Crazy Chocolate Cake

Growing up, my mother always baked each of us our favorite cake for our birthdays. Mine became Crazy Chocolate Cake. Mom received the recipe from my older sister, Pam, and before long it was a family favorite. She baked it in either an aluminum or glass pan and finished it simply with powdered sugar.

Over the years I made it for my own children and preserved the recipe in the family cookbooks I created for Kendra and Nick. An old photograph of eight-year-old Nick enjoying his cake tells you exactly how much he loved it!

Now I am making this old-fashioned family recipe, also known as Wacky Cake or Depression Cake, once again. Crazily, this moist chocolate cake contains no eggs, milk, or butter, and it adapts easily to what is available. I couldn’t imagine a cake using vinegar! But that is the beauty of this recipe. I baked mine in a stoneware pan, used cacao in place of cocoa, and replaced the water with cold brewed coffee for a deeper chocolate flavor. It is every bit as yummy as I remembered. My husband would like it with a creamy chocolate frosting, but I kept this heirloom legacy recipe as I remembered it—finished with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Crazy Chocolate Cake Recipe

Makes one 9 × 13-inch cake | Prep: about 15 minutes | Bake: 375°F for 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
  ¾ cup unsweetened cacao powder
  2 teaspoons baking soda
  ½ teaspoon salt
  1 cup coconut or vegetable oil
  2 cups granulated sugar
  2 teaspoons vinegar
  2 cups cold brewed coffee
  2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  Powdered sugar, for finishing

Directions

• Heat the oven to 375°F. Grease and flour a 9 × 13-inch pan or stoneware baker.
• Sift the flour, cacao powder, baking soda, and salt together.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the oil and sugar until evenly blended.
• In a separate container, stir together the vinegar, cold brewed coffee, and vanilla.
• Add the dry mixture and coffee mixture alternately to the oil-sugar mixture. Mix only until everything is incorporated.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
• Bake for 40 minutes, or until the center tests done.
• Cool completely.
• Dust with powdered sugar, using a paper doily or handmade stencil if desired.

Kim’s Kitchen Note

The original family recipe used unsweetened cocoa and two cups of warm water. This version uses cacao and two cups of warm brewed coffee for a deeper chocolate flavor.

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