Wacky Cake for an Equally Wacky Family

Growing up, my mom would make a cake she called Wacky Cake. I thought it was just her making up a name because she had forgotten the real name, but as it turns out, it wasn't made up at all.

(I also thought she was very unoriginal in her naming of the most amazingly, moist, chocolate cake to ever grace my dessert plate, but that's beside the point.)

This cake is eyes-rolling-to-the-back-of-your-head good. Period. It is also made without butter, milk, and eggs, which during the Depression Era were extravagant ingredients that most didn't have on hand. And this is a cake born from that era, without the need for hydrogenated soybean oil, modified corn starch, and polysorbate 60.

My goodness. They were just down-right barbaric. And they probably had a glass of raw milk with their cake too.

Heathens.

One of the reasons I liked making this cake so much was the ease in which it went together. Well, not really. It was more about getting to play in a big chocolate cake-battered bowl and having plenty to lick when I was through. This is all made in one bowl, using one spoon to stir, then poured into a prepared cake pan. Of course, I found ways to use several spoons, a spatula, and a couple of fingers, but that's because I knew how good this was.

And since my mom was busy watching new episodes of "Dallas", she couldn't make empty threats of how I wasn't going to have any of the finished product...

Next time you need a cake in a hurry, forgo the boxed mixes and give this a try. It goes together just as quickly and only has a handful of ingredients that spell-check actually recognizes.

Even better? This has the approval rating from the ones who count.

Teenage girls!

Happy 17th Birthday Amanda Ruth!

~Chocolate Wacky Cake~

3 cups all-purpose, organic flour (I used 1 cup soft wheat pastry flour and 2 cups white flour)

2 cups organic sugar

1 t. sea salt

2 t. baking soda

1/2 cup baking cocoa (sift it to remove lumps)

1/2 cup melted coconut oil (I used refined, but unrefined with flavor would be heavenly!)

2 Tb. white vinegar

2 cups hot tap water

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, optional

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Grease a 9 x 13" pan with some coconut oil. Dust with a little cocoa powder; dump over sink to remove excess.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and cocoa.

Make 2 wells in the flour mixture.

Pour melted coconut oil in one well; vinegar in the other well.

Pour hot water over entire mixture.

Using a wire whisk or wooden spoon, stir until smooth. Pour into prepared pan; sprinkle with chocolate chips (if using). Bake for 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

I don't like to frost this cake, but for special occasions, I'll dust the top with powdered sugar just before serving.

Just make sure that the cook has plenty of utensils to lick while preparing.

Trust me.☺

Enjoy!