Easy Chocolate Cake with Almonds and Cinnamon

Feed a crowd easily with this Easy Chocolate Cake studded with almonds and scented with cinnamon. It comes together quicker than a mix cake and tastes amazing!

You want to know how to be the hit of the party at your next potluck event? Take this cake. Seriously. It takes less than half an hour to make — from start to frosted. It’s full of chocolate, almond, cinnamon-y flavor. It’s smacks of fudge and decadence, but because the cake itself is pretty thin, you won’t easily overindulge.

I baked this cake for a group of moms and kids recently. It is a huge cake, filling my biggest sheet pan. I came home with an empty pan — a clean, empty pan because my friend Rachel is cool like that.

Pro tip: moms should eat their cake BEFORE they call the children inside to get theirs. Just in case you didn’t know that. Remember that! 😉

I first met this recipe when I edited a fundraising cookbook for a pregnancy help center in Santa Barbara. The recipe contributor called it 29-minute Cake. It really is fast. I haven’t actually timed myself making it, but it’s on my list of quick desserts. I mean, the cake itself bakes in 10 to 11 minutes. Brilliant.

Another bonus? You don’t have to cool the cake before you frost it. In fact, the icing is hot and you pour it onto the hot cake, spread it fast so it doesn’t clump — it cools quickly — and then walk away.

Or just dig in. It’s so good, you’ll won’t want to wait.

I’ve embellished the original recipe with almond extract and toasted, slivered almonds. I also slipped in some ground cinnamon because I love the cinnamon and chocolate combination.

How to make this good and cheap:

Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this recipe more economical:

• Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. When I find regular kitchen staples on sale, I buy a lot. I’m currently using a price book to track prices and that’s saving me money. For this recipe, keeping an eye on the price of flour and butter can help keep the price down.
• Buying in bulk – It’s rare that I would buy just one bag of flour. Instead I stock up when I see a sale. I also have gotten into the habit of buying cases of flour from Bob’s Red Mill.  I practice the same bulk buying for chocolate and other baking ingredients.

How I make this recipe easy:

This Easy Chocolate Cake recipe really couldn’t be easier than it is, but having the right kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs.

Here are the tools that I use for this recipe:

• a stainless steel saucepan – You’re going to melt a lot of butter.
• hand mixer – You’ll use this several times in the recipe.
• stainless steel mixing bowl – I’m not sure you have too many of these.
• Silicone spatula/spoon – I have two or three of these – so convenient!
• parchment paper – I hate washing pans. Parchment paper makes clean up a breeze.
• sheet pans – I LOVE my set of steel sheet pans. They make such a difference in baking.

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