Discover the easiest one-bowl chocolate cake recipe—perfect for ADHD brains! Minimal ingredients, simple steps, quick cleanup, and a dopamine-friendly whisking moment
Show me the Recipe!
If you’re anything like me, you love a good recipe (you may not make them, but you sure love to save them!) — you also love when it gets straight to the point. My ADHD brain doesn’t slow down long enough to read long stories before the ingredients (love that you made this recipe with your grandma as a child but I really just want the recipe.) Let’s just say if there’s a jump to recipe button? I’m pressing it. So, I will keep this one short and sweet (literally). This one-bowl chocolate cake is my favourite because:
1. It’s simple, uses just a handful of ingredients
2. Gives a little dopamine hit from the repetitive whisking motion (yes you can use an electric mixer but it’s boring to just stand there, and certainly doesn’t give that extra dopamine boost we crave)
3. Requires very little cleanup time and effort. (That’s a win for us! Am I right?)
It’s the kind of recipe that feels doable even on the most distracted days, and it delivers rich, comforting chocolatey goodness every single time. Now let’s get right to it.
ADHD-Friendly One-Bowl Chocolate Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla + ½ tsp of peppermint
- ¾ milk or milk alternative
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ boiling water
Cake Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly grease an 8×8 or 9×9 pan.
- In one large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the vanilla, peppermint, milk, egg, and oil directly into the bowl.
- Whisk everything together until combined. (Enjoy the dopamine-friendly whisking moment.)
- Pour in the boiling water and whisk until smooth and shiny (again yay dopamine!)
- Pour into your prepared pan.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out cleanish (may have a little goo because of the fudginess but it shouldn’t be still like batter)
- Let cool… or don’t. I’m not here to judge.
Easy Peasy Ganache Instructions
(make sure the cake is cooled or room temp before adding ganache on top)
- One bag of chocolate chips (I like dark but you pick your favorite!)
- ¾ Heavy cream
- Pour both into a microwave safe bowl
- Microwave at 30 sec intervals, stirring between each one. Until chocolate chips are melted and everything is stirring beautifully smooth
- Be careful not to over do it and burnt the chocolate. I typically microwave until the chocolate chips are 90% melted and the milk is hot and then I stir for a minute or so until the chips are melted fully by the hot milk instead of microwaving again.
- Let it sit for a minute or so, so it’s not super hot and runny but it’s still smooth to pour
- Start slowly pouring in the center of the cake, once you have a puddle use a spatula to spread it carefully to the edges and let it drip down the side naturally
- Decorate if you like!
- You may not need to use all the ganache – save the rest as an amazing chocolate fudge for ice cream!
- Pop in the fridge for a little while to firm up the ganache.
- Done! Enjoy!
Here’s a one page PDF of the recipe, easy to print and put on the fridge so you’ll be reminded to make it!😊 (Because I know you just created screenshots of this recipe and I also know they will get lost in the abyss of screenshots you’ll collect tomorrow, I have lost many recipes this way!) Printing it and posting it helps to make it!
My hope is to post more quick and easy one dish recipes that are perfect for ADHD minds, so be sure to check back! Or subscribe and I’ll let you know when it’s posted!
The Wild Inside Her 
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