If you’ve never made Wacky Cake before, prepare to be amazed. This old-fashioned chocolate cake has been around for generations, and for good reason. It comes together with pantry staples, requires no eggs, no milk, no butter, and no mixer, and you mix the batter right in the baking pan.
Looking for a traditional chocolate cake recipe? Make sure to try my Chocolate Layer Cake!
What Is Wacky Cake?
Wacky Cake (sometimes called Depression Cake or Crazy Cake) became popular during the Great Depression and later during wartime when ingredients like eggs, butter, and milk were expensive or difficult to find. Bakers discovered that combining vinegar with baking soda created enough lift to replace eggs, producing a surprisingly fluffy chocolate cake with very little effort.
Today it’s still loved because it’s inexpensive, dependable, allergy-friendly, and honestly just really delicious.
Why You’ll Love This Wacky Cake
There are plenty of reasons this recipe has stood the test of time:
- Mixed directly in the baking pan. No extra mixing bowls, stand mixers, or mess!
- Easy to customize with your favorite frosting
- Made with simple pantry ingredients
- Rich chocolate flavor with an incredibly soft crumb
- Perfect for beginner bakers
Ingredients You’ll Need
You probably already have everything sitting in your pantry which makes this cake a danger to diets! Make sure to scroll the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the full ingredient list and step by step instructions!
- Water
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Kosher salt
- Vanilla extract
- Apple cider vinegar
- Vegetable oil
How to Make Wacky Cake
I know it’s hard to believe. And yes, if you’re not convinced you can absolutely mix the ingredients in a separate bowl and coat the pan with nonstick spray. But the point is, you don’t HAVE to.
There is a tiny amount of sticking, but it’s a sheet cake and it really doesn’t matter, in my opinion! Here are the simple steps:
- Sift the ingredients right into the ungreased pan. Sifting the ingredients together is the easiest way to combine them. I also whisked them together too.
- Make 3 “wells” in the dry mix. You pore vinegar in one, vanilla in another and oil in the last.
- Then pour water over everything and whisk it together to combine. I found online that using a fork here works well too.
- Once it’s all mixed, go ahead and bake!
Do You Really Mix It Right in the Pan?
Yes! That’s actually part of what makes this recipe famous. If you’d rather mix everything in a bowl first, that’s perfectly fine too. It’ll bake exactly the same. The original method mixes everything directly in the baking dish, which means:
- fewer dishes
- less cleanup
- no mixer
- no extra bowls
Variations
This simple chocolate cake is easy to customize.
- Add chocolate chips: Fold in about a cup of semisweet chocolate chips before baking.
- Add espresso powder: A teaspoon of espresso powder deepens the chocolate flavor without making the cake taste like coffee.
- Make cupcakes: This batter works beautifully as cupcakes. Just reduce the baking time.
- Add sprinkles: Perfect for birthdays when topped with vanilla frosting.
What Kind Of Frosting Should You Use On Wacky Cake?
Wacky Cake is a chocolate cake, so there are TONS of frostings that work well here.
If you are trying to keep this dairy free, my buttercream frostings might not be the best option, but you can sub the butter out for a non-dairy butter substitute!
How to Store
Store the frosted cake tightly covered at room temperature for up to 3 days.
If your frosting contains dairy, you can refrigerate it for up to 5 days. Let slices come to room temperature before serving for the softest texture.
Can I Freeze It?
- Freeze whole or sliced.
- Wrap tightly in plastic wrap followed by foil.
- Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
Wacky Cake
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 24 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Wacky Cake is a classic egg and dairy free chocolate cake. NO mixer needed for this cake recipe, because it’s mixed right in the 9×13 pan that it’s baked in. You get a soft, chocolatey cake that you can top with any frosting you like!
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In an un-greased 9×13 baking pan sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk the ingredients together gently to combine.
- Make 3 wells in the dry ingredients. Pour the vanilla in one, the vinegar in another, and the oil in the last. Pour the water all over the top. Using a whisk or a fork, stir the batter until smooth and combined.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted int he center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool and dust with powdered sugar or frost.
Notes
I like using my Perfect Party Frosting or the poured icing from my Sunday Chocolate Cake.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 167
- Sugar: 16.8 g
- Sodium: 158.4 mg
- Fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 30 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
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How does this work with no eggs and dairy and can you leave the cocoa out and make it a vanilla “wacky cake”?? lol
i might try that one next!!! great idea
Yes. Add a little more vanilla
This cake has been made over 70 years in my family! Slightly different measurements and we use regular vinegar. You can also mix it in a bowl and pour into pan. Comes out perfect every time!
I’ve never heard of this but it does sound incredibly cool! Thanks for sharing 🙂
My mom was never a baker; still isn’t, but we were raised on this cake!! I still love it to this day & make it on occasion. She would do a margarine (yuck, I know!), coconut, pecan topping on it that was really tasty & still made it dairy free!
The cake topping your mother used sounds just like the one used for German Sweet Chocolate Cake. I remember it well. Add that fact to my making the Wacky Cake years ago from a children’s cookbook from the 50s and I feel like I just took a trip down Memory Lane!
I grew up eating this cake. We never put frosting on it. We put butter. To me it would taste strange with frosting. I might try it.
Oh my word! Butter on cake?! That might be the most genius thing I have ever heard!
I’ve been making this cake for over forty years and my family loves it! I usually put 7minute frosting on it. Yum!
Hello! Looks really delicious! could you tell me please with what supplant apple cider vinegar? I really really hate vinegar.
You can’t taste the vinegar at all. It helps with the texture of the cake!
While the cake is still hot I place plain Hershey bars on the cake to melt then carefully spread to cover the entire cake. My sister just pours chocolate chips over the warm cake.
Great idea!!
I have been making this cake for over 40 years because of children with allergies. The cake is so good that it is often used for special occasions. So quick, so easy, so good!
Hi I have been using this recipe for a long time. Always a winner in my house and with the friends. I use a different frosting. 250 ml fresh cream, beat to stiff peaks, add 1 can of caramel treat and mix. Then add 3 tbs of cocoa power with and mix again. Spread over the cake. Try it and see how you like that. Greetings from South Africa.
I’ve made this for many years. My family an solute loves it with my homemade peanut butter icing, and it’s very moist.
Stephanie, please share your frosting recipe, if you could.