I’ve noticed that when people find out I’m a Texan, they assume a few things: I’m mighty friendly, I love biscuits and barbecue, and I know a thing or two about Southern hospitality. And none of those things is wrong. But, I have to admit the hospitality part trips me up sometimes. When faced with unexpected guests, my house is often 80 degrees (I’m happier to live my life without the sound of air conditioner) and there are piles (and I mean piles) of sugar-coated dishes in the sink. No one told me there’d be this many dishes involved in running a food blog. So when I hear someone is coming down my way and wants to pick some produce from the garden, I flip on the AC, start gathering dirty dishes into one enormous pile (as if this is somehow better than scattered piles), and put some hot water on to make a fresh jug of sweet tea. Lately, my visitors and last-minute dinner guests have seen fewer dishes because I’ve been working on this one-bowl easy chocolate cake. Although, one Sunday I had every bowl I owned coated in chocolate cake batter with a wooden spoon and chocolate fingerprint-coated labels denoting ‘version 1’, ‘version 2’, etc. Let’s not even talk about all the sticky jam-coated spoons. All of this so that you may have an easy go-to recipe for chocolate cake up your sleeve. This cake is customizable to your tastes. I’ve succesfully used seedless raspberry and blackberry jam in the batter, as well as homemade cherry preserves. (Remember when 2 people ate 10 pounds of cherries in 2 weeks?)
One final note, this cake is dense and fudgey, not light and birthday-cakey. Like any good (almost) flourless cake, it tends to sink a little in the middle. If this sort of thing bothers you, plop on some freshly whipped cream to fill in the dip. From my hospitable Southern heart to yours,
