Wacky cake, also called crazy cake, lazy cake, Joe cake, wowie cake, and WW II cake, is a spongy, cocoa-based

cake Cake is a flour confection usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elabor ...

. It is unique in that unlike many

pastries Pastry refers to a variety of doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bak ...

and desserts, no eggs,

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

are used to make the cake batter. Active ingredients in wacky cake include flour, sugar,

cocoa powder Dry cocoa solids are the components of cocoa beans remaining after cocoa butter, the fatty component of the bean, is extracted from chocolate liquor, roasted cocoa beans that have been ground into a liquid state. Cocoa butter is 46% to 57% of the ...

, baking soda, vegetable oil, white vinegar, salt and vanilla extract. The eggless batter means that the structure of the cake is entirely supported by

gluten Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain Cereal, cereal grains. The term ''gluten'' usually refers to the elastic network of a wheat grain's proteins, gliadin and glutenin primarily, that forms readily with the addition of water ...

, which is strengthened by the acidic vinegar and salt. Wacky cake is typically prepared by mixing dry ingredients in a baking pan and forming three hollows in the mixture, into which oil, vinegar, and vanilla are poured. Warm water is then poured over, and the ingredients mixed and baked. Some recipes add brewed

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

as an additional ingredient. The cake may be topped with icing or confectioner's sugar, or even served plain. The cake is a popular delicacy at bake sales in numerous rural regions of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The dessert has also been included in

4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times ...

competitions as well as home economics textbooks after World War II.

History

Wacky cake first gained prominence during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, when ingredients such as dairy and eggs were harder to obtain. Wacky cake later also became popular during rationing during World War II, when milk and eggs were scarce. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, wacky cake again became a popular dessert to bake during quarantine.

References

Chocolate desserts American cakes {{dessert-stub

History

See also

References