The Outsiders is still read in 9th grade, as it has been since I was a Gen X teen. My youngest is in 9th grade this year, a freshman, and his Lit class is reading it. They offered extra credit for baking Sodapop’s chocolate cake over the weekend. Alistaire and I baked it together, took photos, and he submitted it for extra credit.
It’s an easy cake to pull together, mixed and baked in less than an hour. It is an easy recipe and teaches how simple homemade cake can be. No mixes needed!
It is, however, VERY sugary (holy smokes, 2 cups of sugar), so I used 1 cup of stevia 1:1 blend and 1 cup of sugar. We also added in a bit of instant espresso to make the chocolate flavor more intense.
The recipe given.
Whisk the batter up.
Into the oven.
Sodapop’s Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar (we used 1 cup sugar + 1 cup stevia 1:1)
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp instant espresso or coffee
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup avocado oil
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly oil 2 9″ cake pans.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso.
In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients, whisl briefly, then add the boiling water. Whisk till smooth; it will be thin.
Divide between the two pans.
Bake for 30 minutes and check with a toothpick or knife to see if it’s done in the center.
Let cool for 10 minutes, then flip onto a rack to cool completely.
Frost as desired.
Store wrapped.
Notes:
I showed Alistaire how to divide cake batter by scooping it out in measuring cups. Each cake was a bit over 2½ cups per pan.
He asked about the original recipe calling for “vegetable oil” and what we had. I explained that we use avocado oil as a replacement, since it isn’t a cheap seed oil like canola, soybean, or corn oil.
Coming out of the oven.
~Sarah