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One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
42 Reviews
From the EatingWell Kitchen
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.
- By: EatingWell Test Kitchen
Ingredients 12 servings
for serving adjustment
Serving size has been adjusted!
Original recipe yields 12 servings
Nutrition per serving may change if servings are adjusted.
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons whole-wheat pastry flour, (see Ingredient Note)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup nonfat buttermilk, (see Tip)
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup hot strong black coffee
- Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Preparation
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Active
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Ready In
- Preheat oven to 350°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.
- Ingredient Note: Whole-wheat pastry flour, lower in protein than regular whole-wheat flour, has less gluten-forming potential, making it a better choice for tender baked goods. You can find it in the natural-foods section of large supermarkets and natural-foods stores. Store in the freezer.
- Tip: No buttermilk? You can use buttermilk powder prepared according to package directions. Or make “sour milk”: mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup milk.
- Per serving: 139 calories; 3 g fat(0 g sat); 2 g fiber; 27 g carbohydrates; 2 g protein; 3 mcg folate; 16 mg cholesterol; 19 g sugars; 18 g added sugars; 22 IU vitamin A; 0 mg vitamin C; 38 mg calcium; 1 mg iron; 212 mg sodium; 63 mg potassium
- Carbohydrate Servings: 2
- Exchanges: 1½ other carbohydrate
Reviews 42
January 09, 2018
By: Maggie Bedsworth
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
May 02, 2017
By: Ford
Doubled recipe to make a two layer Black Forest cake (cherry filling between layers). No problem. Substituted half of Canola oil with Hazelnut oil.
April 21, 2017
By: ABAR
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.
August 16, 2016
By: Luiza Andreea
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;
April 19, 2015
By: ginal
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.
April 04, 2015
By: EatingWell User
easy and delicious
I halved the brown sugar and it was so good and tasted even better the next day!
Pros: moist and low in fat!
March 22, 2015
By: EatingWell User
too fudgy
It tasted like ultra fudgy brownies, maybe it was because I left the mixture on the table for awhile instead of baking it immediately. Gonna try this recipe again hope it'll turn out great :\
Pros: rich chocolate taste and not too sweet
Cons: waaaaayyy too fudgy
November 01, 2014
By: EatingWell User
Hit the spot
Its like a brownie cake and the serving size is smaller than a little Debbie brownie. I mention it because that's what the taste reminds me of. It did sink in the middle but none of us cared. This was used as a birthday cake since hubby and I are dieting.
Pros: Easy
July 10, 2014
By: EatingWell User
Good low calorie recipe
The first time I made this cake I found it a little dry and sweet, so I made the following adjustments, which resulted in a deliciously moist and full flavour cake which is still low in calories. I estimate 130 calories per slice, allowing 12 slices.
I used three quarters of a cup of plain flour instead of wholewheat and I replaced the extra 2 tablespoons of flour with cornflour. I used 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil (i.e. an extra spoon).
I reduced each sugar by half (i.e a quarter cup of each) and increased the cocoa to a half cup. I folded in 100g of fresh raspberries just before I put in in the oven. I cooked it at 160C in a fan oven for 30 minutes.
