Chocolate Picnic Cake

I have decided to add more pictures to my recipes. I, personally, love looking at pictures when I make food. Somehow, it just seems to make the process easier to understand and I am more motivated to make the food.

However, in doing this I run into a few obstacles. First, I don't own a fancy camera. I have a simple, point and click thing that seems to work well for me - until I need to take close ups. Second, the lighting in my kitchen is terrible - there always seems to be a shadow or a glare, sometimes both.

And third, my sous chef is only 3 - I think that says it all right there.

So, please be understanding as I start adding these pictures. Maybe something will interest you and you'll give it a try.

Now - on to the Chocolate Picnic Cake (printable recipe at the bottom).

This recipe is from the 2002 edition of Taste of Home.

Start by melting your chocolate in a small bowl. It calls for unsweetened which I highly recommend, however I have used semi-sweet and it's still good.

Next you combine the four, soda and salt. Mix it all together and set it to the side - you'll be using this later.

In another bowl, mix together the sugar and the egg. Look at those cute sous chef hands.

Then add the oil and water and mix again.

Now the chocolate! Stir in the melted chocolate and those dry ingredients you set aside. Notice that ours has some chocolate chips in the batter. That was a mistake - somehow there was a miscommunication between the sous chef and myself. I'm sure it will happen again.

Pour the batter into a greased pan and top with the chocolate chips. If some of ours hadn't made it to the batter already, we would have had more on the top. I would recommend that you use about 1 1/2 cups - just a few more than the recipe calls for.

And here they are! Easy and delicious. Enjoy.

Printable Recipe