This Easy Chocolate Wacky Cake is very quick, easy, and affordable to make. It uses no eggs or dairy and is vegan and dairy-free.
Many years ago (we're talking decades here, like 30 years ago), my Grandma made a family cookbook. Every family member submitted their favorite recipe, and she printed copies for anyone in the family who wanted one.
I was a child at the time, and the recipe I chose to submit was Chocolate Wacky Cake. You can see the photocopy of the recipe from said cookbook in the photo below, complete with dot-matrix printing and old-school graphic design (Print Shop??).
What is Wacky Cake?
If you've never tried (or heard of) wacky cake before, it's a super simple-to-make cake that uses only the most basic ingredients. It's vegan and dairy-free, which means no eggs, and no butter or milk.
It's great to make if your fridge and pantry are looking a little bare, and you're feeling like a treat. Wacky Cake was created in the Great Depression when food was scarce, and it's also great to use now when groceries are so expensive.
Wacky cake is also so simple to make, as there are no complicated steps like creaming butter and sugar together or separating eggs. It's a great starter recipe to get kids into baking. The first time I dusted this retro recipe off to test for the blog, my daughter made it by herself.
But don't let the frugal nature and the missing eggs and dairy fool you - Easy Chocolate Wacky Cake is every bit as delicious as a conventional chocolate cake. It's moist with a rich chocolate flavor. I see no reason not to let this be your default chocolate cake recipe.
How to make Easy Chocolate Wacky Cake:
Aside from using a boxed cake mix, there probably isn't an easier cake to make than this one. You only need one bowl to mix it, and the pan doesn't even need to be greased!
The cake can technically be mixed right in the pan, but when I watched my daughter make it during testing, we agreed that it was actually easier to mix it in a bowl as the pan didn't give much extra room for stirring, and we ended up with a bit of a mess of some ingredients spilling out.
To start making this cake, whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl. If any of them are particularly lumpy (especially the cocoa powder or the baking powder), I recommend sifting them to avoid any unpleasant lumps in the cake.
Make 3 wells in the mixed dry ingredients, and fill them with the oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Then simply pour some warm water (or coffee) over it all and mix with a spatula until no dry bits remain.
Pour the batter into the pan, and bake.
Just before, or immediately after taking the cake out of the oven, mix up the chocolate frosting, and frost while the cake is still hot. If you're using any of the other frosting ideas below, make sure to cool the cake completely before frosting.
Tip 💡
If you want to bake Easy Chocolate Wacky Cake in a different pan than a 9x9" square, you might need to adjust the recipe:
8x8" square: No change needed
9" round: No change needed
8" round: If your pan is 2" tall, no change should be needed. If it's only 1.5" tall, you might want to split one recipe into 2 pans to avoid overflow or divide the recipe in half.
9x13" rectangle: I would recommend multiplying all ingredients by 1 ½.
Bundt pan: If the pan is 10" wide or more across, I would recommend multiplying the recipe by 1 ½ or 2. If it's 9" across or smaller, you should be okay using a single recipe.
Easy Chocolate Wacky Cake Ingredients:
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Cocoa powder - either natural or Dutch-processed cocoa powder will work here, so use whichever one you happen to have on hand
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Table salt
- Canola oil - or use another neutral-flavored cooking oil like vegetable oil or avocado oil
- White vinegar
- Vanilla extract
- Lukewarm water - use whatever water you normally drink. Tap water is fine.
- Instant coffee powder - this is optional. It does help enhance the chocolate flavor of the cake (and frosting, if you're using it), without adding a strong coffee flavor. If you don't have any instant coffee, you could also replace the water in the recipe with a cup of cooled coffee (fresh or leftover from the morning). It's not necessary to add any coffee if you don't have any, or simply don't want to.
- Butter - this is for the optional chocolate frosting only. Use a dairy-free butter substitute to make the frosting dairy-free
- Powdered sugar - only needed for the optional chocolate frosting. You don't need this if you're not making the frosting.
- Hot water - this is for the optional chocolate frosting.
More Easy Chocolate Wacky Cake Frosting Ideas:
The frosting recipe I've included here is very basic, and more like a glaze. If you want to try something different, here are some other ideas (note that if you're using a frosting recipe that's meant to frost and fill a layered cake, you might want to cut the recipe back by at least half to avoid having too much leftover):
- Use your favorite buttercream recipe. Any frosting that goes with chocolate cake will work here. I personally love Cream Cheese Frosting with chocolate cake.
- Use your favorite flavor of store-bought frosting.
- If you're looking for the ultimate in quick and easy, simply sift some powdered sugar over the cake immediately before serving. If you want to be fancy, use a paper doily to make a pretty pattern (lift it very carefully to avoid disrupting the pattern when removing it).
- Use Nutella.
Want more chocolate cake recipes?
Easy Chocolate Wacky Cake Nutrition Notes:
The nutrition information in the recipe below is for one slice (1/9th) of the cake with frosting. If you choose to skip the frosting or frost the cake with something else, the nutrition information of your cake will vary accordingly.
This cake (but not frosting) is vegan and dairy-free as written. To make the frosting vegan and dairy-free, simply replace the butter with a non-dairy butter alternative.
Easy Chocolate Wacky Cake
Equipment
- Spatula
Ingredients
Chocolate Wacky Cake
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 3 Tablespoons canola oil or other neutral-flavored cooking oil
- 1 Tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder (optional - see note)
Easy Chocolate Frosting (Optional)
- 1 Tablespoon butter use a dairy-free butter substitute to make the frosting dairy-free
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt (skip this if using salted butter)
- ¼ teaspoon instant coffee powder (optional)
- 2 Tablespoons hot water
Instructions
Chocolate Wacky Cake
- Heat oven to 350°F. Get out a 9x9" baking pan, and set it aside (there is no need to grease it).
- In a large bowl, whisk together 1 ½ cups (180 g) all-purpose flour, 1 cup (198 g) granulated sugar, 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon (4 g) baking powder, 1 teaspoon (6 g) baking soda, and ½ teaspoon (3 g) table salt.
- Using the back of a spoon or a small measuring cup, make 3 indents into the flour mixture. Pour 3 Tablespoons (45 ml) canola oil, 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) white vinegar, and 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract into each of the indents.
- In a measuring cup, dissolve 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder (if using) into 1 cup (237 ml) lukewarm water. Pour this mixture over the mixture in the large bowl, and mix with a spatula until no dry bits remain.
- Spread the batter into the baking pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it.
Easy Chocolate Frosting (Optional)
- Make the frosting just before the cake will be done, or immediately after taking it out. Add 1 Tablespoon butter (no need to soften), 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 pinch salt, ¼ teaspoon instant coffee powder , and 2 Tablespoons hot water to a medium bowl. Mix on low speed with a hand mixer, then when all of the powdered sugar has been incorporated, turn up to medium. Mix for about 1 minute, then spread onto the cake while it is still hot.
- Cool the cake to room temperature before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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