This delicious one pan chocolate wacky cake is moist and decadent, you would never guess that it is made with just a few pantry ingredients and takes only 35 minutes to make. Even better, it comes together in a single pan meaning minimal clean up. This is the perfect cake to make when you have a chocolate craving, need a last minute birthday cake, or bake sale treat.
It might be difficult to believed that the chocolatey flavor and spongy texture are created without any eggs, dairy or butter. That’s right, this is technically a vegan chocolate cake when its not iced. However, the suggested chocolate frosting in this recipe is not dairy free, but it is absolutely delicious.
My mom used to make this recipe when I was growing up, I never wondered at the time why it was called wacky cake. It turns out it chocolate wacky cake likely originated from the Great Depression or possibly the Second World War. With scarce ingredients available, a cake recipe was developed that did not require hard to find ingredients like eggs and diary. The removal of these normal ingredients gave the cake its name wacky cake!
It tastes just as decedent best homemade chocolate cakes. You’ll never notice it’s a dairy free, egg free and vegan cake.
Why you’ll love this one pan chocolate wacky cake
- One Pan Dessert: this cake comes together in a single pan with less than 5 minutes of prep time. If you need a quick and easy cake, one pan chocolate wacky cake is it!
- Incredible Frosting: this chocolate frosting has an absolutory incredible flavor and texture, it is silky smooth and full of fudgy chocolate flavor. Make it on it own, its addictive.
- Dairy Free: the base receipt for this chocolate wacky cake is dairy free and doesn’t have eggs. Making it a great recipe if you have someone with special or specific dietary needs. If you are making this for someone who cannot eat these ingredients, you will not be able to use the frosting below, instead simply dusted with icing sugar.
Ingredients (and substitutes)
To make this easy cake only needs 8 ingredients, all of which can be found in most pantries.
- Flour – Regular all purpose flour is all you need for this recipe.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – For the best flavor we would recommend getting high quality cocoa powder. We usually use Fry’s Premium Baking Cocoa Powder.
- Apple Cider Vinegar – You can easily substitute white vinegar if you don’t have apple cider vinegar in your pantry.
- Vanilla – For the best flavor we recommend using high quality pure vanilla extract.
How to make one pan chocolate wacky cake from scratch (with photos)
Chocolate wacky cake is incredibly quickly and easy to make, the secret to keeping the bake time short is using a metal backing dish. In particular, aluminum will heat quickly and will evenly conduct the heat in the oven making ensuring a faster baking time.
Sift dry ingredients into pan.
Make 3 wells.
Add wet ingredients into wells.
Pour water over everything.
Whisk everything together.
Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
Questions about chocolate wacky cake
What is chocolate wacky cake? Also called depression cake or crazy cake, wacky cake was a popular dessert from the great depression when it was difficult to buy eggs, butter, and milk.
Can I make chocolate wacky cake with coffee? Absolutely, a popular variation on this cake is to substitute 1 cup of warm coffee for the lukewarm water.
What type of frosting goes on chocolate wacky cake? Honestly, you can ice this cake with any frosting of your choice. We have included a decadent chocolate frosting with our recipe, but you can easily use your favorite frosting for normal chocolate cake.
One Pan Chocolate Wacky Cake
Equipment
- 9×9 square baking dish preferably aluminum
Ingredients
Cake
- 1½ cup flour
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract pure is best
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 5 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup water lukewarm
Chocolate Frosting (optional)
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1½ cup confectioners sugar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- 2 tbsp whole milk or cream room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat: Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Sift: Sift together all dry ingredients into a square 9×9 inch metal baking pan. Ensure all ingredients are fully mixed before creating 3 wells.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Pour vanilla into the first well, apple cider vinegar into the second well, and vegetable oil into the third well. Pour 1 cup lukewarm water over everything and mix.
- Bake: Bake for 30 minutes, When an inserted toothpick is removed with a few crumbs the cake is done. Let it cool fully before icing
Chocolate Frosting (optional)
- Make Frosting: Combine butter, cocoa, honey, vanilla and confectioners sugar in a mixer on medium/low for about 30-45 seconds. Slowly add milk one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Spread over cooled cake.
very easy cake recipe, flavour of the frosting was delicious
Thank you for posting this. I am going to try it today. God bless you!
Was so easy to make and came out moist fluffy and delicious. A no fail recipe for sure!
e had my brother in-law for dinner tonight. I made this cake and it was a hit! So super easy to make and the frosting is divine!!!!
Made this tonight. Added little extra vanilla to the frosting. It did make quite a bit of icing but no one was complaining!