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Whacky Vegan Chocolate Cake

February 16th, 2009 Madhuram Posted in Cakes, Food Blog Events, Vegan Baking | | 50 Comments »

This chocolate cake recipe has been around for decades. It’s also called the Whacky cake or the Depression cake. But let me tell you, the taste and texture of the cake is definitely not whacky or depressing. It’s unbelievably moist and tastes like any regular chocolate cake especially with the frosting. At first I didn’t tell my husband that the cake has vinegar in it, so he was not able to tell any difference. He liked the cake very much even after I told about the secret ingredient. But since I knew about the vinegar I was able to feel a very very very mild smell/taste. I guess it’s psychological. I have to stress here again that when eaten with the frosting this chocolate cake is so delicious. This vegan chocolate cake recipe is definitely a keeper. I’m already thinking of the variations I can make each time.

I also wanted to prepare a vegan frosting for this cake, but I didn’t have confectioner’s sugar. Actually I have it somewhere but was not able to find it. I have made a pact that I won’t be buying anything other than dairy products, vegetables, fruits and other extremely necessary groceries for the next 2 months. Recently I did a pantry audit and was overwhelmed by the things I had accumulated in the past months, especially after starting this blog. I didn’t even know that I had bought so much baking/cooking stuff. That’s why I didn’t want to buy confectioner’s sugar, even though I was so tempted to run to the grocery store.

I was wondering what to do for the frosting without the sugar because all the recipes I had called for confectioner’s sugar. I had a few packs of instant pudding mixes and thought how it would be for a frosting. I googled and found that pudding mix frosting is very common. Luckily I had the Cool Whip topping which is required for the frosting. Even though I was skeptical, I had to proceed with it anyway because I had no other go. Surprisingly it did turn out good. So the frosting is not vegan.

• Cake Ingredients
• Cake Procedure
• My Notes
• Pudding Mix Frosting

Cake Ingredients

Unbleached All Purpose Flour (I used bleached) 1 and 1/2 cups

Sugar 3/4 cup

Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Baking Soda 1 teaspoon

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I used Hersheys) 1/4 cup

Vanilla Extract 1 and 1/2 teaspoons

Canola Oil 1/3 cup

White Distilled Vinegar 1 tablespoon

Cold Water 1 cup

Yield: One 8 or 9 inch cake or 8 cupcakes.

Cake Procedure >>

Cake Procedure 1 Preheat the oven at 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Lightly oil the cake pan you are using.

2 Stir together all the dry ingredients (flour to cocoa powder) and create a well in the center.

3 To the well add all the wet ingredients one by one. Mix until just combined. Don’t overmix. It’s ok to have some lumps.

4 Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Mine was done by 24 minutes. If baking cupcakes, check around 13-15th minute.

5 Cool completely on a wire rack. I left it for an hour.

6 To remove the cake from the pan, run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake.

7 Cool completely before frosting. Actually frosting is not even necessary for this moist cake. You may simply dust with confectioner’s sugar and top with fresh raspberries.

<< Cake IngredientsMy Notes >>

My Notes 1 I read that apple cider vinegar is better than white distilled vinegar when it comes to baking, because you will not even have that very mild smell or after taste I was referring earlier.

<< Cake ProcedurePudding Mix Frosting >>

Pudding Mix Frosting Ingredients:

Milk cold – 1 cup

Instant Pudding Mix, any flavor One 4oz pack (I used Oreos cookie flavor, 4.5oz pack)

Cool Whip, thawed One 8oz container (I used fat free)

Procedure:

1 Pour milk into a large bowl. Add the pudding mix. Beat until fluffy for 2 minutes.

2 Blend in the thawed Cool Whip thoroughly.

3 Frost the cake/cupcakes and refrigerate it at least for 3-4 hours before serving.

My Notes:

1 This frosting is not very sweet, but it was perfect with the cake and for us. We don’t like overly sweet cakes and frosting.

2 This measurement will be right for a 13×9 inch cake or a layer cake. I had at least a cup of frosting left over, which I intend to serve in ice cream cones for my son.

<< My Notes

This chocolate cake recipe goes to:

1. Egg Replacement Event – Vinegar hosted by me.
2. Just for You hosted by Alka. I made this cake for Valentine’s day for my husband.
3. My Favorite Things – Heart Shaped Food hosted by Bindiya.
4. Cook and Create with Luv for Luv hosted by Priyanka.

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Tags: all purpose flour, baking soda, Canola Oil, cocoa, cool whip topping, instant pudding mix, milk, salt, sugar, Vanilla Extract, vinegar

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50 Responses to “Whacky Vegan Chocolate Cake”

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1. 50
   Danielle Says:
   January 24th, 2010 at 12:20 pm

   I made this on a whim today, curious to test out an egg and dairy free cake recipe that I could serve to a friend with allergies to the aforementioned ingredients. This is a winner! Easy and tasty, it’s a keeper in my book. I mixed a little glaze for a topping, and it added just the right note… thanks for sharing this recipe!

   You’re welcome Danielle.

2. 49
   Lyn Says:
   December 18th, 2009 at 7:32 am

   Hi, I made cupcakes with this recipe for my partner’s birthday, and it was LUSH! Some vegan velvet frosting, and it was totally chocolatey and moist. I substituted with apple cider vinegar and it was lovely. Thanks for the recipe! x

   You’re welcome Lyn. Thank you for trying the recipe and leaving your feedback here.

3. 48
   Mindy Says:
   December 17th, 2009 at 4:37 pm

   Hi Madhu,

   I’ve posted it in my blog
   http://mindysdeli.blogspot.com/2009/12/vegan-chocolate-cake.html

   Again, thank you so much

   //mindy

4. 47
   Mindy Says:
   December 16th, 2009 at 9:13 pm

   Thank you so much for this recipe. I’ve made it for a get-together-dinner and everybody loved it, especially my vegetarian friend.

   Salam,
   //mindy

   You’re welcome Mindy. Happy Holidays.

5. 46
   Eggless Baking Recipes using Vinegar/Lemon Juice | Madhuram's Eggless Cooking Says:
   December 11th, 2009 at 9:57 pm

   [...] Madhuram’s Whacky Vegan Chocolate CakeThis is the age old chocolate and vinegar cake recipe. What’s new is the frosting which I made from a box of instant oreo cookies pudding mix. [...]

6. 45
   swetha Says:
   December 10th, 2009 at 9:17 am

   hello

   am a little confused with the recipes that you ahve named
   ‘vegan’ some use milk and some use cream etc. if they use cows milk or any other products they cannot be vegan. The recipes are awesome though. Congrats on that. but please correct the title.

   swetha
   
   Swetha, could you be more specific about which recipe you are talking about so that I can clarify your doubt. In this vegan cake recipe, the cake is vegan and I have mentioned that the frosting is not vegan because I have used Cool Whip.

7. 44
   Priya Srinivasan Says:
   November 24th, 2009 at 6:09 am

   Hi Madhu,
   Tried this Whacky choco cake this weekend, came out very well. I m posting the pics and linking to ur post for the recipe. Hope u dont mind.

8. 43
   Nandhini Says:
   November 9th, 2009 at 5:53 am

   Hi Madhuram,
   I tried this one last weekend and it came out excellent. I have only APple Cidar Vinegar so i used that. also I made chocolate frosting for this which u used for chocolate and bottleguard cake. My cakes and cookies are coming well than bread….. And i am eagerly waiting to read ur next post on Icing Decoration……

   Thanks Nandhini. That cake recipe is a no-fail recipe. Will definitely update the cake decorating post very soon.

9. 42
   sheetal Says:
   October 12th, 2009 at 10:13 pm

   hi.Madhu
   i will give higher rating to the tofu cake than to this cake. this is nice but the other cake is Rich.

   I agree with you Sheetal. When it comes to simplicity this one tops.

10. 41
    cakelovers12345 Says:
    October 5th, 2009 at 6:54 am

    my mom made the cake! i gave cakes to random ppl and now they wanna come to my house and make it with us!
    lol!
    thnx for the recipe

    You’re welcome CakeLovers.

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