This Isn't a Brownie, But a Cake?

Saw an episode on t.v. featuring Barefoot Contessa.  I have never heard of her before, but liked her simple style.  In the episode, she was making her Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes with chocolate syrup in it!  The recipe I found was for an 8" round cake pan.  I wasn't sure it would work to feed my family of 6!  So, I went recipe hunting for one that was similar, but would work in a 9x13 pan.  This recipe is modified from GroupRecipes.com.  

I knew it would be moist, like a brownie, because of the oil in the recipe.  I wonder what kind of outcome you would have if you used something like applesauce in place of the oil.  It also seemed weird that only 1 cup of flour was needed in this recipe.  I've made flour-less cakes before and was not pleased with all the expense and labor to make it; I thought most cakes had more flour in them.

Normally, I would add chocolate chips to my chocolate cakes, but this is so amazingly rich and moist, that there is NO need.  It also is very good, that it doesn't need to be frosted with icing, in my opinion.

Most of my kids prefer to have a chocolate cake over another flavor.   Chocolate cakes have normally not been my favorites, as they are "dry" in taste.  But, I thought I would give this a trial run to see how it would work as a birthday cake.  Unfortunately, his birthday is not tomorrow.  So, we must wait with anticipation to make this amazing rich and moist brownie  cake again.  However, we probably will frost this cake for Birthday Boy!

*If any of my friends have heard of this Chocolate Syrup Cake before and not told me about it, shame on you!

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup oil

4 beaten eggs

16 oz chocolate syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour 

1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, mix well the sugar and oil.  Add the beaten eggs to the mix.  Make sure the sugar gets dissolved in the batter.  Set aside and make the chocolate syrup or use the pre-made kind.  Stir in the chocolate syrup and vanilla into the batter.  Add the flour and baking powder and mix well.

Line your 9x13 pan with parchment paper for easy cleanup.  Bake for about 35-40 minutes.