Have you ever heard of The Great Depression Cake? You know the old classic saying, “necessity is the mother of invention”? Well, there’s no exception in the food world. You see, things like milk, eggs and butter became very costly and ridiculous during the great depression. We’ve got to give a huge hands off to our mother’s and grandmothers for living through this and surviving and surviving well!
They really knew how to pinch a penny and they really knew how to make the most of the little they had. Today, we are always finding ways to live a simpler and thriftier life that always seems to lend itself to a bit more contentment for everyone all around.
Well, this DELICIOUS, yet VERY frugal cake is one of those food recipes that makes the cut from The Great Depression to today! It is amazing with no eggs, milk or butter.
That also means a few other things for us in our day and age: less calories and allergy-friendly.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 1/2 Cups flour (all-purpose)
- 3 Tbsp. cocoa (unsweetened)
- 1 Cup sugar (All purpose sugar – Granulated Pure Cane Sugar)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. white vinegar
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 5 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 Cup water
Directions:
- Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a greased 9×13 square baking pan (or any other size pan, as long as you have room to make divots).
- Make 3 depressions (divots) in dry ingredients – two small, one larger. Pour vinegar in one depression, vanilla in the other and the vegetable oil in third larger depression.
- Pour water over all and mix well until smooth.
- Bake on middle rack of oven for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean. Cool.
- You can also divide the mixture into round baking pans for a round cake.
- Top with your favorite frosting.
- Enjoy!
Now you can serve up this amazing cake and see if your guests can really notice the exclusion of those “expensive” ingredients – “betcha” they can’t. 🙂 They will dive right in and enjoy.
Enjoy the video version to share on FB or other social channels so that you can remember it there too:
You can print this recipe to make it easier for you by clicking on the “print” button below.
| How To Make The Great Depression Cake Called Crazy Cake (Recipe Uses No Milk, Eggs or Butter) | | Print |
- 1½ Cups flour (all-purpose)
- 3 Tbsp. cocoa (unsweetened)
- 1 Cup sugar (All purpose sugar - Granulated Pure Cane Sugar)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. white vinegar
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 5 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 Cup water
- Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a greased 9x13 baking pan, or any pan that you have room to make the depressions for the wet ingredients.
- Make 3 depressions in dry ingredients - two small, one larger. Pour vinegar in one depression, vanilla in the other and the vegetable oil in third larger depression.
- Pour water over all and mix well until smooth. You can bake in this pan or transfer to any size you would like, including round.
- Bake on middle rack of oven for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean. Cool.
- Top with your favorite frosting.
- Enjoy!
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Sheila H
Please forgive me for being picky, but I am a very visual cook. The directions call for an 8″ x 8″ baking pan, the top pics appear to be a 9″ x 13″ pan, and the bottom pic is of two round pans. What adjustments do I need to bake as two rounds?
Sharon
It says you mix it in the 9×13 but you can decide it up for round pans or use whatever pan you want just divide evenly
Megan
9×13″ or 8″ square pan? You say both. And at what temperature do you bake it? You never mention that.
Sharon
350 degrees and you can actually use any pan you want but if you use 2 round pans divide it up evenly
Jolene
I have an egg allergic child so we’ve used this recipe for the past 3 yrs. I have seven children so that’s a lot of birthday cakes so that our littlest guy could have some cake, too. He can have baked-in egg now and we don’t often make this recipe, now, but its a great one in pinch or for food allergies.
Marina
Thanks for this recipe. Do you think it’ll come out okay if I were to cut the sugar by half? My husband is diabetic, that’s why I ask. I’d like to make this cake for his birthday. Thanks, M
Alex
HI Marina – I think it would work, just be less sweet, but shouldn’t affect the outcome as far as the consistency and bouncy cake. I have also used the powdered baking Stevia as a replacement in many recipes. I recently made homemade peach jam and cut the sugar in half from the original recipe and then from there replaced half of the remaining half (if that makes sense) with stevia. It turned out great. I don’t even know if my family noticed.
However, I do know that things can turn out differently when baking, but I am leaning towards it being fine.
Carolyn
I’m confused. The top says it’s a “no flour, eggs or butter” cake but the first ingredient is flour.