I had a box of Bisquick in my pantry with only a little bit of mix left in it. It was silently screaming “Make something! MAKE something!” I was going to make a fudge-cake-bar thing (so I could use it all up) but when I started gathering all my ingredients, I realized I was missing the most important item that helps makes fudgey things fudgey: dutch process cocoa. There was also no way in hell I was gonna drive to the grocery store in order to buy some damn cocoa just for this thing, a thing that probably costs like 2 cents/piece to make. Hell no. So this happened:

The recipe just kept evolving and eventually, it turned into these little cake bites that are best consumed warm. These chocolate coffee cake things are pretty much unfrosted lil’ baby cakelets with gooey bits of chocolate in it. I was going to call them bars because they look like bars however, the word “bar” makes me think of chewy brownies and blondies – these little dudes are soft like cake.

I had thought about finishing it with frosting (canned of course, because I’m out of cocoa and I do have a container that was probably from a work giveaway)…but I don’t like super sweet desserts so I chose not to fancify them with frosting, caramel, or chocolate drizzle. (But you can if you want.)

Because it’s the complete opposite of fancy in every way possible, this is something you do not want to bring to someone’s house*. It’s the kind of thing that you pick at for 2 to 3 days by yourself. With some ice cream. In the middle of the night. Or maybe you’re too busy binge-watching Netflix so you haven’t left your apartment AND it’s been almost a week since you’ve washed your hair. This will definitely happen when OITNB starts because there’s coffee in this thing and I’ll probably be watching it right when it comes out on Netflix at like 2am Central Time.

I did use Bisquick in this recipe but there are a few DIY Bisquick recipes out there for you to try if you’re into that. I haven’t tried any of them so I can’t confidently comment on how well they work with this cake thing.

For 16-ish cakelets:

• 1 ½ c. Original Bisquick mix
  
• 1 c. light brown sugar (Remember to pack it in when you measure brown sugar!)
  
• ½ c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
  
• ½ c. brewed coffee, room temperature
  
• 2 tbsp. butter, softened
  
• ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 egg

Heat oven to 350F. Grease bottom and sides of 9"x9" baking pan with vegetable oil or cooking spray; lightly flour the pan. In medium bowl, stir all ingredients until well combined. [Yes, you read that correctly. Just dump it all into one bowl and then mix.]

Spread batter in pan. Bake 20 to 22 minutes. Let it cool to warm before gobbling.

I guess if you wanted to make it presentable and gift-able, you could probably turn this thing into a coffee cake though by putting the batter in a loaf pan…maybe finish it with a cinnamon-sugar crumble on top…You could probably double the recipe for a sweet two-layer 8" cake too.

A few recipes for lazy people:

• Garlic Pull-Apart
• Vegan Chickpea Curry
• Grand Marnier Layer Cake
• Pizza Rolls
  

*You should totally share this with a friend – a really close friend though, one who has seen you ugly-cry.

Disclaimer: My employer owns bisquick products. This recipe also has not been retested because of the whole “I only have a little bit of mix left” situation.

Read the original on: Frites & Fries