It’s like the universe was whispering (loudly) in my ear…. ”Make me a Wacky Cake”. I haven’t had Wacky Cake in probably 40 plus years, but now here it was in my inbox…on Pinterest and now on some of my favorite food blogs. I’m always perusing recipes on the internet and ran across a variety of cake recipes – all with different names and all with the same ingredients.
There’s always some kind of name assigned to it that gives you the heads up it’s not your normal cake recipe. Crazy Cake, Puddle Cake from Laurel Regan’s Blog (AlphabetSalad), or Depression Cake…It was even on Food52′s blog called Margaret Fox’s Amazon Chocolate Cake as part of their Genius Recipe collection. It’s an easy recipe to recognize because, as one of the names suggest, it’s from the depression era and doesn’t use any eggs, butter or any dairy. These ingredients were scarce during the depression, so somebody came up with this brilliant recipe.
I would normally think it couldn’t possibly be any good, but it really is a good cake…moist. And it has a very distinctive flavor – that’s because there’s vinegar in it.
This cake is crazy easy to make – you make it right in the pan you’re going to bake it in. So it’s dangerously easy to pop a cake in the oven if your mood dictates.
I’m not the kind of gal that can leave well enough alone, so I wanted to try a couple of substitutions and see if I couldn’t bring this cake into the new millennium. I have a new addiction to flavored olive oils and vinegars. I try to use these in anything I bake. Today I used Blood Orange Olive Oil and a Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar.
If I hadn’t just started South Beach Diet today, I’d do another tester cake using Coffee for the water and Espresso Balsamic Vinegar!
Try the recipe as is, try the substitutions I made or come up with some creative one of your own.
Wacky Cake
Print recipe
| Serves | 8-12 |
| Cook time | 35 minutes |
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup AP Flour
- 1/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (I used Vanilla Bean Paste.)
- 1 tablespoon White or Cider Vinegar (I used a Raspberry Blush Balsamic Vinegar)
- 6 tablespoons Vegetable Oil (I used Blood Orange Olive Oil! YUM!)
- 1 cup Water
Note
A Depression Era Rich, Moist Chocolate Cake requiring no eggs, or dairy. Easy Peazy to make
Directions
| Step 1 | |
| Lightly Grease 8" Cake Pan. Preheat oven to 375° F. | |
| Step 2 | |
| Place flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt directly into the baking pan, then add sugar. Mix lightly with fork or fingers and make two small holes in dry ingredients...then make one larger hole. A smiley face is perfect! Into the first small hole, add the vanilla. Into the second small hole, add the vinegar. The larger hole is for the oil. Just pour it in. | |
| Step 3 | |
| Now pour the water over the whole mess. Mix with a fork making sure you're getting into the corners. Mix until you see no more flour and the batter looks fairly well mixed. There will be lumps! | |
| Step 4 | |
| Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until top is springy. Cool the cake in the pan - cut and serve. | |
| Step 5 | |
| Keeps well at room temperature, wrapped airtight, for up to 3 days. Should be refrigerated after that. Dust with Confectioners Sugar, Frost or as I like it Unsweetened Whip Cream and Fresh Raspberries | |
