Ready for a ridiculously easy, (accidentally) vegan chocolate cake, with no fussy ingredients? One that can be stacked and thrown together in the back of a moving car if need be? Well look no further! I present to you: double chocolate wacky cake! A delicious, simple, chocolatey and satisfying chocolate cake that requires no eggs or dairy like traditional cakes. “Wacky cake” AKA “Crazy cake” AKA “Depression Cake” has been around since ——well obviously- the Great Depression, when insufficient resources and ingredients lead them to experiment. People are so resourceful when they need to be! (Read: chocolate addiction is a powerful tool.)

My take on a double chocolate wacky cake includes dairy free chocolate chips to keep with the overall vegan element. There are also no strange replacements for the standard cake ingredients, and it is versatile af. Thanking all the folks in generations before me who needed cake bad enough to try it with vinegar. If it works, it works, right?!

As mentioned before, this cake can be layered; it is perfect for stacking since it creates a cake with substantial texture, while still being moist and light. It can be used to make three (3), 6x .75 inch round pans. This is a shallow pan, for easily making layered cakes. Alternatively you could make it in one 8×8 pan, OR cupcakes, OR possibly 7×11 Pyrex glass rectangular pan (it would be thinner and require shorter baking time.)

The recipe in this post makes 3 small cakes, though you will see in the pictures I have only frosted and stacked 2 cakes. Why? Because this cake freezes beautifully! Now I have one little cake in my freezer, ready whenever I need it!

How to achieve a 2 layer double chocolate wacky cake

Preheat oven to 350℉; lightly grease baking pans and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine and whisk flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt

To the dry ingredients, add the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Mix with spoon until batter comes together. Stir in chocolate chips gently.

If making three shallow 6x.75 inch pans, weigh batter, then evenly divide by 3 (or just eyeball it.) Pans will be filled 3/4 way full. If using an 8×8 pan pour all in at once, or if making cupcakes distribute batter evenly, a little over half way filled per cup.

For the 6 inch round pans, bake for 20-25 minutes, just until set, when toothpick comes out clean and tops spring back when lightly tapped.

Allow to cool completely before removing from pans and frosting! Warm or hot cakes will melt the butter in the frosting and it’ll turn into a chocolate cake slip-and-slide.. fun in theory, not practical though!

Things that helped in the kitchen for this recipe, and can help you too:

Kitchen scale -from amazon, this one I used for 1-2 years, its inexpensive but gets the job done! The one I currently have is unavailable, but maybe your luck will change that when you stumble upon this post!

6 inch shallow round cake pan set (amazon) Surprisingly versatile pans; I have used these for my cornbread recipe and for a rainbow layered cake (the intentional design and use haha.)

Nestle Toll House Cocoa powder – I prefer this brand but you can use whatever you have on hand!

Dairy free/ allergen free chocolate chips – Enjoy Life brand is a great allergy friendly brand! Trader Joes also sells dairy free chocolate chips however I can’t speak to how allergy friendly they are!

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