Crazy Cake (a.k.a. Wacky Cake, Depression Cake) is a Depression Era cake that doesn’t require any eggs, butter, milk or bowls! You won’t believe how moist and delicious this cake is!
A DEPRESSION ERA CAKE
You’ll be so surprised how moist and chocolate-y this cake is even without eggs, milk and butter! It’s a fabulous go-to recipe for egg/dairy allergies as well! This cake was created during the Great Depression, when eggs, milk and butter were very hard to come by. Remember my favorite childhood Depression sandwich my grandparents made? People were pretty resourceful during those hard times. It took some creativity and baking science to create a cake without eggs, milk or butter. You don’t even need a bowl or mixer. Genius!
TIPS FOR MAKING CRAZY CAKE
- If you don’t want to mix this in the baking dish, you can combine all the ingredients in a bowl, then pour the batter in to a greased 8-inch square baking dish.
- Crazy Cake can be made with Gluten Free mixes! Many people have commented they have made this cake with Gluten Free mixes, and it’s wonderful.
- This can also be made into cupcakes!
- More cake flavors have been added since this post! Check out the whole list HERE! There are mug cake versions too!
- For a great, easy chocolate frosting (my favorite), I use the frosting recipe from The Yum Life!
- For a dairy free frosting recipe, head over to Oh She Glows for a simple 2-ingredient chocolate fudge frosting recipe!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
It’s called Crazy Cake (or Wacky Cake) because it doesn’t need any eggs, milk or butter, which is kinda crazy for cake making!
It is part of the leavening process! The vinegar reacts with the baking soda which is what makes the cake rise. You don’t taste the vinegar at all in the finished cake!
You can double this recipe, just use a 9×13 baking pan.
You get the moistness from the oil and it becomes so fluffy because of the chemical reaction between the vinegar and baking soda!
Yes! Readers have commented that they have made this with monk fruit sweetener, and it turned out perfect! I would think many sugar substitutes would work here, but I haven’t tested this recipe with anything other than real sugar, so if you try it, please come back and let me know!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR FULL RECIPE)
- all-purpose flour
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- granulated sugar
- baking soda
- salt
- white vinegar
- pure vanilla extract
- vegetable oil
- water
- plus optional ingredients for frosting (see recipe card)
HOW TO MAKE CRAZY CAKE:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a greased 8″ square baking pan. Make 3 depressions in dry ingredients – two small, one larger. Pour vinegar in one of the smaller depressions, vanilla extract in the other small depression and the vegetable oil in the third larger depression. Pour water over all. Mix well until smooth.
Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 35 minutes. Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean. Cool. Top with your favorite frosting. Enjoy!
Note: Oven baking times may vary, be sure to check your cake to make sure you do not over bake.
CRAVING MORE CRAZY CAKE RECIPES?
Chocolate Crazy Cake (No Eggs, Milk, Butter or Bowls)
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE:
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
Optional frosting (not dairy free)
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- ¼ cup evaporated milk
- 2 Tablespoons salted butter (cut into chunks)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch square pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Mix first 5 dry ingredients in the prepared pan (flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda and salt.)
- Make 3 depressions in the dry ingredients – two small, one larger.
- Pour vinegar in one of the smaller depressions. Pour the vanilla extract in the other smaller depression and the vegetable oil in third larger depression.
- Pour water over all. Mix well until smooth.
- Bake on middle rack of oven for 35 minutes. Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean. Note: Oven baking times may vary, be sure to check your cake to make sure you do not over bake.
- Cool completely before frosting (if using). You can also just sprinkle with a dusting of powdered sugar.
To make the frosting:
- In a microwave-safe medium bowl, add in semi-sweet chocolate chips, evaporated milk, butter and vanilla extract.
- Microwave on full power for about 30 seconds. Note: it can be hard to tell if everything has melted so it's If not melted, microwave for an additional 15 seconds and stir. Repeat process until fully melted.
- Stir in the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and combined.
- Frost cooled cake.
Video
Notes
- This cake is wonderful with a simple dusting of powdered sugar, or top with your favorite frosting.
- The cake does not need to be kept refrigerated if it’s not frosted. Cover and it will last 3 days. If it is frosted, it will need to be kept refrigerated. Cover and refrigerate for up to 6 days.
- If you don’t want to mix this in the baking dish, you can combine all the ingredients in a bowl, then pour the batter in to a greased 8-inch square baking dish.
- You can sub vegetable oil with canola oil
- You can sub white vinegar with apple cider vinegar.
- Use the batter to make Crazy Cake Cup Cakes!
- Double the recipe using a 9×13 baking dish or make a Two-Layer Crazy Cake.
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- For a great, easy chocolate frosting (my favorite), I use the frosting recipe from The Yum Life!
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- For a dairy free frosting recipe, head over to Oh She Glows for a simple 2-ingredient chocolate fudge frosting recipe!
kcnoa
I just made this and can't wait to try it,,I also added a box of sugar free chocolate pudding lets see ow it comes out…I will be back to let you know thanks Cheryl
Anonymous
When searching for a recipe for my egg & dairy allergic son's 1st birthday cake, I was so new to all the tricks I know now. At the last minute, I remembered my family-favorite "3-Holer Cake" recipe, made for many birthdays and passed down to me from the generations before. I too, shed a happy tear when FINALLY, my son could eat what other kids are at birthdays – CAKE! This is such a forgiving recipe – you dont need to grease the pan, you can use any type of vinegar, GF mixes work well, you dont need to make the 3 holes, you can sub half whole wheat pastry flour, u can sub half the oil (I've used many different liquid veggie oils, all with success) with applesauce, my aunt used to cut the sugar in half (but I don't know if she altered the recipe to compensate) and so much more. We have tried all the flavor variations, including making "Krabby-Patty Cupcakes." Cupcakes freeze well, and we keep a stash in our home freezer, as well as at school, for when a celebration might mean that he would otherwise, go without a treat. Love seeing this recipe making a comeback!
Stephani Macalino
I made this cause I didn't wanna brave the winter winds to buy some eggs and milk. This is crazy good! I actually have butter so I used that in place of the vegetable oil (and I might have used too much). So moist and chocolatey! I also used apple vinegar since that's all I have here, and added a stick of instant coffee (which I always do in chocolate recipes to enhance the chocolate flavor).
Barb S
I read this on F/B today, and said "I'm gonna make it right now!!" so I did, and it's awesome! Thanks for the great recipes!!
Anonymous
Have just found your site for Crazy Cake/Depression Cake. This stirred a memory and turned to my old 'The I Hate to Cook Book', by Peg Bracken. Sure enough there was a recipe for Cockeyed Cake. The only difference from yours is that she called for 1 tbsp. vinegar instead of 1 teaspoon. I often made it years ago, but had forgotten all about it. Thank you for this pleasant memory.
Lucero G
Hi! My little baby was diagnosed with dairy, egg, nuts and soy allergies.., so because I'm nursing, I decided to keep on with a strict diet that might help him! So, yesterday was my birthday and my husband was obsessed for me having a cake! So, I started looking through the web and I found your recipe! At first I tried to do the "three depressions", but considering I'm not a super baker and it was a mess, I decided to mix it all, and it came really good!! For the frosting, I did the avocado frosting and it was awesome!! I wanted to upload a pic but I couldn't! thank you!
Anonymous
My family has been making this cake for over 60 years, and it's our favorite! Usually, instead of frosting the cake, I sprinkle it with about 1/2 c chocolate chips before baking. They stay creamy even after the cake cools, and provide that extra bit of sweetness that makes the cake perfect!
Darlene
To one of the anonymous posters:
Vinegar in the U.S. is diluted to 5%, not 10%. I just double checked my nearby bottle of white vinegar to make sure I had the correct info. I hope any Finnish or Scandinavians see this post. If their vinegar is 10%, then they would only need to use use 1/2 of the amount as their vinegar, however, if it's 5% like ours, they would use the same amount.
Frank Z.
This was a staple in my mother's extended family. For us it was 'wacky cake'. The only difference with this recipe is that we were explicitly told not to grease the cake pan. There was also a special instuction on mixing it – it had to be done with a fork, not a spoon. This had the ring of a folk recipe to me. In later years I gave that up and mixed it in a separate bowl, then poured it into an ungreased pan. We always iced it with a regular butter frosting. Once at college I made it, was in a hurry to eat it, and put the icing on way too soon. It melted, so I got a fork and jabbed it all over the cake so it would absorb the liquifying icing. That was lovely for someone in their early 20s, though I'm sure it made it's small contribution to the development of my adult onset diabetes 30 years later.
Kitten Brown
My family has been making this cake for over30 years now. We have always known it as Stir Crazy Cake. We found the recipe in an old cowboy trail recipe book. It worked perfect for Cowboys on the trail as there is nothing in it that would spoil. Our recipe, instead of having frosting, we put cinnamon and sugar in top before you put it in the one n it forms a wonderful crunchy crust that is way better than frosting. Cut a huge Slice and pour milk over it, nothing better fresh out of the oven!! My kids prefer this cake to professionally done cakes every birthday!! I have to make it at least once a month and a 9×13 plays less then 5 minutes!!
Ann T Roslevich
Thanks for this recipe the best ever. I made a peanut butter cream cheese frosting and topped it with peanut butter chips came out great.
Ann T Roslevich
This is the best recipe I ever tried. I made a peanut butter cream cheese frosting and topped it with peanu t butter chips came out great. Will definitely keep this recipe thanks.
Dawn
Thank you for sharing the other flavors of this recipe. Wacky cake has been handed down in my family for generations and is the only kind of cake my son likes. We use it for all our birthday cakes, but now we will have flavor options! I love the history behind the recipe too.
Anonymous
Thanks for sharing the recipe, can't wait to make it! but how can i make the vanilla version? just take out the cocoa?
Anonymous
This is an amazing recipe. I made it yesterday with the 2 ingredients icing and everyone loved it! It was very moist and tasted great! I plan to make it again next week for New Years eve and adding a small amount of fruit preserve in the middle and layering the cake. Thank you so much for sharing.
Alicia Anderson
I just now found this. It sounds so delicious! Is there a video showing the mixing part? I'm a very visual person, so I need videos even it comes to recipes lol. "Pour water over all. Mix well until smooth." Really confused me. Do you pour water over the whole thing? Just the liquids? Do you mix the liquids into the dry ingredients? I think a video would help me tremendously lol
Anonymous
Okay, so at first I got mad when I went through the text. I've been a vegan for a year and it seems almost insulting to call eggless cake "crazy".
Ma'm, with all respect, just google "easy vegan cake" or "easy vegan baking" and you will find zillion eggless baked goods. I also suggest the blog http://minimalistbaker.com/! Simple, easy and mostly eggless recipes with lots of tips how to sub the expensive ingredients with something most people have in their cupboard.
You can also google aquafaba aka the canned chickpea brine – you can make even meringue by whisking that stuff with an electric mixer! I have tried it and it's MAGIC. Royal icing, macarons, chocolate mousse? Yup, it's all possible without any eggs and it's quite authentic!
But yeah, I'm a vegan and my mom can't have any gluten or soy. I had never baked anything with gf flour. I was desperately trying to find something easy (but not boring) I could bake for her and as I was searching through recipes full of expensive and hard-to-find ingredients, I remembered your cake. And guess what? This is exactly what I baked. AND IT WAS AMAZING!
Frosted it with vegan chocolate ganache (http://minimalistbaker.com/how-to-make-vegan-chocolate-ganache-frosting/), half the of that recipe makes perfect frosting 🙂
For all the Finnish folk (or maybe other Scandinavians too?) eager to try this awesome recipe out: in US, white vinegar is 10%, when in Finland it's 5%, so use only ½ tl of that stuff. My boyfriend knew that fact for some weird reason 😀
For gluten free version, I used "Semper Fine mix", had to add about +2 dl more flour and about +1 dl more sugar than in the original recipe. I also added ½ tl more baking soda, as suggested in tips, thanks for that info!
Thank you so much <3 My mom will be so happy!
Jessica Newton
I love this recipe! I live in the mountains of Colorado at 10,500 feet, and it can be quite a challenge to bake (to say the least)! I was able to make a cake, and a delicious one at that. Needless to say, my hubby and 5 kids were super stoked!
Anonymous
Thank you so much for the recipe. I changed it by using sour cream instead of oil, apple instead of regular vinegar and used half less sugar. Tasted great and had less calories. 🙂
Anonymous
Thanks for sharing your best recipe. I don't want to come for tea 😀
KatSal
Years ago one of the big name baking companies had a cake similar to this called Snakin Cake. It mixed in a pan that came in the box and was a vinegar based mix. This is great to have the DIY version since fad cakes come and go so fast these days. This is a great idea and I plan on sharing it with a friend that can't tolerate gluten. Thanks for the post to remind us there are always alternatives. Any chance there is a nutritional info chart for these?
Darlene
I tried finding you eggless recipe board on Pinterest, but don't see it. Do you have a direct link to that board?
Thanks for the wonderful Crazy cakes/mug cakes. I had a bunch, but I lost all of my recipes when I reformatted my computer and pulled the short cut for my Docs and not the actual My Docs fill onto my back up. Yeah, over 15 years of stuff lost, not just recipes. sigh
Unknown
Ok I'm baking this cake now but I didn't have any vinegar so I thought I could substitute lemon juice but then I couldn't find my lemon juice so I found a can of pineapple in my cabinet so I used a little bit of the juice from that. cross your fingers for me I'll let you know how it turned out after it bakes 🙂
Unknown
Has anyone used honey or maple syrup as a substitute for sugar?
Susie
It was called "Crazy Cake" at our house when I was growing up. Mom's recipe was for a 9X13 pan, and although I have her recipe I don't have her glass dish so it never comes out the same way I remember. May be it's because I use a metal pan and don't turn up the heat 25 degrees, which I plan to do next time. Susie