My Famous Chocolate Cake Recipe - Cockeyed Cake

We were supposed to be in New Jersey on Saturday visiting with Bob's family so I baked my favorite chocolate cake with Nutella frosting to bring for the gathering. Unfortunately It was cancelled due to bad weather up there and illness and we were left with this big cake in our kitchen.

Now we had several options. Eat it all ourselves, freeze it in individual portions so we don't pig out, throw it out, give it away to the neighbors or invite friends over to share it with us!

We decided that would be a much better thing to do and invited friends over to eat cake, drink coffee and watch the U.S. clobber the Canadians. (OK, the US did not clobber the Canadians, but a silver medal after overtime is nothing to sneeze at and we are still proud of our team!)

It ended up being a very nice gathering of around 8 couples (including us) who brought yummy snacks, wine, cheese spreads and crackers & more and we spent a lovely Sunday afternoon together watching the Olympics and finishing up my chocolate cake! Everyone was having such a nice time, they stayed to watch some of the closing ceremonies and we ordered a couple of pizzas (thanks everyone for treating us!). Fun Fun Fun!

My cake was such a hit everyone asked me for the recipe, so I promised to share it. It should be noted that I did not make this up and owe it to my friend Mae from Tempe, Arizona (she calls it Cockeyed Cake) who gave it to me years ago when our kids were in preschool together.

This cake is so easy - everything goes in one bowl and there are no eggs or butter for those with allergies! The only thing I changed was to use Apple Cider Vinegar (instead of regular white vinegar called for in the original) and to frost it with Nutella! You could use any chocolate frosting, powered sugar or whatever you prefer - make it your own! I even shared this recipe with my friend Nunzia in Vietri sul Mare after I brought it to her family's Christmas dinner. I was so tickled at how much everyone there liked it there too. I even helped Nunzia convert it into metric measurements so she could try it!

Anyway, here's the recipe. Let me know if you try it how it turned out and what you did to "personalize" it! Be creative! Then send me a photo of what you did!

Rosemary's "Famous" Chocolate Cake (also known as Cockeyed Cake)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9” cake pan (I use Baker's Joy with flour in it)

Mix dry ingredients together:
1-1/2 cups flour
3 TBLS cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Add:
5 TBLS vegetable oil
1 TBLS apple vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Then add 1 cup cold water

Stir it all together till it's all blended. Bake for about a half hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Frost as desired, or just dust with powdered sugar. Yesterday I used Nutella. (hint: put the jar in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes to soften a bit so you cab spread it easily)

This is easily doubled as I did this time.

It always disappears!