Spiced Crazy Cake – NO Eggs, Milk or Butter
This awesome from scratch cake has no eggs, milk or butter, you don’t even need a bowl, it’s super moist and delicious! This cake is also budget friendly, perfect for family and friends with egg and dairy allergies – it’s vegan! It’s also a super fun activity to do with kids. You probably have everything you need to make this cake right in your pantry.
**Be sure to check out all my crazy cake flavors – Chocolate, Snickerdoodle , Carrot, Lemon, Chocolate Mint and more!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE SPICED CRAZY CAKE
All-purpose flour, sugar, pumpkin spice, salt, baking soda, vanilla extract, white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar), vegetable oil (or canola oil) and water.
HOW TO MAKE SPICED CRAZY CAKE
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 8×8 inch square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a greased 8″ square baking pan. Make 3 depressions in dry ingredients – two small, one larger (see #3 in photo). Pour vinegar in one depression, vanilla in the other, and the vegetable oil in the third larger depression.
Pour water over all. Mix well until smooth. Bake on middle rack of the oven for 35 minutes. Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean. Cool. Top with your favorite vanilla frosting or dust with powdered sugar
Spiced Crazy Cake – No Eggs, Milk or Butter
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Cups flour + 2 Tablespoons (all-purpose)
- 1 Tablespoon pumpkin spice
- 1 Cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 5 Tablespoons vegetable oil (or canola oil)
- 1 Cup water
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 8×8 inch square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a greased 8″ square baking pan. Make 3 depressions in dry ingredients – two small, one larger (see #3 in photo below). Pour vinegar in one depression, vanilla in the other and the vegetable oil in the third larger depression. Pour water over all. Mix well until smooth.
Bake on middle rack of the oven for 35 minutes. Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean. Cool. Top with your favorite vanilla frosting or dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Frosting Recipes
Vegan Fluffy Buttercream frosting
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (contains dairy)
Tips
- IMPORTANT – Make sure your baking soda and vinegar are fresh, they are what make the cake rise.
- You can double this recipe, just use a 9×13 baking pan.
- Mix the batter in a bowl for neater, easier mixing. Be sure to follow the directions the same way – mixing the dry ingredients, then making the depressions for the wet ingredients. Don’t forget to grease your pan.
Jane
Was going to make this for my mom who is in a seniors complex now. She misses having treats for coffee time since she has no kitchen anymore. I had most of the dry ingredients in the bowl and when I reached for the spice I was shocked to find I was right out. Having to think fast…I remembered reading a comment about a possible strawberry version and figured if i grabbed some out of the freezer, thawed and then pureed them I could use that in place of part of the water. To boost the flavor a bit more I used almond instead of vanilla. The cake came out great! And the spice is now on my grocery list lol
Ellen
I made this and in place of oil and 1/2 cup of water I used applesauce (unsweetened). Turned out very good.
beci
do you think i could use oat flour, add a little more baking soda, omit the vinegar, pumpkin spice, and vanilla, use maple syrup and cinnamon instead? maybe add some pumpkin puree?
abrimmer
I'm a little late to the party, but wanted to say how amazing this spice cake is. I made a half batch and made minimal changes. I did 1 t. cinnamon & 1/2 t. of pumpkin pie extract. I also cooked it in the microwave in my small pyrex dish. It took 3 minutes. Thanks for a great recipe.
Diane
I've made the chocolate Wacky Cake for 47 years! About 5 years ago, I began using decaf coffee in place of the water. Everyone loves it!
Anonymous
I've used chilled hot cocoa and it's AMAZING. My kids request that version for their bdays.
Anonymous
Can you make this spice crazy cake as a layer cake?
thanks!
Anonymous
Please can anyone tell me how many ounces is a cup. Thank you
Karen T
A cup of what? Flour measures out at 4.25 oz per cup but water measures out at 8 oz per cup. Sugar is 7 oz, brown sugar is 8, oil is 7. Depends. kingarthurflour.com has a conversion chart on their site for baking by weight.
Unknown
I've made this as cupcakes a few times, and they always turn out delicious! I like to add a bit of almond milk, (instead of a cup of water I do half water half almond milk) and it adds such a nice nutty flavour! Complements the spice really well, I think. I'm currently baking a gluten free version for my friend who is allergic to dairy & gluten! The gluten free flour I bought is quite gritty, but I'm really hoping that when it's baked it won't make a difference!
Ro
If you let the mix sit for a while before you cook it the gf flour soaks up some of the moisture and it shouldn’t be as gritty 🙂
Ruthdigs
Anyone else have issues with the baking time? Mine's in the oven at the mo and after 50 minutes the top's done but the inside is raw. I know my oven isn't that far off…
Anonymous
I used to make this cake all the time years ago but lost my recipe. It had the directions to make a Chocolate Crazy Cake and just had to change a couple ingredients to make a Spice Cake.
I'm so happy to have this recipe again. As soon as the weather cools down a bit I'm going to make it. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Anonymous
I added 1.5 cups of grated carrots for the best carrot cake of all time!
Flavia
I would love to see a crazy carrot cake, has anyone added shredded carrots , raisens to this ?
Anonymous
I made the spice cake and the chocolate cake this week and they were both so, so yummy! I made a pumpkin cream cheese for the spice cake and just used powder sugar for the chocolate cake. They were both amazing and well received at my party. Although I just got a call from the allergist saying that my son can now have eggs the day after I made these cakes, I will save this recipe for the future for bake sales! Nothing sadder then going to a bake sale and not being able to eat anything.
Josh Rebecca
Would you make any adjustments for those living in high altitude?
marysweetlittlebluebird
Hi Josh- funny you should ask, I just moved to high altitude (6200 ft) – with a new oven and never baking in high altitude, I am trying to prefect my crazy cake here. I have made a few since our move – they are delicious, but a little flat/sunken in the middle. Once they are frosted, you can't tell – but I want my cakes perfect! I did some research and read a great comment on this page on how to adjust for high altitude when making a crazy/wacky cake – I plan on testing the tips and will let you know when I make a cake again! Head here for the tip: http://community.kidswithfoodallergies.org/blog/how-to-make-allergy-friendly-wacky-cupcakes
jjez
We always called the chocolate version "Goofy Cake". It's been a family favorite for generations. I came up with variations to the Amish Friendship Bread, but it never occurred to me to try anything different with this. I love spice cake and lemon so I'm going to give them a try. Thanks for sharing!
freddie's mom
Someone mentioned making a Strawberry Crazy Cake…Please, tell me how? :-)) I love the three flavors I've tried so far. Thank you for all your hard work, Mary.
Anonymous
I made this tonight. It was great! I doubled all the ingredients and used a 9" x 13" pan. I also replaced the oil with apple sauce. It was amazing! I didn't have pumpkin spice so I used 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, and 1/2 tsp ground allspice. I frosted it with Honey Butter Cream from http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2012/11/the-secret-to-perfect-honey-buttercream.html . It was AMAZING!! This cake is the best cake I've ever made and I'm going to make it a lot more. Thank you so much for this recipe!!!
Jen
I have recently discovered that dairy in all forms makes me very ill so I have eliminated it from my diet, and have been trying dairy free recipes instead. I made chocolate "wacky cake" a few weeks ago (with a coconut oil/milk frosting) and my friends couldn't believe it was vegan. Tonight I made this spice cake. It's still cooling on the counter so I haven't frosted it yet, but my husband and I split the corner piece and it's fabulous. I zested and juiced an orange and added half of both to the cake batter and am going to use the rest in the frosting; I also don't bother with the depressions in the dry ingredients, I just dump all the wet ingredients over the dry and mix and it turns out great (same for the chocolate variety.) Thanks for the recipes! Looking forward to trying the other wacky cake flavors in the future.
Emily Ahlsten
Love this recipe! Minimal ingredients and effort; everything I needed was already in my cupboard because I use most of the spices in "pumpkin spice" in my banana bread. This is going to become a staple bake good in my home, forever more.
Emily Ahlsten
Love this recipe! Minimal ingredients and effort; everything I needed was already in my cupboard because I use most of the spices in "pumpkin spice" in my banana bread. This is going to become a staple bake good in my home, forever more.
Danni SiloHillFarm
Oh perfect for fall! Yummm! These are the best and easiest cakes!
Mel@Mellywood's Mansion
Mmm I can't wait ill my new oven is here yum I've missed my crazy cake
Khammany @ Sweet Inspired Home
Love that your recipes look easy enough for me to attempt. This cake has me thinking I'm going to the store tomorrow to get ingredients for it!
Heather @ The Beating Hearth
Mmmmmm. i love spice cake. Looks so yummy Mary!!!
LittleMyoo
I've been making chocolate wacky cake since I was a kid…I haven't tried a spiced version…this looks yummy!!
-andi