Chocolate Wacky Cake ~ no mixing bowl, no eggs & no dairy

April 30, 2020
What is Chocolate Wacky Cake? -- It's a no mixing bowl, no dairy, no egg cake recipe created during wartime rationing.  In a time when availability of ingredients was limited, creative home cooks came up with this "wacky" method to deliver up a moist and delicious chocolate cake despite their ingredient limitations.  And while popular in its day, this tasty Wacky Cake remains popular today, too!
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Slice of Chocolate Wacky Cake Topped with Whipped Cream Image

Can you make a tasty, moist, and tender chocolate cake from scratch with no dairy, no eggs -- and no mixing bowl?  You sure can!  And it's called Wacky Cake.

You may be skeptical that a cake made this way actually works. -- But it does.  This Chocolate Wacky Cake recipe was created back in wartime when some grocery items were scarce or rationed.  But inventive home cooks still found ways to make up and bake up tasty treats.

Like this no dairy, no egg chocolate cake.

Can you make a tasty, moist, and tender chocolate cake from scratch with no dairy, no eggs -- and no mixing bowl?  You sure can!  And it's called Wacky Cake.

But why is this cake also made without a mixing bowl, you ask?

It has nothing to do with saving dishes, but rather has to do with the method used to get this cake to rise.  Since there are no eggs to give the cake structure and leavening as it bakes, Wacky Cake relies on the last-minute combining of vinegar and baking soda for its rise.  

Once the two are combined, the vinegar and baking soda begin to bubble and create air that makes the cake rise. -- And the cake batter needs to get in the oven immediately to begin baking once this process begins.  Which is exactly why the batter is mixed in the baking pan itself rather than in a mixing bowl.  

No time to waste to get that batter from the bowl to the baking pan!

Relying on this vinegar/baking soda reaction, Wacky Cake then bakes up into a tender, airy, somewhat "loose" chocolatey crumb.

Bite of Chocolate Wacky Cake Image

To get the best rise out of the batter's last-minute baking soda/vinegar reaction, it's important to mix the cake's ingredients right in the baking pan.  That way, the batter can get in the oven immediately upon being mixed rather than having to be scraped out of a mixing bowl into the pan.


Since there are no eggs to give the cake structure and leavening as it bakes, Wacky Cake relies on the last-minute combining of vinegar and baking soda for its rise. 

First, prepare the dry ingredients in the baking pan, whisking together some flour, sugar, baking cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

Then use "the crater" method to add in the wet ingredients.

Using a spoon, make 1 large crater and 2 small craters in the dry ingredients.  The large crater needs to be big enough to hold 6 tablespoons of canola (or vegetable) oil.

Wacky Cake Dry Ingredients Image

Add the recipe's oil to the large crater. Add the vanilla extract to one of the small craters, and vinegar to the other.

You'll notice the vinegar starts to bubble and foam up right away.

How to Make Wacky Cake Craters to Mix Ingredients Image

Then pour water into the pan.  

I avoid pouring water into the vinegar's crater so the vinegar will stay put and away from the other ingredients as long as possible.  As soon as the vinegar and baking soda interact, they'll start to bubble and create the air needed for the cake to rise.  And you want this bubbling to happen as close as possible to when the batter goes in the oven.

Use a spatula or wooden spoon to quickly mix the ingredients together into a batter, taking care to not overmix.  It's fine for the batter to still have a few streaks of flour visible.

How to Make Wacky Cake Image

Quickly pop the pan in the oven and bake up the cake.

It'll take about 35-40 minutes, or bake it until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs.  

Unlike other cakes, you don't want to bake Wacky Cake until a wooden pick comes out completely clean when inserted in the center of the cake.  You want just a few moist crumbs on the pick -- not wet batter, but a few crumbs.  If you over bake Wacky Cake, it'll be dry. 

Chocolate Wacky Cake Image

A word of caution on baking Wacky Cake -- This cake will fall if it's messed with while baking.  Those air bubbles giving the cake its rise are more fragile than the structure and leavening provided by the eggs in other cake batters. 

Keep the oven door closed until close to the very end of baking time, and don't test the cake with a wooden pick if you can visibly tell it's not cooked or is wobbly in the center.  

Testing with a wooden pick too early lets out air collecting inside the cake batter as it rises and bakes, and will deflate the center of the cake.

Slice of Wacky Cake with Whipped Cream Image

Once baked, cool the cake completely in the pan.  Then serve it up simply dusted with confectioners' sugar, with a dollop of whipped cream, or frosted with you favorite frosting.  We like it best with just a simple dollop of freshly whipped cream.

Oh, and we think Wacky Cake tastes best the day after it's baked and has had time to allow the flavors to meld.  The chocolate flavor is much richer the second day.

So, can you make a tasty, moist, and tender chocolate cake from scratch with no dairy, no eggs -- and no mixing bowl?  Absolutely you can!  Just look to this no mixing bowl, no dairy, no egg Chocolate Wacky Cake recipe as proof.

Made popular in its day of wartime rationing, this tasty Wacky Cake remains popular today, too.

Piece of Chocolate Wacky Cake Image
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wacky cake recipe, depression era wacky cake recipe, wartime wacky cake recipe, no egg cake recipe, no dairy cake recipe
Cakes
American
Yield: about 9 servings

Chocolate Wacky Cake

Chocolate Wacky Cake

What is Chocolate Wacky Cake? -- It's a no mixing bowl, no dairy, no egg cake recipe created during wartime rationing. In a time when availability of ingredients was limited, creative home cooks came up with this "wacky" method to deliver up a moist and delicious chocolate cake despite their ingredient limitations. And while popular in its day, this tasty wacky cake remains popular today, too!
Prep time: 10 MCook time: 40 MTotal time: 50 M

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 c. granulated sugar
  • 1/4 c. baking cocoa
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 6 T. canola or vegetable oil
  • 1 T. white vinegar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 c. water

Instructions:

How to make Chocolate Wacky Cake

  1. Spray an 8x8-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. In the baking pan, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
  3. Use a spoon to make 1 large crater and 2 small craters in the dry ingredients.
  4. Add oil to the large crater. Add vanilla extract to one of the small craters, and vinegar to the other small crater.
  5. Pour water into the pan. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to quickly mix ingredients together into a batter, taking care to not overmix -- batter should still have a few streaks of flour.
  6. Immediately put pan into preheated 350℉ oven.
  7. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
  8. Cool in pan.
  9. Serve dusted with confectioners' sugar, with a dollop of whipped cream, or frosted with you favorite frosting.
TRACEY'S NOTES:
  1. Wacky Cake relies on the last-minute combining of vinegar and baking soda for its rise.  Once the two are combined, they begin to bubble and create air that makes the cake rise. The cake needs to get in the oven immediately to begin baking once this process begins, which is why the batter is mixed in the baking pan itself rather than in a mixing bowl. 
  2. This cake will fall if it's messed with while baking. -- Keep the oven door closed until close to the end of baking time, and don't test the cake with a wooden pick if you can visibly tell it's not cooked or wobbly in the center.  Testing with a wooden pick too early lets out air collecting inside the cake batter as it rises and bakes, and will deflate the center of the cake.
  3. Store the cake covered at room temperature for up to 3 days.   Unless of course, you frost the cake with a dairy-based frosting -- then store the frosted cake in the refrigerator.
  4. Personally, we think Wacky Cake tastes best the day after it's baked and has had time to allow the flavors to meld.  The chocolate flavor is much richer the second day.
Created using The Recipes Generator


You might also like these other tasty cakes:


Tres Leches Cake


Hummingbird Sheet Cake


Banana Pudding Cake


Hawaiian Dream Cake


Classic Pound Cake



Chocolate Wacky Cake ~ Moist, tender & delicious chocolate cake with no mixing bowl, no eggs & no dairy. Vintage recipe that's still popular today, too!  www.thekitchenismyplayground.com
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7 comments

  1. Oh, my! I have been looking for this recipe. My mom found this recipe years ago in a Heloise Helpful Hints Cookbook. It was the 1st from scratch cake I even baked. Thank you so much for publishing it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks really moist! Thanks for sharing at the What's for Dinner party - have an awesome week!

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  3. I have always wanted to make one of these! It looks delicious.

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  4. Wow, this is amazing a cake without egg. Pinning!
    Have a great week,
    Kippi

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  5. Nothing better than a Wacky Cake, it looks so good! Hope you are having a great week and thanks so much for sharing your awesome post with us at Full Plate Thursday,483.
    Come back soon!
    Miz Helen

    ReplyDelete
  6. This sounds so interesting. I think I need to try this with my son - he's just done a volcano making experiment, so this can be an alternative way of looking at vinegar and bicarb of soda!

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  7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

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