No Fuss Chocolate Cake

I was chatting with one of my sisters online the other day and she mentioned how she was suffering from an intense craving for cake. A few hours after our conversation, I was quite perturbed with her because she had somehow managed to pass on the craving to me! I wanted cake - but I did not really want to go through the trouble of making a cake. That afternoon, I was watching a couple of little kiddos and I mentioned to them that I felt like cake. They all seemed to emphatically share my love of cake (one of the girls noted that it was, and I quote, her "most favorite-ist thing in the whole wide world") and instantly began giving me a couple motivational pep talks that convinced me to just whip up a cake for everyone.

Luckily, this chocolate cake is the easiest darn thing in the world to whip up. Surrounded by three kiddies all under the age of four, the batter came together in about 5 minutes (before the oven finished preheating!) and everyone was munching on cake warm from the oven in under an hour. The little people were happy and so was I.

I halved this recipe and made it in a loaf pan. It baked up beautifully and made the entire house smell like chocolate (I might try bottling that scent and selling it to Yankee Candle). It was the perfect amount of cake for everyone in the house that day (and we even saved a little piece for Paul!). This would have been over the top with a some chocolate ganache poured over the top...but that was too much work for today. We just wanted the cake.

Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake
adapted slightly from The Bakeaholic Mama

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
1 tbs of vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup Chocolate Almond Spread (or Biscoff Spread, Nutella, Speculoos Cookie Butter, etc)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and sugar. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla. Beat the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into a greased 8-inch cake pan. Dollop the chocolate spread on top and swirl with a knife. Bake for 35-40 minutes (begin checking after 30 minutes) or until the cake springs back when lightly touched in the center.