[donotprint] This recipe has been around longer than I have. Chances are your granny or great granny may have made this in the Depression era. Some may know it as “Wacky cake” or “Depression Cake”. During the Great Depression, someone figured out how to make a moist, delicious cake without eggs, milk, or butter because these ingredients were expensive and hard to get. I call this a timeless generational recipe – passed down from generation to generation.
Since then, this cake has become quite popular for people who are vegan or allergic to dairy… like my daughter, Abigail. She is allergic to dairy and like her mama, she loves her cake but can’t always eat it. This cake taste remarkably good with great flavor and texture – very similar to chocolate cakes made with boxed cake mix.People are always surprised to discover there is no dairy when I tell them. Top off with your favorite chocolate frosting or a dusting of powered sugar and you’re good to go! Enjoy! [/donotprint]
Chocolate Wacky Depression Cake
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa powder
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 cup water
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together by hand. Add all the wet ingredients until well combined. Pour into a 8×8 pan which has been prepared with non stick spray.
Bake for 30 until done. Allow to completely cool before serving. Cake is even better if eaten the next day. Enjoy!
SAVORY SWEET LIFE Book Trailer
|
{ 61 comments… read them below or add one }
Next Comments →
I just love your site! The cake looks wonderful! Great photos too! Happy New Year to you!
Alice this looks delicious! Seems like such a no fuss cake too. May have to give this a try sometime.
OH my – this looks amazing!! I wish I could taste it thru the screen!
I just discovered your blog, and everything you post looks so delicious! This cake especially so, I may have to try it sometime!
I need this cake! I want this cake!
We call this a “Screwy Louie Cake” in my family… and I agree, it’s wonderful! It’s my go-to chocolate cake recipe and I wish I had a piece now! Mmmmm…
Beautiful as ever Alice! Love it! Happy New Year!
Thanks Alice! I lost this recipe a while back and have been wanting to make it again. This is terrific!
We used to melt chocolate chcips on it the last 5 minutes or so and spread them around as “frosting” and it was the best!
Happiest of New Years to you and your family
I used to make a cake just like this on a very regular basis! It looks great, and its always nice when everyone can eat the treats =D.
Yum…my aunts who make this cakem call it a Wowiw cake!
I have heard of this cake (or a similar one), but have never tried it. It looks fabulous!
Isn’t wacky cake awesome?! I tried it for the first time in September and made them into cupcakes. I found wacky cake to lack a bit of sweetness (for me anyway!), so I added a bit of simple syrup to the cupcakes for some sweetness (it made it a little moist too!) and piped on some cream cheese frosting, which complimented the cake beautifully. Yours looks gorgeous and I have yet to try it with some powdered sugar on top.
Love the photos for this post, Alice! And Finally! I felt like we were the only family in the nation to have some blue pyrex. Good to see you have some too!
Those pictures are SO CUTE. I love this wacky cake. I wanna try it :O
Alice – always had this cake growing up, but called it a goofy cake. We always assumed the name was because we mixed it in the pan we cooked it in, great to hear more of the history behind it! It’s equally great without any frosting, super moist, and my dad always had it with milk poured over it!
this is the perfect recipe for times like…um…now? When it is too cold/windy/snowy to get what I have run out of!
PS…..I see a big old baby bump! too cute = )
No milk ,eggs or butter!!! It sure sounds depressing!. But t looks so rich and moist! Amazing clicks!. Loves the firs one. Bookmarked it !
This looks great however there is not amount given for the cocoa.
OOOPS!
Hi Carole,
I just checked and the amount is listed there. It’s 1/4 cup cocoa powder. For a minute you had me worried!
I’m sure it must be so yummy!!!
Thanks for the recipe!
Love
Yolanda
My Grandmother made this cake. She mixed it up in the baking pan by mixing all the dry ingredients with a fork then making “wells” for the liquid ingredients and mixing them all together. She topped it before baking with a cinnamon/sugar mix which she liberally sprinkled on the top. When it came out of the oven the sugar had crystalized into a crunchy surface. I can still taste it. Sometimes she used leftover coffee for the water.
My mother used to make this all the time when I was little – we loved making it with her. I didn’t realize until a couple years ago that it was vegan and it has since been my go-to dessert for mixed-diet parties.
Just found your site–where have you been all my life?
Excited to add you to my favorites and I will be trying your top 10 recipes. Best of luck to you this new year!!
Wow… this looks great! I’m excited to make this and take it to work for my vegan co-worker. She’s forever trying new recipes and bringing me different variations of recipes. Finally I can reciprocate! Thanks!
This look delicious! I think this is definitely in keeping with the current times. Thanks for sharing.
I made a version of this cake before, a yellow cake. I think yours turned out better.
I can almost taste this… now excuse me while I go find the ingredients so I actually can.
I just found your site a couple of weeks ago when googling apple cranberry recipes. I made your apple cranberry crisp recipe to bring to Christmas dinner and it was a hit. Thanks for sharing – I’m enjoying looking back at your older entries.
That is so cool! I really want to try this out.
Thanks for this delicious cake recipe. I can’t weight more to taste it, so I would like to make this cake today. So glad to have found this recipe.
We call it wacky cake in my family!!
My stepmom makes an amazing German Chocolate Cake with it. YUM!!
Thanks for the refresher.
N
This looks delicious! Great photo as well.
Thanks so much for this recipe! It was so easy to make and super tasty. I featured it on my blog and am attaching the link in case you want to check it out! http://www.cestlavegan.com/?p=2700
Such a simple recipe! Thanks for sharing. Btw, what’s the significance of the white vinegar?
My Mom started making this cake in the early 1950′s and we enjoyed it on Sunday picnic up the river…..Whenever I want a quick Choclate cake, I always make this one !! We used to put a great rocky rogue frosting on it also. It really is a GREAT cake
First time I hear about this cake but let me tell you it looks moist and delicious.
We love this cake! My daughter is allergic to eggs and we have made it for the last 4 years! I throw in mini chocolate chips and top it with homemade chocolate frosting. All our friends love it and cannot believe it doesn’t have eggs! If only I could find a yellow or white cake with no eggs….. help!
This is PERFECT for a friend of mine who can’t eat dairy but LOVES chocolate. I want to make this for her as a surprise – do you have any suggestions for dairy-free chocolate icings?
This cake is the best! I make it often now being able to enjoy cake without cholesterol and high fat.
Today I am trying it with 1 cup of coffee instead of water and I did add a little chocolate extract.
This is a cake that gets better the next day if it doesn’t get eaten up.
Thanks for the sharing the post.
Has anyone ever used this recipe for cupcakes?
Alice,
My daughter is allergic to eggs and I was wondering if you have ever made this cake into cupcakes?
Thanks!
I made this cake yesterday and I put in everything, but the salt. But when the cake came out and my boyfriend tried it he said it was lacking the chocolate taste ):
Hi Emily,
You cake taste similar to boxed devil foods cake but you can always add a little more sugar and cocoa powder.
I made this cake yesterday and I put in everything, but the salt. But when the cake came out and my boyfriend tried it he said it was lacking the chocolate taste ):
Yo! I just made this cake. Literally took me 5 minutes to prepare everything! I used white whole wheat flour, and applesauce in the oil’s stead. I also tried putting in some vanilla extract (1/2 tsp.) It wasn’t as chocolately as my sibling and parents hoped for, so I iced three fourths of it with chocolate icing and left the rest plain. What’s more depressing than plain, almost-healthy Depression cake?
I got this recipe from my grandmother over 40 years ago, and have been making it since I was a teenager. I’m now in my fifties and make this cake all the time. My 23 year old son loves it and tells everyone how good it is. No other cake I make goes over as well as this. I double this recipe and use a bundt pan when I want a bigger cake, and usually make homemade frosting. Everyone loves it.
This was our go-to chocolate cake when the kids were growing up. So much so that I used to have the recipe memorized. Had to look it up on the internet to make it for my grandson’s birthday as the kids are grown and gone. All will be thrilled to have a Wacky Cake again! We double the recipe and bake it in a 9X13 pan frosted with a pkg of chocolate chips melted into a tub of chocolate frosting….peanut butter fudge….mmmmm
I just tried this recipe but added 2 teaspoons of vanilla instead of cocoa to make a white cake and it was great! My son and mother in law loved it. I can’t wait to make it in chocolate! Great recipe and is going in my family book.
Is there a yellow cake version of this recipe? My boyfriend dared me to find one and I’m still on the lookout. We simply adore your chocolate cake recipe!
We call this Crazy Chocolate cake, and mix it in the pan with a fork – ice with 7-Minute frosting – yum!
This is my family’s go-to chocolate cake. I’ve been making it for 40 years! So fast and easy and I always have the ingredients. Mine is slightly different in that it adds 2 tsp vanilla. I also have a spice version. Omit the cocoa powder and add: 1 tsp ground cloves, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, and 2 tsp ground nutmeg. Add 1 Cup raisins or nuts if you like those. It’s great warm with applesauce or frosted with vanilla or cream cheese frosting. And you can play around with the spices depending on what you like.
I love this cake and have made it many times since reading this post
I hope you don’t mind that I posted my adapted version and linked to this post.
Thank you again for reminding me of this classic!
~Heather
Wacky cake! The first thing I ever baked! Goes great with goofy frosting!
Next Comments →
{ 5 trackbacks }