Wacky Cake for Wacky Weather

It’s Valentine’s Day and after the week we’ve had in Western Washington—two feet of snow in Union where I live—I’m ready to celebrate.
 
Going out to dinner isn’t a great option considering most restaurants haven’t been able to receive deliveries and are operating on limited menus, if they’re open at all.
 
And I’m going to wait a few days before heading to the market since our walkway is icy and snow is piled everywhere.
 
Fortunately, for those times when I’m stuck scouring the pantry, there’s Wacky Cake, popular during World War 2 when butter, milk, and eggs were in short supply. It’s a quick and easy recipe, that can easily be made gluten-free and vegan.
 
I’m not typically a food blogger—and I don’t enjoy reading through long posts to get to the recipes, but as I was assembling the cake late this morning, I thought, why not share the recipe, since there are thousands of us digging out from the snow in the region?
 
So, with my apologies for the narrative, here’s the recipe:
 
Wacky Chocolate Cake
 
Prep time: 5-10 minutes minutes
Cooking time: 25-30 minutes
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour an 8X8 or 9X9 pan (I use a Baker’s Edge pan for brownie-like cake)
 
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl:
1 ½ cups flour (I used a gluten-free flour blend)
¾ to 1 cup granulated sugar (I like mine less sweet)
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
 
In a large measuring cup pour:
½ cup oil (I ran out of canola, so used olive oil instead)
1 cup milk, milk substitute, or water (I used So Delicious Coconut milk)
1 tsp vanilla
 
Stir liquid ingredients together and add:
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar (I think white vinegar would work, too)
 
Stir again and immediately add to the dry ingredients.
Stir quickly (you’ll start to see bubbling) until just mixed.
Pour into the baking pan and cook 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.
​Let cool before serving.

Super Chocolatey variation: Stir ½ c chocolate chips into the dry mix
Vanilla variation: Increase vanilla to 1 Tablespoon; omit cocoa powder

As for frosting—a squirt of whip cream, a dusting of powdered sugar are quick and easy. I have neither, so I’ll be serving it plain tonight with a glass of prosecco from a bottle we didn’t drink on New Year’s Eve. 

Happy Valentines Day!
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