One Bowl Chocolate Cake 4 ways

There are thousands of chocolate cake recipes out there, but today I’d like to share with you the ultimate one bowl chocolate cake recipe that will probably become one of your favorites. You need only 5 ingredients, and you can bake this one cake batter in various pans depending on the desired result.

Don’t worry if your pans are different sizes. Please use the baking time given here as a guide. You can use the toothpick test to adjust the baking time. 

There are many ideas for how to enjoy it, if you come up with one of your own, please share it with me:)

Recipes

One bowl chocolate cake 4 ways

Ingredients

Chocolate cake batter

  • 250 g (1 heaping cup) unsalted butter - Bring to room temperature
  • 180 g (3/4 cup+2tbsp) sugar
  • 4 eggs - Bring to room temperature
  • 80 g (2/3 cup) all-purpose flour
  • 250 (1+1/2cups) dark chocolate - preferably about 70% cacao content chocolate

Whipped cream (Topping)

  • 240 ml (1 cup) whipping cream
  • 18 g (1.5 tbsp) caster sugar

Optional toppings

  • powder sugar, nuts, fresh fruits, vanilla ice-cream

Instructions

Chocolate cake batter

  1. Put the soften butter into a big bowl, then cream with a hand mixer. When it gets creamy, add the sugar and whip until the butter turns pale.

  2. Add the egg in three to four parts, mix to emulsify. When it gets completely incorporated, you can add the other one-third of the egg. Repeat the same process until all the eggs are added.  

  3. Sift the flour into the bowl and mix to combine. Be careful not over mix.

  4. Melt the chocolate over a hot water bath or microwave. When using the microwave, take it out a couple times and stir it halfway through to melt it, to prevent it from burning. Once the chocolate is melted completely, add it into the batter all at once. Mix to combine. 

Chocolate Muffins with Whipped cream (12 muffins of 7cm size)

  1. Preheated oven at 180℃ or 360℉. Grease the muffin pans or line a muffin case, and divide the batter evenly. Bake in the preheated oven at 180℃ or 360℉ for about 20-25 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

  2. Cool muffins for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack. Let them cool.

  3. Put the whipping cream and sugar into a mixing bowl, whip up until medium stiff peaks. Keep in the fridge before using.

  4. Make a hole in the center of the muffin with a spoon. Then fill the hole with whipped cream, pipe on top as well. Keep in the fridge until ready to eat.

Brownie style (24cm square pan)

  1. Preheated oven at 180℃ or 360℉. Grease the square pan or line a baking paper, and divide the batter evenly. Sprinkle your favorite nuts over the cake if you like. Bake in the preheated oven at 180℃ or 360℉ for about 20 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

  2. Cool cake for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack. Let it cool. Cut them into any size you like and enjoy.

Birthday cake style (21cm round pan)

  1. Preheated oven at 180℃ or 360℉. Line a pan with baking paper, pour the batter into it and bake in the preheated oven at 180℃ or 360℉ for about 25-30 min. You can use the toothpick test for this cake too, but I personally like to underbake this cake a bit to get a gooey texture. When the surface looks dry, I poke with a toothpick. When it comes out with wet baked crumbs, I’ll take it out. If it comes out with runny batter, I’ll bake more.

  2. Leave the cake in the pan and place it on a wire rack to cool. Once it cools down, remove it from the pan and decorate with the whipped cream and fresh fruits.

Half-baked chocolate cake (2cakes of 16cm loaf pans)

  1. Preheated oven at 180℃ or 360℉. Line a loaf pan with baking paper, pour the batter into it and bake in the preheated oven at 180℃ or 360℉ for about 15-20 min. When the cake surface looks completely dry, and the outside of the cake is risen but the center is not, take it out from the oven.

  2. Leave the cake in the pan and place it on a wire rack to cool. When it cools down, keep in the fridge since the cake is half baked. When it chills and hardens, remove from the pan and slice with a warmed knife. You can enjoy it as cold, or warm up just a little bit with a microwave. 

Helpful Tips

The amount of time you need to bake is going to vary depending on your muffin pan size, so please use the toothpick test and adjust the baking time. Without whipped cream, you can keep them one day at room temperature, 3 days in the fridge.  When you keep it in the fridge, it will harden a little, which is also delicious, but you can bring it back to room temperature before eating if you like. This cake keeps very well in the freezer, so you can bake a big batch, put them in an airtight container, and keep them in the freezer. Leave them at room temperature whenever you want to eat.