Craters of the Moon Cake

2.8/5 - (24 votes)

Volcanoes, lava, meteorites, moon mud, and tasty – this cake has it all!

This is a great cake when you’re thinking that you’d like to have a dessert, but you want it to be quick. It takes just a few minutes to put together, it’s fun, and your kids can help, too.

Last night when we’d finished dinner, we wanted just that little something for an after- dinner treat, so we immediately thought of this cake. Once you’ve made it, it’ll be your go-to cake for snacking, too. We got the original recipe from The Joy of Chocolate, by Judith Olney, and have only changed up the meteorites.

Craters of the Moon Cake

Servings: 4 to 8
Author: Shawn

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 100 grams
  • 4 Tbs cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 Tbs white vinegar
  • 1 cup milk
  • 5 Tbs melted butter
  • 2/3 cup Meteorites chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, nuts

Instructions

  • Directly into a 9- or 10-inch cake pan, measure out the flour, sugars, salt, and cocoa. Mix together thoroughly so it appears that you have a light brown moon sand.
  • Make a large crater in the center of the pan, a medium crater on one side of the big crater, and a small crater on the other side.
  • Spoon the baking soda into the medium crater. Measure the vanilla into the smallest crater. Pour the melted butter into the largest crater.
  • Pour the vinegar into the medium crater, right on top of the baking soda, so that the volcano erupts and lava flows over the surface of the moon.
  • Once the volcano subsides, pour the milk over the surface, flooding the moon.
  • Stir everything together until you have a nice batch of moon mud.
  • Now toss your chosen meteorites onto the surface of the moon.
  • Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the cake’s center comes out dry.
  • Let the moon cool in the pan, then slice and serve.

Ingredient discussion:

Nothing special here except meteorites. Fortunately, these meteorites are easy to come by: nuts, chocolate chips, etc. Anything small that would taste good with a chocolate cake is fair game. Note: we give the amount of brown sugar by weight. If you have a kitchen scale, that’s the easiest way of measuring brown sugar — no packing required.

Procedure in detail:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

flour, sugar, cocoa
Sifting together the flour and cocoa really helps if your cocoa is a bit lumpy.

Make moon sand. Directly into a 9- or 10-inch cake pan, measure out the flour, sugars, salt, and cocoa. Yep, just put them right in, no greasing needed. No other bowl needed, either. Everything is going to happen right in the cake pan. Mix together thoroughly so it appears that you have a light brown moon sand.

Moon sand with three craters all ready for fillings.
Moon sand with three craters all ready for fillings.

Make craters. Make a large crater in the center of the pan, a medium crater on one side of the big crater, and a small crater on the other side.

butter, vanilla, and baking soda
Butter lake in the big crater, baking soda flats in the medium, and vanilla pond in the small.

Add baking soda. Spoon the baking soda into the medium crater.

Add vanilla. Measure the vanilla into the smallest crater.

Add butter. Pour the melted butter into the largest crater, making a small sea of butter.

adding vinegar to make a volcano
Oh no! The volcano’s erupting! What to do, what to do?

Make volcano. Pour the vinegar into the medium crater, right on top of the baking soda, so the volcano erupts and lava flows over the surface of the moon.

add in milk
Now a milk flood. When will it stop?

Make a flood. Once the volcano subsides, pour the milk over the surface, flooding the moon.

moon mud
At least the moon mud looks calm, but what will happen next?

Make moon mud. Stir everything together until you have a nice batch of moon mud.

adding nuts and chocolate chips
Meteors! A meteor storm scattered meteorites all over the moon mud.

Create a meteor storm. Now toss your chosen meteorites onto the surface of the moon.

craters of the moon cake
After baking, we have a nice craters of the moon cake, all ready to be divided up.

Bake. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in the cake’s center comes out dry.

craters of the moon cake
Slice of the moon, I’d say it’s a little less than the first quarter.

Cool. Let the moon cool in the pan, then slice and serve.

Perhaps surprisingly, this is a really good chocolate cake. Sure, you can probably find a richer cake, but you’ll never find one that is as much fun to mix up. For that alone we give it five stars.

Worth the trouble?

11 Replies to “Craters of the Moon Cake”

  1. This will be lots of fun to make when Adam is here. He’ll get a kick out of the volcano and he can help put in the meteorites! It looks delicious!

    1. For how easy and fun this cake is to put together, it is a really tasty little cake. We have it whenever we want a dessert, but don’t want to go to much trouble. And the volcano and meteorites are a bonus.

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