Fudgy chocolate chip yogurt cake (quick & easy)

I'm not exactly sure what brought it on but I found myself thinking about making a chocolate yogurt cake the other day.  I think it was partly from eating yogurt that had me thinking about baking with it.  I was thinking along the lines of a loaf cake because I pictured these great lemon and orange yogurt loaves and figured I'd love to try a chocolate one.  Also, making the last chiffon cake had me thinking about great base recipes and making different versions from it.

Quick and easy to prepare (6-inch) chocolate chip yogurt cake

But when I looked up recipes ideas, fudgy chocolate chip yogurt cake from Mel's Kitchen Cafe popped up.  I discovered this site pretty recently but I've become a big fan after trying a few recipes and getting some great dinners out of it.  So I saw this easy chocolate chip cake and couldn't resist giving it a try.

It's so quick and easy to make that I decided at the last minute, right before I started cooking dinner, to whip it up for dessert.  I scaled the recipe down to make a little 6-inch cake for the three of us.  All you have to do is mix dry ingredients in one bowl and whisk together some sugar, eggs, yogurt and vanilla in another (there's no oil or butter in this recipe).  The two come together and you add a generous amount of chocolate chips.

The chips are actually supposed to sink mostly to the bottom of the cake to make a fudgy layer at the base that's like a hot fudge sauce.  Ironically, my chocolate chips didn't really sink that way!  No worries because as long as you pull your cake out of the oven early enough, the cake will be nice and fudgy.  It's melty and chocolaty, and it tastes a bit like molten chocolate cake, which is one of the best things on earth, in my opinion!  I popped this cake in the oven as we sat down to dinner.  It took no more than 27 minutes for mine to bake to this state but check on it early.  It's very important to err on the side of slightly under-baking so that the cake is soft and gooey in the center.  It will taste more chocolaty that way.  Eating it warm is highly recommended.

Eating this warm cake with some ice cream is also highly recommended.  Is there anything better than a nice dinner, followed by warm chocolate cake served with ice cream?  It brings a family together, I tell you!

There is this wonderful suggestion of topping this cake with some chopped toasted almonds or toffee bits for a little crunch.  I would have loved a little crunchy contrast but the fellas in my family prefer otherwise.  So I just sprinkled my slice with a little chopped pistachios.  

This was a very nice quick & easy impromptu dessert that my family and I really enjoyed together.

I divided the recipe in half and baked the batter in a 6-inch pan with removable sides. A small cake makes sense if you're feeding a small group because I think this tastes best fresh and warm from the oven (we warmed a leftover slice in the microwave the next day to mimic the melty effect and while it's good, the texture will be a bit more bouncy, slightly gummier, which we have to expect from a cake made with yogurt and without oil or butter).  

The original recipe for a 9 or 10-inch cake calls for 5 eggs and I used 2 extra-large eggs to keep things simple.  I used 2% plain Greek yogurt for this cake.  A Greek-style (thicker) vanilla yogurt (a bit sweeter) is recommended.  I just added a little extra vanilla extract to my cake and it turned out nicely.

I used 3/4 cups of chocolate chips - mainly Ghirardelli 60% with a little bit of their semisweet chips mixed in.  The batter will be a thin one and whether or not your chocolate chips sink to the bottom, it will be delicious as long as you slightly under-bake it for the fudgy effect.

This was a happy spur-of-the-moment bake!

Recipe:

Fudgy Chocolate Chip Yogurt Cake (Quick & Easy)

Adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

- Makes one 6-inch cake - 

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup yogurt (Greek-style vanilla yogurt is recommended; I used 2% plain Greek yogurt), well-stirred

2 extra-large eggs

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

3/4 cup bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)

Optional: 1/4 cup finely chopped toasted almonds (or other nuts) to top cake; ice cream to serve

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease (or spray with cooking spray) a 6-inch springform pan or one with removable sides. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, vanilla, yogurt, and eggs until smooth.  In a larger bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together.  Add wet ingredients into the dry and stir together with a rubber spatula until almost incorporated.  Add chocolate chips and fold together until just combined (don't over-mix).  

Pour batter into the prepared cake pan, smoothing the top.  Sprinkle top with chopped nuts, if using.  Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out with some moist crumbs attached, about 26-27 minutes but check early.  You are looking for the cake to be just set and slightly under-baked so it will be fudgy.

Remove cake from the oven and let cool for about 5-10 minutes.  Run a knife around the edge of the cake and remove the sides of the pan.  Serve cake while still warm (your chocolate chips will have either sunk mostly to the bottom to create a little pool of hot fudge or be nice and melty throughout), with a scoop of ice cream, if desired.