Quick and Easy Chocolate cake

I really won't be able to tell you much about this cake, apart from it was pretty damn easy to make, I didn't have many dishes to clean afterwards and um.... wait, that's all I can tell you about this cake.

Lets go back a bit. It all started yesterday when my mum told me her friend was dropping by in an hour, and asked if I could be so kind and nice and sweet and bake up something to serve her, because she was too tired to make something herself and  baked goods from the outside world are never as good. Being an angel of a daughter that I am, I accepted to bake her a chocolate cake, because that's what I was in the mood for. So, I quickly made the batter, put it in the pan, put the pan in the oven, under an hour later I took it out of the oven, waited 10 minutes for the cake to cool in the pan, quickly flipped it onto a cooling rack, cut a slice and put it on a plate with a dollop of whipped cream, took a bite and snapped a picture. Then I had to run out for my body balance class, the whole time mentally preparing myself for the slice of chocolate cake I'll have when I get back to undo all the exercise I did.

Fast forward to two hours later when I got home and practically ran to the kitchen to embrace my slice of chocolate cake, only to be greeted with an empty plate and a few crumbs. CRUMBS. And not even the crumbs left on the serving plate, no siree, they managed to hoover those crumbs up, but the crumbs under the cooling rack on the counter top.Whilst I bitterly ate the leftover crumbs (don't judge me), everyone was thanking me for making them such a yummy cake, that they couldn't just have one slice! they had to have two! Oh well, I guess my body balance class didn't go to waste after all.

So yeah, make this cake. I hear its good.

Quick and Easy Chocolate Cake

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

(makes a 10 x 4 loaf cake)

110 grams unsalted butter

140 grams dark brown sugar

170 grams granulated sugar

1 egg, room temperature

230 grams Greek yogurt*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

190 grams plain flour

75 grams cooking cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

 Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F) .

Grease and flour your loaf tin (the size I used was 10x4x3, if you want a higher cake I guess you could use a smaller loaf tin) and set aside. In a bowl of the electric mixer, cream the butter on medium speed, until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, around 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat well, then add the Greek yogurt* and vanilla. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt straight into the bowl of your wet ingredients and stir together with a spoon until well blended - but do not over mix.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. My cake didn't take as long and was done at 50 minutes, so start checking the cakes progress at 50 minutes. Leave to cool in the pan on a rack for around 10 minutes, then flip it onto the cooling rack to continue cooling, or just eat it warm. It's good warm too. Serve with some whipped cream and berries!

*The original recipe called for 1 cup of buttermilk. We didn't have any buttermilk in the fridge so I substituted some Greek yogurt instead - because that's what we had - I think the batter was a bit drier, but it wasn't dry one bit and it was scrumptious. I think you would be able use a cup (250ml) of normal yogurt, or just use or make some buttermilk.. Up to you!