Everybody loves chocolate cake. Not only do we have the easiest one-bowl recipe to share with you, but our recipe also uses those ingredients that you probably already have tucked away in your baking cupboard.

We all know that bringing a chocolate cake to any celebration is going to be a real crowd pleaser, but with so many recipes out there it's hard to know which one is the best. Here at Sugarcrafters HQ we think it's great (and highly convenient) to have a recipe that can be whipped up with no fuss, no special ingredients and with a fraction of the washing up because it uses just one bowl!

This recipe will make 1 x 8 inch cake.

Ingredients:

200g unsalted butter
200g light brown sugar (or use caster sugar if that's in your cupboard!)
4 free-range eggs
150g self-raising flour
75g cocoa powder (the higher the quality the tastier!)
1 tbsp coffee powder (or dissolve 1 tbsp instant coffee into 1 tbsp boiling water)
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste or extract (or leave it out if you don't have any)
large pinch salt

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180⁰C (160⁰C fan) or gas mark 4 and prepare your baking tins by greasing with plenty of butter and lining with baking parchment or use a bake-release spray which speeds up the process! You can bake this cake in 1 deep 8 inch round tin or use 3 x 8 inch sandwich tins to speed up baking time.
2. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter with the sugar until it's light in colour - the butter needs to be soft so allow it to come to room temperature whilst preparing your tins or pop it into the microwave for a few second bursts at a time. 
3. Measure out the flour, coffee powder and cocoa powder and whisk them all together in the measuring bowl - using a whisk will remove lumps rather than dirtying a sieve which can be a pain to clean!
4. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mix and beat together, then add the vanilla and salt.
5. Gradually add the flour, cocoa and coffee mix a third at a time, stirring well as to not leave any dry ingredients at the bottom of the bowl.
6. Once everything is incorporated, pour into the tin/tins and get your cakes straight into the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes if using more than 1 tin, or around 50 minutes for 1 tin. You want to bake them until the edges are starting to pull away from the side of the tin and the top middle of the cake springs back to a light touch. Keep a close eye on your cake towards the end of the baking time as all ovens do vary. 
7. Once baked transfer onto a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely. If you have baked just 1 cake you can split and level your cake into 3 and add your desired filling. If you have baked 3 layers you will just need to level these, fill and assemble however you wish.

If you need an easy buttercream recipe to fill your delicious chocolate cake we have one of those too! Just search for it in the recipe section of our website.