Chocolate Snack Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting

I made this cake as a "birthday cake" for my father. Admittedly, I had already made him a pie, but who am I to refuse such a nice man? I found the recipe in my Betty Crocker Cookbook (Bridal Edition), which is a great cookbook for newlyweds, as a lot of the recipes are easy and don't require much knowledge or fancy ingredients. This cake drew good reviews from everyone who tried it (namely myself, my mom and dad, and Rob), and it was certainly easy enough to make. An excellent choice for a "quick" dessert recipe.

The unusual thing about this recipe is that it does not include a lot of the ingredients you think of as "staples" in cakes - notably EGGS. So if you know anyone with an egg allergy, this is a great choice!

COST: $2.30
Flour - $0.30
Sugar - $0.15
Cocoa - $0.35
Baking Soda - $0.10
Salt - $0.05
Vegetable Oil - $0.25
Vinegar - $0.10
Vanilla - $0.10
Water - FREE
Butter - $0.35
Powdered Sugar - $0.50
Milk - $0.05

INGREDIENTS:
Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon (I used 1 teaspoon) vanilla
1 cup cold water

Frosting:
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS
Cake:

Heat oven to 350F. Grease bottom and side of 8 inch square pan.

In medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In small bowl, stir oil, vinegar and vanilla until well mixed (this should be vigorous - you are mixing oil and vinegar). Vigorously stir oil mixture and water into flour mixture for 1 minute or until well-blended (small lumps are okay - do not overmix). Immediately pour into pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (mine took 38 minutes). Cool 15 minutes before frosting.

Frosting:
Melt butter (I used a microwave, a small saucepan over medium heat would also work). Add cocoa and mix in. Stir in remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour over cake, then spread with spatula if necessary.