This chocolate cake is the easiest cake I've ever made, so I make it often with my kids. I love that I can let them do most of the steps themselves, and they get to learn about baking. It rivals a box mix for speed and simplicity, but it really tastes great.
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup cold water
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.
Grease an 8" square casserole dish (for a round cake you can use one 9" cake pan).
Sift the dry ingredients together and stir with a fork until well-mixed. Make three wells in the dry ingredients. Pour the oil into the first well, the vinegar into the second, and the vanilla into the third. Pour the cold water over the top of it all, then stir with a fork until well-blended. Pour into greased pan and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let it cool, then frost.
Frosting:
4 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
dash of salt
2 Tablespoons milk
Cream together the butter, sugar, cocoa and salt until well-mixed. Add the liquid and beat until fluffy. You can do this by hand since it is such a small batch, you really don't need to use a stand mixer for this.
Have some sprinkles handy for the kids to decorate it!