This Wacky Chocolate Cake is a simple chocolate cake made with everyday ingredients including flour, cocoa, sugar, oil, water and vinegar. It’s an easy recipe to bring together when you feel like a homemade chocolate cake without any fuss.

The vinegar works with the other ingredients to help create a lovely cake texture, while cocoa gives it plenty of chocolate flavour. It’s a handy cake recipe to have on hand for all sorts of occasions.

Why is Wacky Chocolate Cake also called Depression Cake?

This lovely moist chocolate cake is often known as War Cake or Depression Cake. It is believed to have originated during the Great Depression in the USA in the 1930s, when ingredients such as eggs, milk and butter were either scarce or too expensive for many families.

Recipes were often shared in annuals and newsletters as a way to help families make do with what they had and reduce the use of certain ingredients. Common recipes were adapted and recreated, using substitutions such as oil instead of butter and baking powder in place of eggs.

Which vinegar should I use in Wacky Chocolate Cake?

This recipe calls for vinegar, and depending on which recipe you look at, it will vary from white vinegar, apple cider vinegar or what I have used today which is malt vinegar. Any of those 3 types of vinegar is fine. It is used to react with the baking soda.

For a richer darker cake, you can use a cup of coffee instead of the water for a lovely result. You cannot taste the coffee, it just brings out the cocoa even more.

What ingredients do I need for Wacky Chocolate Cake?

The best bit is that the ingredients I use here are all pantry staples so at a time where we are now looking for ways to create value with our baking and cooking I thought it would be a wonderful recipe to share.

These are the ingredients required:

• Plain white flour
• Sugar
• Cocoa powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Vinegar (Apple Cider, White or Malt)
• Vanilla essence
• Water
• Oil (Vegetable or Canola)

Why is Wacky Chocolate Cake also called a 3 hole cake?

Some people also refer to it as a 3 hole cake. This is because historically the cake was made in the same pan you cooked it in! You simply add the dry ingredients, then make 3 holes to pop the various wet ingredients in, whisk together and then bake in the same pan.

I don’t do it this way as I worry about it sticking. So, I do use a separate bowl to prepare the cake then add to a lined baking pan.

How to make Wacky Chocolate Cake

The method could not be more simple. I sift together the flour, cocoa and baking soda. Then add the sugar and salt and whisk all together. Then you add in the wet ingredients and whisk until no lumps remain.

Pour this into the lined baking pan and bake for around 35 minutes until it springs back to the touch or a skewer comes out clean or just a few damp crumbs remain. Then allow it to cool before icing.

If things haven’t quite worked out in the past, I’ve put together a helpful guide to common baking mistakes and how to fix them here.

How can I serve Wacky Chocolate Cake?

The cake itself is so flavourful and moist. You definitely do not miss those extra ingredients. The cake can be served as is or with an icing of your choice. If you are keeping the cake completely dairy free then use your favourite icing that suits your needs.

What icing works best with Wacky Chocolate Cake?

I like to use my basic chocolate icing here which is simply icing sugar, butter, vanilla and cocoa powder and a splash of water to the right consistency. If you wish, you can use margarine to keep this dairy free if you’d prefer.

Other cake recipes to try

I love a good chocolate cake! I have quite a few versions now be sure to check them out too:

• The Best Ever Chocolate Cake
• Grandma’s Microwave Chocolate Cake
• Easy Chocolate Cake
• Chocolate Strawberry Cake
• Flourless Chocolate Cake
• Beetroot Chocolate Cake

Wacky Chocolate Cake recipe

I really hope you enjoy this Wacky Chocolate Cake as much as we do. It is such a simple, delicious cake made with everyday pantry staples, and a lovely recipe to have on hand.

If you give this recipe a go, I’d love to hear how it turned out for you in the comments. You can also leave a ⭐ rating in the recipe card above, it really helps others find and enjoy this recipe too.

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Happy baking,
Anna x