Wacky Cake: The Easiest Chocolate Cake You'll Ever Make

Wacky Cake is seriously the easiest chocolate cake you’ll ever make. I discovered it last year when my mom made it for my daughter. My mom got the recipe from my aunt… meanwhile, a close friend says she’s been making it for years. I cannot believe I did not know about this recipe before then! I am telling you - this chocolate cake is not only simple to make it is delicious!

According to Wikipedia, Wacky Cake may have been created as the result of rationing during World War II, when milk and eggs were scarce. “The cake is considered a popular delicacy at bake sales in numerous rural regions of the United States.” Given how simple it is to make and how delicious it is - I can see why!

Wacky Cake Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Celsius

Ingredients

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 3 tbsp cocoa

• 1 cup of white sugar

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a 9x9 pan. Once they are mixed, make three wells and then pour in:

Wacky Cake: The Easiest Chocolate Cake You'll Ever Make

• 1 tbsp vinegar (into one well)

• 1 tsp vanilla (into the other)

• 5 tbsp oil (into the third well, don’t worry if it spills over)

Pour 1 cup of water over everything and then mix together with a fork. Once well mixed, pour 1 cup of chocolate chips over the batter (you can also add chopped pecans, if desired).

Bake for 30 minutes.

When the cake comes out of the oven take a knife and spread the melted chocolate chips over the top of the cake as though it is icing… and you’re done! Alternatively, you can omit the chocolate chips and sprinkle icing sugar over the top or use buttercream icing. This cake takes less than an hour from start to finish and is so good. My daughter asks for it all the time and I always make it for guests.

Do you have a go-to dessert recipe? Have you made a wacky cake before? Leave a comment and let us know!

Tool Cake - Drill

by Sara My dad bakes all the birthday cakes for our boys.  He started baking cakes for the boys when the firefighter turned 2.  He has made a train, a front loader, a guitar, a milk tanker truck*, a camera (someone turned 30 this year), and a dinosaur.  Our family and friends have come to anticipate a different cake at every party.  He scours the Internet and books for ideas but now also has to appeal to the whims of the firefighter, who is 4, and likes to choose* the shape of his cake. 

Last year on my dad's birthday we made an aquarium cake.  We wanted to do something special for our master cake creator.  Plus, every so often, I like to show off my domesticity to my family.

We recently celebrated my dad's birthday and it was up to the firefighter and I to make him a cake.

I will admit to using a cake mix.  We prepared it according to the instructions but substituted 1/2 cup of applesauce for the 1/2 cup of oil.  After baking the cake I froze it so that it would be easier to carve and ice. 

Once the cake was frozen I cut it into three sections.  You have to work fairly quickly because it becomes more difficult to ice the cake as it thaws (bits of cake pull of with the icing).

We looked online for tool cake templates but couldn't find any.  Instead I found a simple clip art picture of a drill, enlarged it, and then printed it. 

I used each of the three sections of the cake for each section of the drill.  With the picture nearby I used a knife to cut the cake free-hand.  The firefighter stayed close-by to eat the cut-off bits of cake. 

After carving the top and middle we realized we had another section of cake so...

....we added a battery pack!

The firefighter had chosen sprinkles the day before so after icing the cake we did our best to replicate the different components of the drill. 

It took us less than half an hour to assemble and decorate the cake and Grandpa was thrilled with our creation.  And quite impressed at my ability to 'wing' cake creation and decorating.

Have you ever designed and created your own theme cake?

Sara is mom to 4-year-old ” firefighter” and 2-year-old “monkey”.  You can find her at her blog, My Points of View.

Sunday October 17th 10am- 3pm The Glebe Community Center 175 Third Ave @ Lyon St in The Glebe