A Chocolate Cake for All

Sunday, January 10, 2021

Everyone needs chocolate cake now and then.

Why did I need it now? Two reasons: a book and a friend. (Excellent reasons, really, although “Monday is looming” and “because cake” would also be perfectly respectable answers.)

First, the book: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein.

I’m happily reading along, barely into the thing, when there’s this quote about Pablo Picasso’s proclivity for punctuality (how’s that for alliteration?), and it struck me as not unlike how some people feel about the cake:

See, some people always decline dessert, as if saying yes to sugar isn’t in their vocabulary any more than saying no to anything is in a famous painter’s, and yet, if you just give someone a slice of chocolate cake (and I have done this many times, this trick of “give first, ask second”), they seem to enjoy their little indulgence very much. Everyone needs cake now and then.

So I was already thinking about the intricate social dance that is foisting cake upon someone you love — or someone you barely know, depending on how much cake you happen to have accidentally made in a mad fit of baking — when a friend of mine experienced the kind of experience that absolutely merits chocolate cake: a bad day.

This cake, this impossibly luscious, dangerously easy chocolate olive oil cake, is the ultimate Bad Day Banisher.

This friend of mine also just happens to be dairy-free, but fret not! This bad boy is not only perfectly chocolatey, impossibly moist, and incredibly easy to whip up with everyday ingredients — it’s also vegan!

I cannot stress enough how much I love this cake. I’ve made it several times, and every time I am blown away by how moist it is, how perfectly poised at the intersection of rich chocolate flavor and everyday indulgence. Also, it’s one of those magic cakes that taste just as good on day three as day one, stored in Tupperware on the kitchen counter or in the fridge; I’m sure it would be delicious all week if we ever gave it a chance.

Whatever your reason — a book, a friend, a Monday, or just because — baking this cake is always a good idea.

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake (from Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients:

Protocol:

You can serve this with a simple glaze if you like, though I think a light dusting of powdered sugar is just as striking and more in line with the easy nature of this cake. As well, each time I’ve made this cake, it develops a very slight depression in the center as it cools— reading the notes of others who have made this or similar cakes, this is a common occurrence; as I have no complaints about the taste or texture at all, and it isn’t noticeable once the cake is sliced, I don’t worry about it (and suggest you don’t either!).

Happy snacking!

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