Jackson’s Wacky Cake
This wacky chocolate cake is perfect for the little bakers in your home. It is egg-free and mixed entirely in the baking pan, but still moist and delicious.
This cake has been around for years and years. Lots of little variations out there but the same basic recipe. An egg-free cake put together and mixed entirely in the baking pan.
Weird, I know. But it works. Not only in moist, delicious, chocolatey taste, but in the fact that a 7-year old can make it start to finish himself.
Every night at dinner, Jackson begs me to take a picture of his dinner plate to post on my cooking blog. I usually take a picture to humor him but little does he know his plate of slop never makes the cut from there to here.
So when I told him I was going to post his wacky cake on this here blog, you should have seen his face. He was grinning from ear to ear and told all of the neighbor kids after school with hardly concealed excitement that “my wacky cake is going on the blog” which basically is the same as saying “blah blah blah blah” to a bunch of other 4-7 year old boys.
They looked at him like he was, well, wacky, and ran off to hop on the trampoline. Their cool response didn’t phase him. Oh no! He is proud as can be and even though I told him he was the star of this blog post, I have to admit, this is one tasty little chocolate cake. Make it today! Or better yet, have some 7-year old you know make it for you!
Jackson’s Wacky Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (213 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (159 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (21 g) natural cocoa powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup water
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 8-inch-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in pan. Make 1 large and 2 small craters in dry ingredients. Add oil to large crater and vinegar and vanilla separately to remaining small craters. Pour water into pan and mix until just a few streaks of flour remain. Use a rubber spatula to spread the batter evenly in the pan if it isn’t level after mixing. Immediately put pan in oven.
- Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 23-25 minutes. Don’t overbake or the cake will be dry! Cool the cake in pan, then dust with confectioners’ sugar. The cooled cake can be stored tightly covered in plastic wrap for 2-3 days. As a sidenote, this cake is made completely otherworldly by serving it with a scoop of ice cream or a hefty dollop of sweetened whipped cream.
- For cupcakes, I use the following amounts (after a lot of trial and error): 3 cups flour, 1 3/4 cups sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa, 2 teaspoons soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 3/4 cup oil, 1 tablespoon white vinegar, 2 teaspoons vanilla and 2 cups cold water. Follow the mixing directions, using a bowl instead of a baking pan. Spoon the batter into lined cupcake pans about 1/2 to 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees for 16-19 minutes.
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Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Cook’s Country
My 8year old daughter watched the Great British Baking Show on TV and was dying to learn how to bake a cake. I remembered seeing this recipe so I turned her loose on it with minimal interference (I had to intervene when she was trying to measure 3/4 CUPs of baking soda :)) and she was proud as can be that she did it! Awesome yummy recipe, I think we will be eating a lot of it!
I made your cupcake adaption – yum! So good! Even without any frosting it is so yummy. I ended up having just a little batter left over, but me and my littles had no problem taking care of that!
A very similar version of your recipe has been in my family for at least 60 years. It was my Grandmother’s recipe. She called it “Crazy Cake” & she frosted it with a white frosting. It was handed down to my Mother but she wasn’t ever able to figure out the directions. When I got older I asked for the recipe (because I love to bake & I am very sentimental about family recipes). I was finally able to decipher it & started baking it for my family. I just baked it for this Thanksgiving dinner (2015). A couple of days later my Mother was telling me that while my Step Father was eating the piece he took home for later was saying how good it was & asked if I had anymore left. During the conversation I started to wonder what the origin of the cake was, so I decided to look it up. I was very surprised at how easy it was to find & how much information was written about it. Thanks for sharing.
Question- I’ve been making a similar recipe for years because my son is allergic to dairy and eggs but i am doubling it this time but i noticed that on your recipe for the cupcakes that the ingredients are all doubled from the original recipe except for the vinegar. Is that right? Maybe it doesn’t need to be, i don’t know but wanted to check 😉
I believe I found that out via experience for just the cupcakes – if doubling it for a cake, I’d probably double the vinegar.
This has been my go-to dessert when I need something quick and easy. It’s the best cake ever! Very moist and the perfect chocolate flavor. To dress it up we drizzle some chocolate syrup over it and top it with whipped cream. Perfection! Thanks for this great recipe.
Hi Mel,
Would you be able to tell me if this cake could be adjusted somehow to do a 2-9inch round cakes? I plan on cutting down those cakes into 2-5 inch rounds as my daughter wants her own little cake (although I may just do her own special cupcake) but any suggestions on how to cut that down into a 5 inch without hacking it with a knife? Thank you!
Hey Melissa – I wish I was more help with this recipe. I’ve made it as per the recipe and also as cupcakes but haven’t tried it in other shapes. I think it should bake as 2 9-inch rounds just fine (they might be on the thin side). Do you have smaller pans (like a 6-inch round pan)?
I will definitely try that idea…smaller rounds! Thank you for the tip!
Yay Mel! Now I can make my daughter (who is allergic to eggs) chocolate birthday cupcakes! Would you suggest using Dutch process or natural cocoa powder? Thanks!
I’d suggest the natural cocoa powder since that’s what the recipe calls for and it reacts perfectly with the vinegar and leavening in the cake. Good luck!
This is the same cake handed down to me from my grandma, but she called it Goofy Chocolate Cake 🙂 my husband and 3-year-old made it the other day and it was crazily moist and delicious!
I’ve used this recipe for decades. My mother in law said it started in the Great Depression when eggs were scarce. I often just mix it in a bowl by hand or in my mixer. It makes great cup cakes. I’ve even used it for a wedding cake. It is vegan friendly so I take it to parties too. For the person asking about the vinegar, it helps activate the cocoa powder so you don’t want to use Dutch processed cocoa which has already had an acid wash. (Those might not be the right technical terms but I hope you understand.)
Its my oldest’s 4th birthday today. He helped me make this last night 🙂 he was so happy to be able to do most of it himself!
Abby made this tonight. Of course we added chocolate chips:)
I made these into a cupcake bouquet for my mom for mothers day because she’s allergic to eggs. The cupcake was super moist, its my new favorite chocolate cupcake, I even like it better than martha’s one bowl. I also made a coffee frosting that made my buttercream rose cupcakes smell delicious! check them out at
http://cookingwith-gina.blogspot.com/2012/05/mocha-bouquet.html
Dear Jackon, I love your waky cake, it was good, I am 8 years old, and I made it for Family Home Evening last night. It was kind of like a yummy science experiment. The dusting of suger on top was a good idea. Thanks
Well I’ll be – this is the same recipe I used to make as a child 50 + years ago! It was the first thing I remember baking on my own. I still have the recipe in my handwriting from that long ago…and it is titled Crazy Cake! Wacky Cake or Crazy Cake, it’s delicious. I haven’t made it for years and I’m hungry for it again…very soon!
This is such an adorable post! You’re a great mom! I’ll have to make this cake with my nieces and nephews sometime. 🙂
Jackson looks adorable and I love how excited he was about being on the blog. Kids warm my heart!
We had a great time making this cake and even blogged about it! Thanks for your wacky recipe!
http://marielleshow.blogspot.com/2011/06/marielle-and-jennas-smooth-cake.html