All-in-one cake recipes

When you're in the mood for a sweet treat, sometimes the last thing you want to do is start folding, separating, creaming and who knows what else. Italian meringue? I should cocoa. Rubbing in? Rub off's what we say.

For the the baking-challenged among you (or just possessors of an impatient sweet tooth) we've put together some of the easiest, tastiest all-in-one cake recipes. Shove it all in a bowl, mix it up and hey presto! <Almost> instant calories gratification.

 The easiest chocolate cake... ever

Brought to you by the very generous Carow48, here we have the perfect embodiment of the chocolate cake. Rich, chocolatey and less than an hour away from being ready to shove in the proverbial cake-hole.

Ingredients

• 225g (8oz) self-raising flour
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 225g (8oz) soft margarine
• 225g (8oz) caster sugar
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 6 tbsp milk
• 4 tbsp boiling water

Method

1. Sieve the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a large bowl (or electric mixer bowl).
2. Add the margarine, sugar, beaten eggs and milk.
3. Start to beat (preferably with an electric mixer), until the ingredients begin to combine and then add the boiling water. Continue to beat until the mixture is well-combined and pale.
4.Turn into a large 8" cake tin, 2 x 8" sandwich tins or individual muffin moulds.
5. Bake at 160°C for about 45 minutes for a large single cake, 30 minutes for a sandwich cake or 20 minutes for individual ones. The cake will be come away slightly from the side of the tin when done. Be careful not to overcook or burn! Test with a skewer, which will come out of the cake clean when it is done.
6. Cool and finish with a filling or icing of your choice. My all time favourite for a special occasion is a chocolate ganache filling/topping with raspberries.

Quick 'n easy Madeira cake 

This recipe by Carol49cat is the epitome of the simple sponge - shove the ingredients into a bowl and roughly mix together, then blitz with an electric mixer until smooth and bake at 160°C (fan 140°C) for 75 minutes. That's cake in T-minus...

Ingredients

• 170g margarine
• 170g sugar
• 225g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 medium eggs
• 2 tbsp milk

Moist cherry cake

Ok, there is one extra step to this fruity cherry cake by glammanana, but the remainder is so easy-peasy, we couldn't resist. 

For a cake with a fruity kick, chop up a few cherries, bung the rest of the below ingredients into a bowl (yes, just the one) and blend until smooth. Bake for an hour or so, and indulge enjoy.

Ingredients

• 150g (5oz) glace cherries
• 225g (8oz) self raising flour
• 50g (2oz) ground almonds
• 1 1/2 level tsp baking powder
• 200g (7oz) softened butter
• 200g (7oz)caster sugar
• 4 large eggs

Fact: you can never have too much chocolate

Just because we love it so, here's another child's play recipe with chocolate at its heart. Stansgran doesn't hang about in the kitchen, hence her instructions: mix everything together, put in a tin, bake for 35 minutes. That's a chocolate cake recipe we can get behind...

Ingredients

• 70g (2 1/2 oz) margarine
• 85g (3oz) caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 dessert spoon golden syrup
• 115g (4oz) self raising flour
• 1 tbsp of cocoa
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda in 1/2 cup of milk
• Vanilla essence

Other things you might like:

Lucy Bee's coconut oil pudding recipes	How to decorate a cake

Images: Shutterstock