Growing up, my mother used to make all of our birthday cakes. She almost always used the same recipe — crazy cake — which she got from her mom.
Crazy cake isn’t crazy at all. It’s a rich chocolate cake that is hard to get wrong, although I have a few times. My mistakes were usually caused by me tinkering with the recipe. My kids and husband can attest that I’m a mad-scientist when it comes to matters of the kitchen.
Most sources say crazy or wacky cake was created during World War II, the 1940s. It was hard to buy milk, butter and eggs — staple cake ingredients — due to the rationing of food.
Active ingredients in the cake include flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, vegetable oil, white vinegar, salt and vanilla extract. The structure of the cake is entirely supported by gluten, which is strengthened by the acidic vinegar and salt.
I made this recipe often when my kids were young. The cake mixes and bakes in one pan, which cleans up easily. Because of the addition of vinegar to the ingredients, you get some bubbling like a baking soda-vinegar volcano, which is fun to watch with young kids.
The key is stirring the ingredients up really well. Get all the stuff out of the pan corners. If you don’t, you’ll get pockets of ingredients in their powder form, which are not fun surprises.
I will warn you, do not try to use this recipe for making a layer cake. Crazy cake sticks to the pan due to how it’s made. Once, I planned to put a raspberry jam in the middle of two thin versions of the cake. The top “layer” fell apart as it came out of the pan. I still used it by covering it with chocolate ganache (a blend of melted chocolate and milk), but I knew it was flawed. It was flawed, but delicious.
The recipe below is my mom’s version, which is the truest to the original recipe.
I’ve reduced the water portion to make cookies, although I can’t remember by how much. You can also add ½ teaspoons each of cinnamon and cayenne pepper to make more of a Mexican hot chocolate cake.
I’ve also mixed in a ¾ cup of raspberry preserves/jam into the mix and removed the vegetable oil. It gives the cake a hint of raspberry. I also prefer dark chocolate baking cocoa, rather than the regular kind. You can also go without the chocolate for a vanilla cake.
CRAZY OR WACKY CAKE
Ingredients
3 cups cake flour, sifted
2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup Baking Cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons white vinegar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups cold water
Directions
■ Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
■ Combine cake flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in an ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Make three holes, or indentations, in the mixture. Into the first hole, pour the vanilla extract; into the second hole, the vinegar; and into the third hole, the vegetable oil. Pour cold water over all. Mix with fork or wire whisk until well blended; do not overbeat. Mixture may contain some small lumps.
■ Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
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August 18, 2021 at 07:35PM
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Vegan: This chocolate cake isn't crazy, it's egg and milk free - The Dispatch - The Commercial Dispatch
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