Wacky Cake

This cake recipe is one of my parlor tricks. It is so dead simple, and it just happens to be vegan! It uses very basic ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen, and you will surprise all your guests, vegan or not. I've had lots of people tell me it was the best chocolate cake they've ever had. It's moist and light. You'll love it.

I first learned about this recipe from my mother. She was hunting around in her old recipes for vegan ones and found this gem, a callback to her college years. She learned it from her mother, who learned it from her mother, all the way back. Turtles all the way down. It is believed that this cake evolved during World War II when milk and eggs were being rationed.

The quantities of ingredients listed below is for a 9" x 13" pan. You can cut everything in half for an 8" round pan.

Dry Ingredients

  • 3 Cups of Flour
  • 2 Cups of Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup of Cocoa
  • 2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
  • 1 Teaspoon of Salt

Wet Ingredients

  • 2 Tablespoon of Vinegar
  • 2/3 Cup of Vegetable Oil
  • 2 Teaspoon of Vanilla
  • 2 Cup of Cold Water

Instructions

  1. Sift all of the dry ingredients together into the pan that you will be baking the cake in.
  2. Make three wells in the sifted ingredients and then pour the vinegar, oil, and vanilla into the wells.
  3. Pour the water over the entire thing and whisk well.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes… until a toothpick comes out clean.