Wacky cake deserves a permanent home in your recipe box. It’s “wacky” because unlike traditional cakes, it’s made without eggs, milk or butter. Whip one up anytime you want a quick dessert or after-school snack. How you top your wacky cake is up to you: it’s lovely with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar or swirls of homemade frosting.
What is wacky cake?
This soft, moist and chocolaty recipe has been around since the 1930s, and was still popular a decade later, when food staples like butter and dairy were rationed during World War II. (It has other names too, like crazy cake and depression cake.) It’s also a lot faster to make than regular cakes, with only 10 minutes to mix it all up. It’s so easy that grandmothers used to bake wacky cake for their husbands almost every night!
Wacky Cake Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Baking cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Vegetable oil
- White vinegar
- Vanilla extract
- Cold water
- Confectioners’ sugar
Directions
Step 1: Combine the dry ingredients
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick spray. Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
Step 2: Mix in the liquids
Make three wells in the dry ingredients. Pour the oil into one well, vinegar in the next one and the vanilla into the last well. Slowly pour the cold water over the whole thing. Whisk everything together (or use a hand mixer) until everything is combined into a smooth, thin batter.
Step 3: Bake the cake
Pour the cake batter into the greased pan and spread it to an even layer. Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire cooling rack. When it’s completely cool, dust the top generously with confectioners’ sugar.
Cover any leftover Wacky Cake with plastic wrap or Bee’s Wrap and store in the fridge for up to three days. By the way, it tastes good when cold, too!
Wacky Cake Tips
How do you make vanilla wacky cake?
To make a vanilla version of this easy cake, omit the cocoa powder and increase the vanilla extract to 1-1/2 teaspoons. (Here are some good vanilla substitutes in case you run out.)
Can you add mix-ins to wacky cake?
Stir in 1/2 to 2/3 cup of extras like chocolate chunks, white chocolate chips, chopped nuts or sprinkles into the batter right before baking. You can also give extra depth with coffee. Simply replace some of the cold water in the recipe with strong coffee that’s cooled.
How do you serve wacky cake with frosting?
A dusting of confectioners’ sugar works beautifully on this cake, but you can also ice it with your favorite frosting. The sky’s the limit here: use a brown sugar-coconut frosting and a sprinkle of chopped pecans to make an easy German chocolate cake. The flavor of strawberry cream cheese frosting pairs so delectably with the rich chocolate in the cake. And you can always double the chocolate indulgence by spreading on some chocolate buttercream.
When fresh berries are available, spoon them over a slice of Wacky Cake topped with fresh whipped cream. Or, serve slices with scoops of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of hot fudge for wacky cake a la mode.
