Here’s one that’s relatively quick and easy for a Holiday treat - taking the idea of hot chocolate to not only cake, but a jar as well. A - there’s no mixer of any kind needed. Well, except for you. You and your whisk, baby! B - whipped cream comes in a can (gasp - spread the news!). While we did make ours from scratch - with our mixer - it comforts me to know that I can buy whipped goodness in a can. Just saying.

Olive oil is the ingredient that turns these little treats into decadent, moist yumminess. Almost gooey. Almost more like a brownie in consistency, but still decidedly cake-ish. Instant hot chocolate mix is a genius, easy ingredient to turn these from a favorite drink to an edible version.

It pours the batter in the jars! Or it gets no cake.

We got mixed results with these little fellas. A few cakes only baked halfway, the other half remaining a goopy-ish soup. Many overflowed, leaving the jars not as full as they should have been once they did begin to bake enough to turn from liquid into cake. Fortunately we still had three jars left to bake after the initial eight. We bumped the oven up from the original 300 degrees to 325, and that seemed to make all the difference. The last three cakes turned out almost perfect with much less overflow.

Regardless of mishaps, these turned out to be extremely tasty little treats! The cake consistency is ultra moist and a little gooey thanks to the olive oil. They’re not overly sweet at all, so you won’t cringe at that first taste on the tongue. The whipped cream we made from scratch and only sweetened it slightly with a little powdered sugar, the perfect topping to this cocoa in a jar.

Individual servings are a great way to dole out treats in a less guilt-inducing fashion and always make the person on the receiving end feel a little special. Hope you enjoy these fun little cakes!

Hot-Chocolate Cake

Adapted from The Arrogant Butcher via Tasting Table

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook time: 40 minutes Level: Easy Serves: 8-11

• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• ½ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
• ¼ cup hot-chocolate mix
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1¼ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup coffee, at room temperature
• 2 cups whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 325°. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, hot-chocolate mix, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla extract, olive oil and coffee.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, a third at a time, whisking to incorporate between each addition.

Arrange eight 8-ounce Mason jars on a sheet tray and carefully pour ½ cup batter into each jar. Place the tray in the oven and bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Repeat with more jars if you have more batter. (We got 11 jars filled total.)

Remove from the oven. Top each cake with the whipped cream and dust with cocoa powder. Serve warm.

Notes:

The original recipe calls for a 300 degree oven, but that wasn’t hot enough for the cakes when we baked them; we had better luck with 325. You may need to experiment to see which temp works best for your oven.

Kidlet tasted her serving, after beging me for a while, mind you, to make chocolate cake…and said she didn’t like it. “It doesn’t taste good, I don’t like it.” I was bamboozled. How could this kid not like it?! I give up. I’ll make her a chicken nugget cake next time. Bet that will go over splendidly!

Despite that, everyone else assures me these tasted wonderful.

These also taste good at room temperature, so serving warm isn’t essential unless that’s just your thing. I put my leftovers in the fridge because I wasn’t sure how long I’d have them. It tastes just as good cold!

Don’t forget the whipped cream. Wink.

Oh! One other thing - the jars slide around quite dangerously on a cookie sheet. I fixed that by using that purple silicone oven-safe mat underneath them, worked great. You could also use a deeper pan, such as a roasting pan, that way they might slide around as you insert them in the oven, but they won’t slide off and onto the floor.

Print PDF