Chocolate Crater Cake

This recipe is from this awesome Retro Desserts book my mother gave me a few years ago. According to the recipe, it is a lower fat option. I made some of recipes from the book a few years ago and have many more marked for later use. In the book, it's called Crazy Craters of the Moon Cake with Moonrock Topping, but I usually just call it Crater Cake. I followed the original recipe (included at the bottom of my post) but wanted something more, so I decided to use some of the Hershey kisses left over from my holiday baking as topping to add some extra sweetness. I also opted to use butter instead of vegetable oil. I know nuts would also be a great addition to this, too. The best part about it is that all the ingredients mix together in 1 pan! I think this one would be fun to do with kids!

I added all the ingredients to the cake pan and mixed everything well.  The batter was the consistency of mud.

Halfway through baking, I pressed some Hershey kisses into the top and added the marshmallows.

I returned the cake to the oven for a few more minutes and the finished product looked delicious!

The Hershey kisses turned out to be a worthy addition; they sunk in as the cake rose and gave some extra moist chocolate chunks throughout the cake.  Easy, amazing, and you can't beat a cake recipe that doesn't even make you dirty up a mixing bowl!

Chocolate Crater Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1/2 cup miniature marshmallows

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a cake pan. Dig 1 large crater and 2 smaller ones in the mixture. Pour butter in the large crater, vanilla in one small crater, and vinegar in the remaining small crater. The vinegar will bubble. Pour milk over everything and mix to a muddy consistency. Bake for 15 minutes then add 12-15 Hershey kisses upside down and press slightly into cake. Sprinkle marshmallows on top and bake 15-20 more minutes until center is finished cooking.

Original recipe from Retro Desserts book