Depression as in The Great Depression, not depression as in “this cake will cure your depression.” 😅Since a lot of us are experiencing ingredient shortages right now, I thought there was no better time to post this Chocolate Depression Cake (also known as Crazy Cake or Wacky Cake), which was also born out of a time when ingredients were in limited supply—The Great Depression. This unique cake is rich and chocolatey without using any eggs, milk, or butter. A cake without butter?? So “wacky,” I know.
How Do You Make Cake Without Eggs or Butter?
Butter usually serves to keep cake soft and tender by coating the flour molecules in fat and preventing them from developing a tough gluten matrix. In this recipe, butter is replaced with the cooking oil of your choice, which can achieve the safe effect, but with slightly less richness.
Eggs usually help leaven cakes by creating steam that puffs up the batter, then giving structure to the risen cake as the proteins firm up. In this cake, the eggs are replaced with a combination of vinegar and baking soda, which foams up quickly, making the cake light and fluffy. It’s almost like a giant version of my Chocolate Mug Cake, if you’ve ever tried that. Anne Byrn’s 1917 Apple Sauce Cake also uses a similar no-egg, no-butter style batter.
Is This the Best Chocolate Cake?
Haha, let’s be real, this cake doesn’t have butter. So while it’s probably not the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had, it’s a damn fine treat when your cabinets are bare. Not to mention it’s incredibly easy. Anyone can make this cake, and with very little cooking equipment or ingredients. For those two reasons alone, this is a good recipe to keep tucked in your back pocket (or your browser’s bookmarks). Also, it just happens to be vegan!
How to Serve Depression Cake
I made a super simple dairy-free chocolate icing to top my cake, but be aware that this type of dairy-free icing is super sweet because there is no fat to kind of mellow out the sweetness. If you’re not into super sweet icings, I suggest skipping the icing and just dusting your cake with powdered sugar after it cools (if you do it while the cake is still hot the powdered sugar will dissolve). Or, if you do have butter on hand, you can go with a more traditional chocolate buttercream frosting. A scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of an icing free slice of this cake would also be divine.
Chocolate Depression Cake (No Eggs, Butter, or Milk)
Servings 9 1 slice eachIngredients
Chocolate Cake
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour ($0.23)
- 1 cup granulated sugar ($0.80)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1 tsp baking soda ($0.02)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ($0.21)
- 1/3 cup cooking oil* ($0.21)
- 1 Tbsp vinegar** ($0.06)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.30)
- 1 cup water ($0.00)
Chocolate Icing
- 1.5 cups powdered sugar ($0.10)
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder ($0.16)
- 3 Tbsp water ($0.00)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.30)
Instructions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder until well combined.
- Add 1 cup water to a liquid measuring cup, then add the vanilla extract and vinegar to the water.
- Add the oil to the bowl of dry ingredients, followed by the water mixture. Stir until the chocolate cake batter is mostly smooth. Make sure no dry flour remains on the bottom of the bowl.
- Pour the cake batter into an 8×8" or 9×9" baking dish. Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake the cake for 35 minutes.
Chocolate Icing
- If using the chocolate icing, let the cake cool for at least an hour after baking before adding the icing.
- Wait until the cake is cool, then prepare the icing. Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract to a bowl. Begin adding water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it forms a thick but pourable icing (about 3 Tbsp total). If you let the icing sit, it may begin to dry, but you can add a splash more water to make it moist again.
- Pour the icing over the cooled cake and spread until the cake is evenly covered. Slice the cake into 9 pieces and serve.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Chocolate Cake with No Butter, No Eggs, and No Milk – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a large bowl combine 1.5 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, and ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder. Stir these ingredients together until they’re well combined.
Measure 1 cup water in a liquid measuring cup, then add 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 Tbsp vinegar (any light vinegar, like white vinegar, rice vinegar, or apple cider vinegar). Add ⅓ cup cooking oil and the water mixture to the dry ingredients.
Stir until a thick cake batter forms. A few lumps are okay, but make sure no dry flour remains on the bottom of the bowl.
Pour the cake batter into an 8×8 or 9×9 inch baking dish.
Bake the cake in the fully preheated 350ºF oven for 35 minutes. If you plan to make the chocolate icing, cool the cake for at least an hour before making and adding the icing.
To make the icing, simply add 1.5 cups powdered sugar, ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa, and 1 tsp vanilla extract to a bowl. Starting with one tablespoon water, stir in water until it forms a thick icing (about 3 Tbsp total). The powdered sugar only needs a very small amount of liquid to melt into a thick icing. If you let the icing sit for a bit, it can dry out, but can be moistened again by stirring in another splash of water.
Pour the prepared icing over the baked and cooled cake, then spread into an even layer. Cut the cake into nine equal pieces, then serve!
It’s also really good with a glass of milk or scoop of ice cream. ;)
Just reading your mug recipes and found the chocolate mug cake with peanut butter inside. I’m thinking how wonderful a easy peanut butter or nut butter frosting would be on top of this cake. Thank you for all the great recipes. Stay Safe and Healthy Everyone.
This cake is surprisingly delightful. As someone who doesn’t love overly sweet things, I cut the sugar in the cake to 1/2 cup, and cut the frosting into 1/3 of the original amount (so 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, etc.). Came out at the perfect sweetness for me.
I think doing the recipe as written with the frosting would be a bit saccharine for most people.
So good! Life hack: crush up mini eggs and sprinkle them over the top of the cake after frosting. Did this for an Easter treat last weekend and it was amazing :)
I made this yesterday because I was craving chocolate cake and have a limited supply of ingredients due to quarantine. I was able to splurge and make a chocolate buttercream frosting to accompany it rather than the drizzle. The cake was so light and airy it almost felt like I could eat it for breakfast! The chocolate buttercream really evened it out and it was a super satisfying treat. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
King Arthur Flour calls this “cake pan cake” and suggests a ganache frosting made by melting chocolate chips with half and half or with almond milk. I like to add a little offer to anything chocolate,not deepen the flavor. Say a generous teaspoon of espresso powder or sub some strong coffee for some of the milk.
I need it, right now! So I am going to prepare it, my kids will be happy too! Thanks for the recipe :)
I loved how easy and delicious it was!
Beth, you’re amazing and especially right now in these tough times, your food is putting smiles on my family’s faces.
Don’t know what I would do without you and your website. Food=love and life
I went ahead and tried this and was blown away by how good it was. I don’t know why I was skeptical of a vegan cake, but it was really moist and delicious! I don’t think I’ll ever go back to making chocolate cakes with eggs, milk or butter! I’m glad to have a new dessert option for my vegan friends.
This turned out surprisingly good (not sure why I was so skeptical…). I cut the sugar back to 2/3 cup and sprinkled some chocolate chips on top before baking. I didn’t add frosting or powdered sugar (it was plenty sweet as is). Super easy and yummy.
You can mix this cake right in the pan — I know the recipe from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks At Home.
Me too! I also sub coffee for the water though
My mom has made this for us growing up and her mother made it for her, we call it wacky cake.
My 14 year old made this for us on Easter Sunday. My kids thought I was trying to sneak one by them with a vegan cake, but we all loved how delicious it was.
I’ve always known this as Crazy Cake, but my recipe is slightly different – 2 heaping TBSP of cocoa, bake for 30 minutes. We usually make it as cupcakes (makes 12) and actually prefer it without frosting (and I LOVE frosting). The tops are not as soft as other cupcakes, not hard exactly, I’m not sure how to describe them. Definitely a great recipe because you don’t have to have eggs or wait for butter to soften. Just throw everything in the bow. and mix it up. Just make sure you get all of the lumps because they’re disgusting. My brother loved the lumps so when he made it he’d leave it lumpy on purpose so he could have the whole thing to himself. I like the comments about using coffee instead of water – I think I’ll try that next time.
bowl, not bow!
Thank you!! My mother had a recipe for “Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake”–it had lots of raisins in it. She was not a baker, but it was always good!
Could you share the recipe? My grandma used to make that as well (born in 1910 and raised birthed her babies during and after WWII on nothing) . I don’t like raisins but I love them in her cake!!
It’s fun to make do with less or with alternative ingredients! I remember making this cake when I lived in India in the 90’s and didn’t have an oven. We would place the baking pan on top of a layer of sand in larger pan and bake it on low to medium heat I guess. What a treat that was indeed!!