WACKY CAKE – Old Fashioned Recipe
Wacky cake is sometimes called Depression Cake or Crazy Cake because of when it originated and the ingredients in the cake.
Wacky cake has no eggs, butter or milk in the cake and it still comes out as a great chocolate cake. It does not seem possible that this cake is so good without those items. It seems to have originated sometime during the great depression when ingredients were so hard to obtain. I make this cake in a 9 x 9 cake pan but you can double it if you want a bigger cake. It keeps well in a cool spot. I love that you don’t have to add eggs and it is so easy to make. You might also like to check out our recipe for Old Fashioned Do Nothing Cake.
Wacky cake will quickly become a favorite cake!
Cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup 100% pure cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cold brewed coffee
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the coffee, water, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and white vinegar and stir well with a spoon. Spray a 9 x 9 baking dish with cooking spray and spread batter in dish. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven 25 to 30 minutes until the center tests done. Let cool and add frosting below. Makes about 9 large servings.
Frosting:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup 100% pure cocoa
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 tablespoons water
Beat ingredients with a mixer until of spreading consistency. Spread over cooled cake. 
Wacky Cake
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup 100% pure cocoa
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cold brewed coffee
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup 100% pure cocoa
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 to 4 tablespoons water
Instructions
Cake Instructions:
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the coffee, water, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and white vinegar and stir well with a spoon.
- Spray a 9 x 9 baking dish with cooking spray and spread batter in dish. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven 25 to 30 minutes until the center tests done. Let cool and add frosting below. Makes about 9 large servings.
Frosting Instructions:
- Beat ingredients with a mixer until of spreading consistency. Spread over cooled cake.
Don’t forget to pin wacky cake. 
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The cake was very good. I love all of your recipes! Your site is the first place I look for a new recipe. The second time I made it I substituted milk for the water and made a chocolate upside down cake. I melted 1/4 cup of butter in the pan, added 1/8 cup of water. Sprinkled 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup pecans, and 1/2 cup coconut. Mix cake as you directed and pour batter over mixture in pan. After baking let stand 5 minutes for topping to begin to set; then turn upside down. I loved the fact of not using any eggs.
We are thrilled you love our recipes. Thank you so much for the kind words. I am definitely going to try your version!
The cake was delicious but the frosting was bitter. I added a little bit of salt but didn’t really help. I went by the recipe and I used 1/2 c. Hershey’s Cocoa , but seems that is a lot for the small amount of frosting it makes , so if I make it again , I’ll try just 1/4 cup of cocoa in the frosting. But thanks, I really enjoy getting your recipes.
Don’t come at me, but I simply CAN NOT do coffee of ANY amount. I can not handle the smell or taste – and yes, I will taste it even at one tablespoon. Is there an acceptable substitution? Thank you.
I have only made the recipe the way it is written. I would suggest just leaving it out and see if works.
I would like your magazine. Wish it was on store shelves.
This is a digital publication, you are welcome to purchase it at any time. We have had nothing but positive responses from our magazine. This is a $4.99 product, with no ads.. if it was printed and on a shelf at the store it would cost $13.99-15.00.
This cake is incredible! It is in all the Serbian church cookbooks and often made by my Mom. In the Orthodox faith , fasting is observed during all of Lent and Advent and before receiving Holy Communion. In addition to no meat or meat products, no milk, eggs or butter are used. This cake can be eaten during those times.