Wacky Cake, 3 Ways

Friday morning my computer decided to die on me. After much swearing, a few tears and a lot more swearing, I decided I’ll probably be okay. After all, for the first 18 years of my life computers weren’t exactly common and I survived just fine without Facebook, Pintrest, Instagram and Netflix. Yes, I am old enough to remember life before the Internet took over.

My plan is to write all my posts the old fashioned way, with pen and paper, and then get to the library on my day off, type, proof and schedule my posts for the week. I know myself well enough to know that that isn’t always going to happen. So if I seem to fall off the face of the internet for awhile you know why.  Now, let’s get to today’s recipe.

On Thursday, I promised all the corned beef haters out there if they stuck with me through my corned beef obsession I would have a recipe for them on Sunday.  Okay, it isn’t Sunday and one recipe isn’t an obsession.  Remember, my computer crashed and I had to leave my pile of corned beef posts in my cache for next year instead of posting them all in a row and I couldn’t get to the library until today.  But I promised, so here is my recipe for Wacky Cake, along with two variations.

The chocolate version of this cake was the one my Mom always made the kids in our family for any special occasion.  I always thought it was called Wacky Cake because Mom made it for her wacky family.   But the wackiness of this cake comes from the fact it has no eggs or dairy in it not from the fact my family is a little crazy. This makes it perfect for vegans and people with dairy and egg allergies.  Although  I have never personally tried it, I am told that the standard gluten free baking mix can be used with these recipes too.

Wacky Cake

• Difficulty: Easy
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½ cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 ½ TBS cocoa
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup water
2 ½ TBS canola oil
½ tsp vanilla
½ tsp vinegar
In a 4×4 inch baking dish, combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, salt and baking soda. Mix it until it is well combined. Make four wells, two large and two small. In the large wells, pour the water and oil. In the small wells, pour the vanilla and vinegar. Stir until well moistened. When the batter is well mixed smooth it out and spread it into place with a spatula. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Let it cool 30 minutes before slicing.

Vanilla Wacky Cake

• Difficulty: Easy
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1/2 cup flour plus 2 TBS all purpose flour
½ cup sugar
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp vinegar
¾ tsp vanilla
2 ½ TBS oil
½ cup water
In a 4×4 inch baking dish, combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda. Mix it until it is well combined. Make four wells, two large and two small. In the large wells, pour the water and oil. In the small wells, pour the vanilla and vinegar. Stir until well moistened. When the batter is well mixed smooth it out and spread it into place with a spatula. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Let it cool 30 minutes before slicing.

Spiced Wacky Cake

• Difficulty: Easy
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¾ cup plus 2 TBS all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
½ cup sugar
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp vinegar
½ tsp vanilla
2 ½ TBS vegetable oil
½ cup water
In a 4×4 inch baking dish, combine the flour, sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda. Mix it until it is well combined. Make four wells, two large and two small. In the large wells, pour the water and oil. In the small wells, pour the vanilla and vinegar. Stir until well moistened. When the batter is well mixed smooth it out and spread it into place with a spatula. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Let it cool 30 minutes before slicing.