This is a do over for me!  
Pros: Easy, Tasty


Good chocolate cakeNice and easy cake, I halved the sugar and added some chocolate chips (which -it turns out stuck to the bottom of the cake to the wax-paper, and came off when I peeled the wax paper!!But overall, good cake

Good chocolate cake
Nice and easy cake, I halved the sugar and added some chocolate chips (which -it turns out stuck to the bottom of the cake to the wax-paper, and came off when I peeled the wax paper!!
But overall, good cake



Have made this twice and both times it has risen nicely while cooking and when I open the oven to take it out it has sunk in the middle. Looks nothing like the picture.

AWESOME Chocolate Cake!This cake is to DIE for! Easy, delicious, moist, and decadent! I even used Splenda and it was awesome! I highly recommend this recipe! Per the other reviews, I bake mine for 25 to 27 minutes only. It tastes even better the following day!Pros: Easy, Delicious

AWESOME Chocolate Cake!
This cake is to DIE for! Easy, delicious, moist, and decadent! I even used Splenda and it was awesome! I highly recommend this recipe! Per the other reviews, I bake mine for 25 to 27 minutes only. It tastes even better the following day!
Pros: Easy, Delicious


I am in love!
Just made this yummy cake tonight!  I took another reviewer's suggestion and cut both sugars slightly.  I also substituted Raw Sugar for some of the white sugar, added maybe a tablespoon or two more coco, and threw in about 3/4 cup frozen raspberries.  The raspberries added a really nice touch; I would love to try it with cherries, as well.  Another addition: when the cake came out, I sprinkled a tablespoon or so of Grand Mariner on top.  Mmmmm, moist, chocolaty goodness!  Definitely a keeper!  And so easy!
Pros: Easy, versatile


I am in love!Just made this yummy cake tonight!  I took another reviewer's suggestion and cut both sugars slightly.  I also substituted Raw Sugar for some of the white sugar, added maybe a tablespoon or two more coco, and threw in about 3/4 cup frozen raspberries.  The raspberries added a really nice touch; I would love to try it with cherries, as well.  Another addition: when the cake came out, I sprinkled a tablespoon or so of Grand Mariner on top.  Mmmmm, moist, chocolaty goodness!  Definitely a keeper!  And so easy!Pros: Easy, versatile


4 pro points on Weight Watchers plan




Excellent chocolate cake.  I fooled my mother, she couldn't believe that I used wholewheat flour only.




I've made this cake three times--the first two times, made a birthday cake for my sweetheart and the second I brought to work to share with office staff. They all loved it! So the third one I kept for myself! I changed only one or two small things: first, it cooks in my oven for no more than twenty-five minutes, so I decreased cooking time. Second, I made an icing of confectioners' sugar, neufchatel cheese and orange zest. It rocked! Now, if I could only find a lowfat german chocolate cake . . . . Any suggestions?



I thought this cake was so moist and it realy kicked my chocolate cake craving, but I thought it needed some "Kicking up", so I added 1/2 c. cocoa powder instead of just 1/3 c. and used 1 c. Splenda rather than 1/2 c. sugar. This slashed calories by a large margin, but it made this taste more like a classic fattening "Paula Dean" type cake. If you don't happen to have whole-wheat pastry flour on hand you can use regular whole wheat flour, just be careful not to overmix the batter; that's what I did and the cake turned out just fine. I can't wait to enter this recipe into the baking contest at my local fair next month!


Sooo Good! This is going to be a regular at our house. :~)




Excellent recipe. Tastes very good, it-¦s soft and moist, easy to make and overall quite healthy. I-¦ll definately make some more!
Katie H.



Excellent recipe. Tastes very good, it-¦s soft and moist, easy to make and overall quite healthy. I-¦ll definately make some more!Katie H.

Dark, moist and rich chocolate cake, all made in one bowl.

one-bowl chocolate cake

Total: 1 hours, 5 minutes

Author : EatingWell Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Instructions

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