When you’re craving chocolate cake, but don’t want too much tempting you, this little chocolate cake is the best one for you!
Let’s face it. When you have a small family, or are empty nesters, baking a whole great big cake is just too much temptation. Since my husband hasn’t been working a job with an office to share goodies with, I have been doing almost no baking of sweets lately. Why? Because he would always take the majority of it to work and let everyone gobble it up! They appreciated the home baked treats and I appreciated not having to eat it all. Just saying.
So when the time comes that you are craving chocolate cake-and don’t even play, you know we all crave it at some point-this cake is just the right size. And even better? It only takes one bowl to mix up the cake batter.
To begin, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Line the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan with parchment paper. Spray the inside (including the parchment paper) with baking spray. Alternatively, you can brush it with butter and lightly flour it. Set it aside for now.
In your mixing bowl, combine 1 c all-purpose flour, 1 c sugar, 1/4 c + 2 Tb baking cocoa, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder. Stir these together.
Add in 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil, 1 egg, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix to combine. Then add 1/2 cup of very hot water. Mix thoroughly, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula. Your batter will be very thin, but that is normal.
Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cake tests done in the center with a wooden pick.
Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides to make sure nothing is sticking. Remove the sides of your spring form pan and cool the cake on a rack until room temperature.
To frost the cake, beat 3/4 c + 2 Tb unsalted, room temperature butter in your mixing bowl until fluffy (use the whisk attachment.)
Add in 3/4 c baking cocoa, 3 3/4 c powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and 3 Tb + 2 tsp milk. Mix until smooth and creamy. Add small amounts of additional milk if needed to make this a nice, spreadable frosting.
Now let me just pause to say something. There are two things you can always know when it comes to me baking a cake.
#1 – It’s going to taste good. (If I can toot my own horn here.)
and #2 – It is not going to be pretty. I have never pretended to be a good cake decorator. I just “shmeer” it on…sometimes with the back of a spoon if I am being honest.
So spread the frosting on the cake to the best of your ability and enjoy!
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The Best Little Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 c all-purpose flour
- 1 c sugar
- 1/4 c baking cocoa
- 2 Tb baking cocoa
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 1/2 c milk
- 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 c very hot water
For the Frosting:
- 3/4 c + 2 Tb unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 c baking cocoa
- 3 3/4 c powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 Tb + 2 tsp milk, more if needed
Instructions
- To begin, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Line the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan with parchment paper. Spray the inside (including the parchment paper) with baking spray. Alternatively, you can brush it with butter and lightly flour it. Set it aside for now.
- In your mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and instant espresso powder. Stir these together.
- Add in the milk, extra virgin olive oil, egg, and vanilla extract. Mix to combine. Then add the very hot water. Mix thoroughly, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula. Your batter will be very thin, but that is normal.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cake tests done in the center with a wooden pick.
- Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides to make sure nothing is sticking. Remove the sides of your spring form pan and cool the cake on a rack until room temperature.
For the Frosting:
- Beat the butter in your mixing bowl until fluffy (use the whisk attachment.)
- Add in the baking cocoa, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk.
- Mix until smooth and creamy. Add small amounts of additional milk if needed to make this a nice, spreadable frosting.
- Spread the frosting on the cake and enjoy!
Nutrition
If nutritional values are provided for this recipe, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands of ingredients you use. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste or for serving. If nutritional values are very important to you, I suggest using your favorite nutritional calculating tool with the brands you use.
Hi Constance,
How do I find list of all your recipes?
I’m looking for a white cake recipe, also a sponge cake recipe….
Do you have any in your list of recipes….tried & true….?
Thanks,
I no longer have a list page of every recipe, they can all be found through the category menu at the top of the page, where it says “Browse.” Cakes: https://cosmopolitancornbread.com/category/recipes/desserts/cakes/
I have a simple vanilla cake recipe: https://cosmopolitancornbread.com/simple-vanilla-cake/
My coconut sheet cake is a white cake recipe. Simply omit the coconut flavoring in the cake: https://cosmopolitancornbread.com/coconut-sheet-cake/
I also have a yellow cake recipe here: https://cosmopolitancornbread.com/classic-yellow-cake/
Really missing chocolate at the moment. I need to find a vegan alternative to make a cake!
This looks so good! I love a good small-batch dessert :)
I like the idea of a smaller cake – perfect for a small family like mine. That cake looks delish !
This is exactly what I need! I’ve been craving sweets lately but I don’t want a giant cake and I’ve been thinking about adding espresso to anything chocolate. perfect.
This looks delicious! I want it now! Love this! I am always making small cakes. Sometimes I want something sweet fast without tons of steps. My kind of cake. I usually make them in a small sheet pan.
That is why I tend to not bake a regular sized cake because we are only two and I tend to have only a small size. So I bake smaller cake batches. I am in for a little chocolate cake! :D I think otherwise your cake looks perfect, I am not into cake decoration!
I love making small portions of dessert like this esp cakes as it can go stale quite quickly. Thank you for the recipe!
My BF’s birthday is arround the corner and I am so totally baking him this cake!
What a perfect size! I always hate having too much cake around – especially when they look as delicious as this one does. I bet this amount of batter would work well as a mini-layered cake too. ;-)
What a neat recipe! This is good to have on hand for a house of 2.
After reading this post and looking at the pictures I am seriously craving chocolate! Great recipe!
A one layer cake when you live in a 2 person household is a waistline saver! I really like the addition of espresso powder to the cake batter for a flavor burst! And, I mean really, who could turn down a chocolate frosting on chocolate cake for dessert!
Well with this recipe you can have dessert ALL the time. Even though we are empty nesters, hubby is a dessert freak!! I try to give LOTS away to the kids…but we still end up having lots here. This is great to whip up for company too.
This chocolate cake looks so good! I would love a piece of cake with a cup of hot cappuccino! Thank you for sharing, Constance!
Looks great, although I’ll admit that I’m less than amazing at decorating cakes as well, haha. If the frosting on there, that’s good enough, right? But I’m a fan of anything that only requires one bowl.
Exactly! Taste buds don’t have eyes ;)
My mom bakes a chocolate cake for my brother every year and this one looks amazing! I’m sharing this with her.
This looks and sounds delish! I’ve never been a great baker (i’m in training.. :)) and this recipe seems easy to follow and I love all the pictures!