Would You Like Chocolate With That? ~ Mix-In-The-Pan Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Friday is back!!  OK, so Chocolate Friday can exist without me, but you get to link up your chocolate posts here again!  If you posted Chocolate Friday during the last couple of weeks, be sure to also link up those past posts - we need all the chocolate we can get!  Besides, it's still my birthday week so I need more virtual chocolate (I do NOT, I repeat, do NOT need more chocolate in real life this week - LOL)!

You knew there would be chocolate today and since I had a birthday this week, I thought chocolate cake would be appropriate.  I was going through old magazines the week before and tearing out recipes and found this one!  Chocolate cake all made in 1 pan?  Woo Hoo!  And it doesn't even need an egg!  This could be dangerous...

You whisk all the dry ingredients right in the baking pan!

After adding the wet ingredients, stir really well and then clean up the sides of the pan.

Chocolate chips on a hot cake = Frosting

Mmmmm.........oh...hi there!  Oops - I was mesmerized by all that chocolate and thought I was all alone in my chocolate dream!  :)

After 5 minutes, you can spread the melted chocolate chips.  My 2 cups of chocolate chips actually equal about 2 1/2 cups so I had no problem spreading this evenly!

After 3 days, it's impossible to make this cake look pretty when you cut it.  The top has hardened back to chocolate chip state so it's kind of like eating a chocolate candy bar on top of a cake.  Yeah - super chocolatey and rich and delicious!  The cake is still very moist.  You really could just top the cake with powdered sugar and still be in a happy place!

Mix-In-The-Pan Chocolate Cake (from Womans Day 2/06)

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups lukewarm water
11.5-oz. bag milk-chocolate chips (1 3/4 cups) or 12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Have a ready a 13x9 in. baking pan.

2.  Put flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in ungreased pan.  Stir with a whisk until blended, shaking occasionally to settle ingredients. (Flour should be blended completely, but some lumps of cocoa may remain.)

3.  With a wooden spoon, make 3 "wells" in mixture.  Pour oil into 1 well, vinegar into another,  and vanilla into the 3rd.  Pour 2 cups lukewarm water over all.  Stir until blended, scraping sides, corners and bottom of pan (some lumps may remain).

4.  Use a rubber spatula, then a paper towel to wipe excess batter off sides of pan.

5.  Bake 30 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

6.  Remove from oven to a wire rack and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over cake.  Let stand 5 minutes until soft, the spread to edge in decorative swirls.  Let cool completely.  (Can be stored, loosely covered, up to 2 days at room temperature.)

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YUM - obviously I take Chocolate Friday seriously!  :)  This cake really was easy to do and oh so rich.  It would be fun to experiment with too!

Hey - join the party and bring some chocolate posts with you!  Go get your old or new family-friendly chocolate posts (more info here) and come back to link them up!  Let's try out MckLinky's new thumbnail linky today so we can see the yummy chocolate pics!  Let me know if you have any problems linking up.

I'm linking this up to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam 'cause this chocolateyness really should be shared!

Have a wonderful chocolate-filled day sweet friends!