Melora Eats!: Wacky Chocolate Cake

It was 1996, I just moved out on my own and had little money. I was working at the movie theater and had $50 or less to spend on groceries a week at the Super Walmart. I lived off of ramen, potatoes, Spaghetti-O's, bread, peanut butter and sometimes Hamburger Helper. I tried to keep the cost of each item to a dollar. I also made sure that I kept a stock of the standard baking supplies to make Wacky Chocolate Cake. I would make it when I got tired of toast with peanut butter for breakfast.

Wacky Chocolate Cake is also known as Depression Cake, War Cake and Wacky Cake. It doesn't have any eggs, milk or butter in it. There are multiple origins of the cake, with it being a Depression Era cake to a WWII cake. Both eras had rationing and this is a ration cake. Many have had the recipe passed down to them. My Mom said that she thinks she remembers finding it in a book. You can find a number of different recipes for it on the internet. Some call for coffee, others call for bacon grease. Some will also provide a recipe for frosting. This one is just the basic 9"x 13" size cake, nothing fancy, but still wonderful.

How can it be a cake if there isn't any eggs, milk, or butter in it? The oil and water adds the moisture and the combo of the Baking Soda and Vinegar makes it rise. It's really easy to make and a great recipe for kids. Everything is mixed in the baking pan so there isn't the mess of multiple dishes.

Ingredients
3 cups Flour 2 tsp White Vinegar
2 cups Sugar 2 tsp Vanilla
6 Tbs baking coco 10 Tbs Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Baking Soda 2 cups water
1 tsp salt

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
In the baking pan, mix the dry ingredients together. Don't worry about greasing the pan.
Once mixed, make three depressions to place the wet ingredients in. One for the vanilla, the second for the vinegar and the third for the oil.
Pour the 2 cups of water all over the top of the mix.