Birthday Cake
Last week was my daughter's 15th birthday. She asked for a chocolate cake with vanilla icing. I am not a big baker or even an everyday cook. I am blessed to have a husband who enjoys cooking and willingly cooks the family meal most days. I do cook now and then. Because we simply don't need the calories of baked goods its a treat when I do bake.
Anyways... its my daughter's birthday and she wanted a birthday cake. Ok... I immediately think of Wacky Cake. Have you ever heard of that? I grew up on this and I'm pretty sure its the most often baked cake in our family history. Not only is it super moist and tastes good but its easy, its fast and it doesn't require a lot of ingredients. The most likely reason its made is because we probably already had those ingredients in our cupboards so it didn't require a trip to the store. There are no eggs, butter or milk in this cake.
And that is the reason I made Wacky Cake for my daughter's 15th birthday last week. Before I give you the recipe, I want to share a funny story that is constantly told when the family gets together and Wacky Cake comes up.
Funny Story
As I mentioned above, I grew up on this cake. I come from a big family of 8 kids but by the time I was in my early teens, only 5 of us kids were still living at home. My father had a grocery/garden combination store. We lived above the store. That comes in handy sometimes if we need an ingredient and hope my dad carries it in his store! Anyways, all of us kids were expected to work in the store. I just so happened to be half of a twin so when we came home from school, one of us was responsible for making supper (we didn't call it dinner in those days) and the other one responsible for working in the store until it was time to eat. Since I was not a big fan of cooking, I usually opted to work in the store and my twin sister made supper. However now and then we did switch roles.
Trying to impress my family that I could cook if I wanted to, I decided to make a Wacky Cake for dessert one day. I had made this before so it was not the first time I made this. I carefully followed all the instructions and it came out beautifully. My mom came in the kitchen and asked why it smelled like vinegar. I told her I made a wacky cake for dessert. We had supper and then it was time to have dessert. I proudly showed off my Wacky Cake. I think it was my mom who had the first piece. She took a bite, made a face and spit it out. OH NO... it was that awful?? Seemed I had switched the measurements for vinegar and water! Oh boy! So.... obviously that explained why the whole kitchen smelled like vinegar and why we didn't have dessert that night. (I don't remember for sure but we probably sent someone down to the store to pick out a bag of cookies or something for our dessert that meal! We ALWAYS had dessert with our meals)
So, I take a ribbing about this every time Wacky Cake comes up in the family. Here is the recipe.... be sure NOT to switch the measurements for vinegar and water! Consider yourself warned.
Wacky Cake
3 cup flour
2 cup sugar
6 tbs cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Salt
Mix the above dry ingredient in a bowl with a fork. Make a well in the middle to pour the liquids in.
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tablespoons Vinegar
3/4 oil
2 cups water
Mix the liquids together with a fork
Pour the liquid into well made in the dry ingredient bowl. Stir with fork.
Pour into a rectangle cake pan (this does not work as a double cake. Its too moist)
Bake 350 degrees for 40 mins.
After cake cools, sprinkle with a dusting of confectioner sugar or icing of your choice.
More facts about Wacky Cake
I googled "Wacky Cake" and found out more about this recipe ...
Wacky Cake was actually born out of the seriousness of wartime rationing. At various times during the world wars, eggs, butter, sugar, and milk were all in short supply, so inventive home cooks and home economists did their best to create dishes with limited ingredients. Wacky cake is a moist chocolate cake prepared, miraculously enough, without eggs or butter.
Enjoy.
