Scratch It: Wacky Cake

Wacky Cake

from America's Test Kitchen

I've been following America's Test Kitchen's "Cooking Through the Decades" contest and this week's recipe is from 1945: Wacky Cake.

Even in wartime Americans were not about to deprive their sweet tooth. Unless they were dabbling in the black market or using precious ration points, homemakers found ways to avoid butter and eggs in their desserts. Wacky Cake sounds goofy but it is really a domestic science experiment gone completely right, in which the chocolate cake is moist and fluffy despite containing no eggs or butter. American bakers learned to have their cake and eat it too, realizing that serving their country and serving dessert were not mutually exclusive.

This is probably the easiest cake ever to make.  The lack of dairy makes it vegan too.  From my internet research, some people suggested that this recipe was made during the Depression and others from WWII.  Lots of people have made this from recipes passed down generation by generation.  It's definitely wacky, from the ingredients to the mixing process.


My first reaction was, "Meh ... not the best chocolate cake I've had ..."  Then I looked down at my plate and wondered where my slice went.  Apparently I inhaled it.

The texture is pretty impressive for a cake with so few ingredients.  It was fluffy and moist.  You could really taste the natural cocoa.

I baked this cake early Saturday morning.  My daughter woke up and came downstairs by the time I was taking pictures of it.  Lucky her got cake for breakfast!

 I kept trying to get this top-down picture of a cake slice on a plate, 

but she kept taking the plate for her to eat.