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. ;)
WONDERFUL I TRIED IT AND GUESS WHAT MY DAY WAS FILLED WITH LAUGHTER AND JOY
Delicious! I recently took this cake to a birthday party and everyone snapped it right up. I love how easy the recipe is, and that it’s free of all animal products – please keep the vegan recipes coming! This is definitely a keeper, and will be my go-to for future dessert requests.
Tastes like chocolate bread, kinda bland but it’s okay I guess.
FORGET WHAT I SAID EARLIER. PAIR IT WITH ICE CREAM AND YOU ARE SET IT IS SO DELICIOUS AND I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW MAGNIFICENT THIS RECIPE IS.
This was so good! I think you really sell yourself short by saying this isn’t the best chocolate cake, I loved it. It’s like a cross between a brownie and a cake. I made it without frosting but I threw in some chocolate chips.
My 6 yr old made this for her student teaching day at school. She loved it and it was very easy to make!
Made this tonight as both my parents remembered this kind of thing from their childhoods…we did tweak the toping though, as we did not want frosting and plain sugar seemed tame. We have another recipe that uses this topping and it is great: once the batter is in the pan but before you pop it in the oven, sprinkle over the top in this order: 1/2 cup chocolate chips (we used minis), 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (feel free to sub any other nut or skip if you don’t like/can’t have nuts), and 1/4 cup sugar (normal white sugar). Bake as directed. This gives you a slightly crunchy top with nice melty chips, not too sweet. Cake was tasty, though as noted not super rich. It’s easy for anyone to make.
So good!
Perfection! Light, moist, tasty and not overly sweet! Family loved it and has already requested another cake be made as soon as I can.
It’s so refreshing to find a tasty recipe and put it together in no time at all! Thanks for another delicious winner!
My mom would make this and called it “Texas Sheet Cake” she made it on a cookie sheet. We all loved it!
When I came across this recipe, I thought it was TOO GOOD to be true for it to be so simple with all the kitchen staples. i jumped off my seat to start baking to prove myself that this can’t be real.
i substituted oil for applesauce (1:1), and the sugar was dialed back to half. there was just the slightest tinge of sweetness but that’s my general preference for these type of pastries as i often have this with jam or something sweet like honey as a drizzle. i did not make the icing.
verdict: this recipe is my new keeper – thank you SO much for sharing this!!! :) i hv officially been proven wrong and such easy DELICIOUS recipes can exist!!;)
ps. can i sub some component of whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, chickpea flour? I used all-purpose flour and it turned out very nice! not too dense, not too light.
Wow! So surprised how delicious this cake is. I have never made a chocolate cake from scratch, but this is way better than the boxed mixes, and cheaper to boot. It was also really easy to throw together in a few minutes this afternoon. I added a handful of chocolate chips which probably lent a little extra richness, and it was so good. Very moist, not too airy, and full of chocolate flavor. I halved the recipe for my household of two and baked it in a 6″ square dish. I will absolutely make this again anytime we are craving something easy and chocolate.
I just made this yesterday because I was looking for baking recipes with limited ingredients and came across this. It turned out great! Thanks so much for the recipe!
I’ve made this cake twice, second time by request, and it’s one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve ever made!! It came out perfect each time and was so simple to make!! I posted a picture of it on FB and had many requests for the recipe!!
Thanks so much Beth!
This was an amazing cake and has been incredibly popular with my co-workers during the pandemic. We’ve taken the approach “if you’re (even a little) depressed, you should make this cake” :) It’s so easy to make, not too sweet, fluffy and moist, and did I say EASY?! I love trying new recipes but especially those which are simple and use ingredients I likely have already. This has inspired me to look for more depression-era recipes, and I hope you try some and post them here too. Budget Bytes is my #1 go-to recipe site, and I’d love to see more content like this while we’re all adjusting.
I also use this cake a lot because of food allergies. It’s so yummy! If you make a ganache instead of frosting and pour it on while the cake is hot right from the oven, it will deflate the cake a bit and give it a chewier texture almost like brownies.