In this article
My grandmother made a chocolate cake with no eggs, no milk and no butter, mixed with a fork in the pan it baked in, and it was the best chocolate cake on our road. Some people called it Depression cake, some called it crazy cake, and in our family it was wacky cake, because of the way it was made.
It was invented in the years when eggs and butter went to somebody with more money. Cocoa, flour, sugar and oil were in the pantry, and a cook who understood how a cake worked put them together without the things she did not have. The vinegar and the baking soda do the job the eggs would have done. They fizz, and that fizz is what lifts the cake. That is why the holes: the vinegar is not supposed to meet the soda until the water goes in and everything happens at once.
Eighty years later it is still one of the most useful cakes a family can know. It is made in ten minutes with what is already in the house, it is safe for anybody who cannot have eggs or dairy, it comes out dark, moist and tender, and it is better on the second day.
Why this wacky cake works
- Vinegar and baking soda. The acid and the soda react the moment the water joins them and fill the batter with bubbles. That is all the lift this cake needs, and it is why there are no eggs.
- Oil instead of butter. Oil stays soft at room temperature, so the cake stays moist for days and never turns hard in the pan.
- The three holes. They keep the vinegar, the vanilla and the oil apart from the soda until the water goes over. Mixed too early, the fizz is spent before the cake reaches the oven.
- Mixed in an ungreased pan. The cake is served from the pan, so there is nothing to turn out, nothing to stick, and one fork to wash.
Ingredients
Makes one 8 or 9 inch square cake, 9 generous squares. The measurements are in US cups with grams in brackets.
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (190g)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (25g)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil (75ml)
- 1 cup cold water (240ml)
- Powdered sugar for the top, optional
Plain white vinegar is the classic; apple cider vinegar works too. Use natural cocoa, not Dutch-process, because the recipe counts on the cocoa’s own acidity to help the soda. Check the date on the baking soda: an old box makes a flat cake.
How to make wacky cake
- Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Take out an 8 inch or 9 inch square baking pan. Do not grease it and do not line it. The cake bakes and is served in the same pan.
- Put the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt straight into the pan. Stir them together with a fork until the color is even, with no pale streaks of flour or dark lumps of cocoa. Smooth the top.
- Make three holes in the dry mix with your finger or the back of a spoon: two small ones and one big one. Pour the vinegar into one small hole, the vanilla into the other small hole, and the oil into the big one.
- Pour the cup of cold water over everything. The vinegar will start to fizz where it meets the soda. Do not wait.
- Stir with the fork, going right into the corners and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the batter is smooth and no dry flour is left, about a minute. The batter will be thin and a little bubbly. Scrape the corners once more, because that is where dry flour hides.
- Bake at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes. An 8 inch pan takes the longer time, a 9 inch the shorter. The cake is done when the top springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick pushed into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for at least 30 minutes. Dust the top with powdered sugar, or frost it once it is completely cool, and cut it into 9 squares right in the pan.
Tips that make the difference
- Stir the dry ingredients thoroughly before the holes. A pocket of soda that never met the vinegar leaves a bitter brown spot.
- Once the water goes in, work quickly and get the pan into the oven. The fizz is the leavening and it does not wait for you.
- Scrape the corners. A fork in a square pan misses them, and a dry corner bakes into a dusty lump.
- Do not overbake. This cake has no eggs or butter to make it forgiving, and five extra minutes turns moist into dry.
Variations
- Doubled in a 9 by 13 inch pan. Double everything, mix it in the big pan the same way, and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. This is the potluck size.
- Simple chocolate frosting. Melt 3 tablespoons butter (42g) with 3 tablespoons cocoa and 3 tablespoons milk, then beat in 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (180g) and spread it over the cooled cake. For a dairy free cake, use oil and hot water instead.
- Coffee wacky cake. Use cold brewed coffee in place of the water. It deepens the chocolate without tasting of coffee.
- Spice wacky cake. Leave out the cocoa, add 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon each of nutmeg and cloves, and raise the flour to 1 3/4 cups (220g). This was the other Depression cake.
Storage and make-ahead
Cover the pan with foil or a lid and leave it on the counter. The cake keeps for 4 days and is better on day two, when the crumb has settled and the chocolate has deepened.
Squares freeze well for up to 3 months, wrapped individually. Thaw them on the counter for an hour.
Do not refrigerate an unfrosted wacky cake. The cold dries it out faster than the counter does.
Frequently asked questions
Does wacky cake really have no eggs, milk or butter?
Really none. The vinegar and baking soda react to lift the cake, the oil keeps it moist, and the water and cocoa do the rest. It is naturally free of eggs and dairy, which is one reason it never disappeared.
Why do I have to make the three holes?
So the vinegar does not touch the baking soda until the water goes in and you are ready to stir. The reaction starts the moment they meet, and you want that fizz in the oven, not on the counter. It is also how children were taught the cake, and nobody ever forgot it.
Can I taste the vinegar?
No. One tablespoon in a whole cake is neutralized by the soda and vanishes in the oven. The cake tastes of chocolate and nothing else.
Can I mix it in a bowl instead?
Yes. Whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl, add the wet ones and the water, stir until smooth and pour into an ungreased 8 or 9 inch pan. You lose the fun and gain a bowl to wash.
Five dry things in an ungreased pan, three holes, a cup of cold water and a fork. Bake it once and you will understand why nobody who grew up with it ever bothered with another chocolate cake.
Wacky Cake (No Eggs, No Milk, No Butter, Three Holes)
The Depression era chocolate wacky cake, mixed with a fork in the ungreased pan it bakes in: flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt, three wells for the vinegar, the vanilla and the oil, and a cup of cold water over everything. 350°F, one 8 or 9 inch square pan.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup cold water
- Powdered sugar for the top, optional
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Take out an 8 inch or 9 inch square baking pan. Do not grease it and do not line it. The cake bakes and is served in the same pan.
- Put the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt straight into the pan. Stir them together with a fork until the color is even, with no pale streaks of flour or dark lumps of cocoa. Smooth the top.
- Make three holes in the dry mix with your finger or the back of a spoon: two small ones and one big one. Pour the vinegar into one small hole, the vanilla into the other small hole, and the oil into the big one.
- Pour the cup of cold water over everything. The vinegar will start to fizz where it meets the soda. Do not wait.
- Stir with the fork, going right into the corners and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the batter is smooth and no dry flour is left, about a minute. The batter will be thin and a little bubbly. Scrape the corners once more, because that is where dry flour hides.
- Bake at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes. An 8 inch pan takes the longer time, a 9 inch the shorter. The cake is done when the top springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick pushed into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for at least 30 minutes. Dust the top with powdered sugar, or frost it once it is completely cool, and cut it into 9 squares right in the pan.
