CRAZY CAKE, also known as Wacky Cake & Depression Cake – No Eggs, Milk, Butter, Bowls or Mixers! Super moist and delicious. Go-to recipe for egg/dairy allergies. Great activity to do with kids. Recipe dates back to the Great Depression. It’s darn good cake!
Crazy Carrot Cake – No eggs, milk or butter
Print Recipe
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Cups flour + 3 Tablespoons (all-purpose)
- 1 Cup sugar (All purpose sugar – Granulated Pure Cane Sugar)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
—————-
- 3/4 Cup finely grated peeled carrots
- 1/2 Cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 Cup golden raisins
Wet Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 5 Tablespoons Canola oil (or vegetable)
- 1 Cup water
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and grease an 8″ baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the first 8 dry ingredients and blend well. Next, add carrots, walnuts and golden raisins – blend well. Last, add the wet ingredients – vinegar, vanilla and oil, then pour the water over top – mix well. Pour in greased baking dish.
Bake on middle rack of oven for *35 to 45 minutes. Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean, remove when ready. Allow to cool and top with your favorite vanilla or cream cheese frosting. Enjoy!
Links to Frosting Recipes
Basic Cream Cheese Frosting recipe from AllRecipes.com
Head here for a VEGAN CREAM CHEESE FROSTING from the Minimalist Baker
If you are looking for a Carrot Cake that is not egg and dairy free, try this CRAZY GOOD CARROT CAKE with CREAM CHEESE FROSTING, it’s Crazy good!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Cheers!
Hi, I was justwondering if your Crazy Carrot Cake No Eggs No Milk or Butter is freezer safe?
I’ve just baked it and am tempted to freeze half of it.
Can this be made without the nuts? I cook at a child care centre so no nuts allowed 😱
Yes, Lois, you can just skip the nuts. You should try the Chocolate Crazy cake too – https://sweetlittlebluebird.com/tried-true-tuesday-crazy-cake-no-eggs/
Great recipe! We doubled it for a two layer cake. Very happy with the results. Will definitely make again.
I love the Carrot Crazy Cake. Due to food allergies I can not eat dairy, eggs or gluten. I have been craving carrot cake lately. I saw this recipe and decided to try it. I’m glad I did. The only difference I made was to use King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten free flour. The cake came out moist and delicious. I will definitely make this again. I will be trying the other crazy cake recipes as well especially the single mug cakes!!! Please do more recipes like this one!!
If you followed the directions, anonymous – more than likely your baking soda was not fresh, also check the date of your vinegar. The baking soda and vinegar are what makes the cake rise.
How to check if your baking soda is fresh: https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-tell-if-baking-soda-is-still-good-1388327
Thanks alot Mary, i think you might be right. Will try it again after making a trip to the grocery
I made this cake last night. It tasted really delicious and was easy to make but my cake did not rise even though i followed the exact recipe. Can anyone help make a suggestion what went wrong?
This is a recipe I've been making for over 50 years! It was the first cake I was allowed to make on my own!
When my kids were young, and I packed school lunches, I would make two recipes, one chocolate one vanilla. I used tuna cans (well washed) as mini cake pans and put a swirl of the opposite cake batter on top. The kids accepted this as baked in icing! Heads up, they don't take as long to bake.
I have friends who are vegan, and I'd like to make a version of this for them. Do you have any recipes for an apple cider or pumpkin cake?
Anonymous – That has never happened to me, but this may have been what happened: https://www.nigella.com/ask/carrots-turning-green-in-carrot-muffins
Really weird! I left mine on thw counter,covered in foil and the carrots seemed to turn geeen the next day…any idea why that would happen? The cake was delicious though…I was just skeptical about eating it after that
Love, love your cake recipes. I have a Grandson who is severely allergic to eggs and peanuts. Do you have an egg free red velvet crazy cake recipe? We have always had red velvet cake on Christmas Eve but have not been able to have it for the last 2 years because of the allergies to eggs. Thanks for all of your wonderful recipes.
WOW these Wacky cakes really must be popular! I am going to try making the carrot cake, but I am going to use brown sugar. I have to stay dairy free, so no cream cheese frosting for me. Think I will use Brown Sugar frosting on mine. Great comments ladies! Such great ideas on how to change it! Have fun eating yours, I know I will!
Hi there
I made this carrot cake and it was absolutely fabulous so I made a parsnip cake too, just substituting the carrot for parsnip – that came out great too.
I'm 52 and have never been that bothered about baking until now! A friend introduced me to your site and though I don't personally have any allergies, I have friends with children that do. So I am an avid fan.
How could we adjust your recipe to make a coconut cake?
If you want to add pineapple just run the pineapple through your juicer to remove moisture then add pineapple pulp. I am making this right now.
I wonder if the oil could be coconut oil?
Can you use almond flour or coconut flour instead of all purpose flour…
Could I substitute flour with almond or coconut flour
Do you have a persimmon recipe?
Do you have a persimmon recipe?
If I leave out the nuts and raisins, do I need to add in more carrots to make up for it? Or will it still turn out okay?
Really good! I made 2 this week…one with brown sugar…and one with maple syrup….both were really good….better the next day…nice and moist. Also I use Macadamia oil for all my cakes that need oil.
I made this cake and brought it to a restaurant, for
my Daughter's birthday.
We gave our server a piece of it.
She came back in a few minutes and said
" I don't know who made this cake,
but it is the best carrot cake I have ever eaten"
Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I did use brown sugar instead of white,
and I think it was one of the reasons
it stayed so moist.
I made my own pineapple (not carrot) version of this cake using canned crushed pineapple in juice, pecans and slightly different spices than the original. I also used dried mango to replace the raisins. I added baking powder to the dry ingredients to make up for the heavier, wetter pineapple. It turned out dense, moist and very flavorful and just yummy! Here is my recipe:
dry ingredients
1 1/2 cups + 3 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
chunky ingredients
1 15.25 ounce can crushed pineapple in 100% juice, juice reserved
1/2 cup pecan chips or finely chopped pecans
3/4 cup finely chopped dried mango
wet ingredients
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons coconut oil (warm enough to be liquid)
reserved pineapple juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and sugar a round 8-inch cake pan. Put all dry ingredients in a bowl, mix well. Put chunky ingredients into bowl, mix well. In juice bowl, put all other wet ingredients. Whisk to combine. Mix into dry/chunky mix. Pour batter into greased and sugared cake pan. Bake 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn out onto a flat serving dish covered in parchment paper. Let the cake cool completely before cutting.
Has anyone made this with whole wheat flour? I made it with mostly all purpose and 1/2 whole wheat it was great but what about all whole wheat..
I made an up side down pineapple wacky cake (using the vanilla wacky cake recipe). I put sliced pineapple down first and mixed the batter in a different bowl, replacing water with pineapple Juice, then poured it over the pineapples….it was wonderful.
Has anyone substituted stevia/ trivia so other natural sweetner in place of the sugar?
Aim to avoid refined/ processed/ sugar.
Which is best to use.
Thank you
Suzanne
I hope you get a reply, was wondering the same as a type I diabetic
My step-son is vegan and loves carrot cake so my husband and I made this for his birthday cake. It came out great! We used the link for the vegan cream cheese frosting as well. He prefers almonds to walnuts so we substituted almond slivers and I love it. Might be worth it for anyone else who prefers almonds to walnuts.
this is pretty much a no-fail recipe…it's the reaction between the baking soda and vinegar that rises your cake…i have a good friend whose daughter is allergic to diary, even margarine that contains milk solids, so this cake was a winner for her. i will definitely try this carrot cake version… thanks so much for sharing.
Hi,
My sister gave me this recipe a few years ago. I think it's fantastic! I would like to try the lemon version. Do you think I can replace a part of water with lemon juice? I would also like to try an orange version,i'll let you know.
Angie
I have made the carrot cake twice in the last week using rehydrated carrots and drained 15-20 oz. can pineapple tidbits and pecans. everyone loved it and scarfed it down. I doubled the recipe and it will make 3 layers.
I have also made a similar spice cake for years which is equally as good. YUMMY! I frost both with cream cheese Icing.
I used a gluten free flour mix and it turned out great!!
I have been making the chocolate version of wacky cake for decades and have never made the 3 holes. I first learned about the cake when a classmate shared it as a demonstration for speech class in junior high and she just dumped all the liquid on top of the dry ingredients in the pan so that is how I've always done it as well. I lost the recipe at one point and found it again online years later when I had a dairy allergic kid, and that recipe had no mention of making holes in the dry ingredients either. I've never had any issue with the cakes not turning out. Anxious to try the carrot version. Thanks for sharing.
My daughter requested a strawberry cake for her birthday. Because it needs to be dye-free and egg-free, I opted for your newest recipe and changing it up a bit. I doubled the recipe and changed the wet ingredients a bit. Instead of carrots, I used 2 1/2 (1 1/4 cup for the single cake version) cups of strawberry puree and 1 cup of water (1/2 cup for the single cake version). Then I added 1/4 cup of extra flour because the batter looked a bit thin. The cakes turned out great! The only issue was that the cakes turned a purplish-brown during baking, but I think that's because of the oxidization of the strawberries (I should have added lemon juice to save the color a bit). Thanks so much for your recipe idea! I thought sharing my experiment here might help create a new wacky cake version or help someone else who's trying to also make a strawberry cake. 🙂
Anonymous- Yes, you can leave out the walnuts and raisins, it will still be great!
Could you make this without the walnuts and rasins?
This recipe is great~ thank you!
I had to make a few substitutions for family allergies.
I used a tried and true flour sub (I wish I could appropriately cite where I found it a few years ago…but many thanks to them).
For total flour 1/3 sweet rice flour, 1/3 brown rice flour, 1/3 ground almond.
And as I used cooked carrots I halved the water.
Many many thanks!
Katie
Hi Georgina, I replied to your question above, I think you may have missed it. "Hi Georgene! Many people have used GF flour with the other Crazy Cake flavors with success, so it should would work with this flavor too. I personally have never used GF with these recipes. If you go to my Chocolate Crazy Cake post, you can read what people said in the comments section: https://www.sweetlittlebluebird.com/2013/03/tried-true-tuesday-crazy-cake-no-eggs.html
Here is a link to a GF Chocolate Crazy Cake: http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/crazy-cake/
I hope you have success. Please stop by and share your results if you make the cake GF! Thanks so much for stopping by!"
Nope, no one ever got back to me! I have replaced oil or butter with applesauce. Still am wondering about the gluten free flour though.
can you replace the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour and truvia for sugar? wondering if that person replacing the oil with applesauce every got back to you as well… thanks Danielle
Hi Nana, The pineapple might cause the cake not to rise due to all the moisture…but you could experiment. Be sure to drain as much of the fluid from the pineapple before adding. If you do try this cake with pineapple, you do not need to leave out the walnuts and golden raisins, you could maybe just reduce the amount of each. Happy baking! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Measure the pineapple juice and use for or some of her water. Bet it'd work. Tastier too!
Hi Georgene! Many people have used GF flour with the other Crazy Cake flavors with success, so it should would work with this flavor too. I personally have never used GF with these recipes. If you go to my Chocolate Crazy Cake post, you can read what people said in the comments section: https://www.sweetlittlebluebird.com/2013/03/tried-true-tuesday-crazy-cake-no-eggs.html
Here is a link to a GF Chocolate Crazy Cake: http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/crazy-cake/
I hope you have success. Please stop by and share your results if you make the cake GF! Thanks so much for stopping by!
My friend is gluten, dairy free. While this doesn't have dairy (yey!!), I wonder if using gluten free flour would work in place of the all purpose flour?? Thanks in advance. Georgene
My friend is gluten, dairy free. While this doesn't have dairy, do you think gluten free flour would work in place of the all purpose flour? Thanks in advance. Georgene
I LOVE CARROT CAKE CAN'T WAIT TO TRY THIS. I AM PLANNING ON USING DRIED CHOPPED FIGS INSTEAD OF THE RAISINS. THANKS FOR SHARING.
I have always put crushed , drained pineapple in my carrot cake. Do you think this recipe could work with that addition.? Maybe leave out the raisins to accommodate more fruit.
Nana was wondering if you ever tried it with the pineapple and iif so how did it turn out?
How much water
I just made it for Easter dinner using a 15 oz can of crushed pineapple in juice and omitted the water. I used a 10 oz tube pan and it turned it perfectly!
Thanks, Julie! I made this cake during my trip to Alaska visiting my sister. My two year old nephew gobbled it up (he has a milk allergy). I am so thrilled how it turned out. My daughter actually made it again last night, all my herself, but she decided to skip the raisins and walnuts…still terrific! I hope you love it too.
Hi Anonymous – I have never used applesauce in place of the oil, but it might be worth an experiment in your kitchen. Many people have left comments on the other flavors of Crazy Cake stating they used applesauce in place of the oil and it turned out great- I don't see why it wouldn't work with this cake too. If you make the cake, please stop by and let us know how the applesauce worked out.
Can you substitute applesauce for the oil?
I will need to use rice flour and stevia. Will let you know how it turns out.
One word–AWESOME!! I'm making this cake on Wednesday for Jerry's birthday. Yay!
Hi, I was justwondering if your Crazy Carrot Cake No Eggs No Milk or Butter is freezer safe?
I’ve just baked it and am tempted to freeze half of it.