Simple Cake

• 1½ cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda

• ¼ tsp salt

• 1 cup water
• ⅓ cup oil (e.g. canola oil)

• 1 tsp vanilla

• mix the dry stuff then mix in the wet stuff
• line a pan with a piece of greased parchment paper
• 350 degrees for 30 minutes
• start poking it with toothpicks/forks/whatever you have around 20 minutes

Variations

• orange zest and juice instead of chocolate
• a drop or two of peppermint extract
• add-ins like chopped nuts or dried fruit
• swap the cocoa powder for 2 tbsp more flour and sugar then play with food colorings or sprinkles inside the batter

Images

Notes

If you want to make frosting just beat together a ½ cup of butter with 2 cups of sugar. Then add any flavors and use a couple of teaspoons of milk to adjust the consistency. I’m too lazy to clean the mixer and bowl so I ususally just skip frosting but it’s pretty easy to make so definitely try that if you want to.

The first time I made this I lined the bottom of mine with a piece of parchment paper and lightly buttered the paper. It came out so well that I do that every time, but if I’m being honest I’m not sure if it’s necessary or not. People recommend all sorts of variations on that.

After about 20 minutes of baking I start poking it with a fork both to check how done it is and to open up a path for some of the steam to get out so that the inside can cook easier (at 20 minutes the inside will still be basically liquid).

For any variations, try to just replace the same amounts of wet and dry. If you leave out the ¼ cup of cocoa powder, try adding roughly another ¼ cup of other dry ingredients, or if you want to sub in some kind of juice then replace the water.