Wacky Vegan Chocolate Cake

Have you heard of the Wacky Vegan Chocolate Cake

It is National Vinegar Month, so let’s take a look at this Wacky Vegan Chocolate Cake

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Vegan Chocolate Cake

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A Wacky Vegan One Pan Chocolate Cake with Vinegar, and so easy to prepare and delicious to the last morsel.

• Author: EsmeSalon
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Total Time: 50 minutes
• Yield: 1 1x
• Category: Cake, Cupcakes, Cookies and Tarts
• Cuisine: Teatime

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened, Natural (non-alkalized) cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp white or cider vinegar
• 6 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup of water

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Instructions

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°F. Lightly grease an 8-inch square pan.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt directly into the baking pan, then add the sugar. With your finger, poke 2 small holes and 1 large one in the dry ingredients. Into one of the small holes pour the vanilla, into the other one the vinegar, and into the larger one the oil.

Pour the water over all the ingredients and stir the ingredients together with a table fork, while making sure to reach into the corners, until you can’t see any more flour and the batter looks fairly well mixed.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is springy and a tester inserted in the center comes out dry.

Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack, then cut and serve it from the pan.

Notes

It is National Vinegar Month. Now apparently vinegar is also used in baking cakes, who would have thunk. For sure not me but I am learning, sigh. The two most frequently used kinds of vinegar in baking are white vinegar and apple cider vinegar. White vinegar has a sharp, even harsh, flavour if tasted alone, but it is a very simple flavour and does not really stand out when used in a complex batter.

Cider vinegar, made from apples, has a faintly fruity flavour and is quite sweet compared to other types of vinegar. It’s very mild and works even better in batters because there is virtually no chance of any vinegar flavour tainting the finished product.

Cooks Notes:

I am following this recipe to the T because I have had a few disasters lately where I haven’t and they haven’t turned out as hoped, all my fault and probably because I have been cooking for a while and get used to certain ways.

This recipe to me sounds wacky and crazy but apparently it works. It is also prepared in the tin which it is cooked.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1
• Calories: 274
• Sugar: 25
• Sodium: 213
• Fat: 10
• Saturated Fat: 1
• Unsaturated Fat: 9
• Trans Fat: 0
• Carbohydrates: 43
• Fiber: 1
• Protein: 2
• Cholesterol: 0

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Some history and background 

Wacky cake, also called crazy cake, Joe cake, and WW II cake is a spongy, cocoa-based cake. It is unique in that unlike most pastries and desserts, no eggs, butter or milk are used to make the cake batter.

The Wacky Cake may have been created as the result of rationing during World War II when milk and eggs were scarce.  Active ingredients in a wacky cake include flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, vegetable oil, white vinegar, salt, and vanilla extract. The eggless batter means that the structure of the cake is entirely supported by gluten, which is strengthened by the acidic vinegar and salt.

Some recipes add brewed coffee as an additional ingredient. The cake may be topped with icing or confectioner’s sugar, or even served plain.

The cake is considered a popular delicacy at bake sales in numerous rural regions of the United States.

Usually served with just a dusting of powdered sugar, or buttercream frosting, there is also a frosting/glaze recipe sometimes found attached that also is made from “ration” ingredients.

Prepared, tried, and tested by Carol Taylor from CarolCooks2 

Other Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipes you may wish to try out:

Vegan Chocolate Cakes 
Vegan chocolate cupcakes