Today's my birthday, and I'm celebrating by sharing one of my favorite cake recipes with you.
Before I was born, by mother taught 5th grade in the little town of Anthony, New Mexico. Back then, school lunch ladies made all the cafeteria food from scratch. When my mother got this recipe from the school lunch lady in Anthony, it needed several pounds of flour and sugar and served hundreds. She cut it down to a reasonable size to feed her family of six, and then I cut it down further. We've called it Crazy Chocolate Cake, although I've seen similar recipies with many different names.
What makes this cake crazy is what also made it cheap and easy to make when there was little in the larder: instead of being leavened by eggs, this cake uses baking soda vinegar to make the carbon dioxide that leavens it. The result is a moist, rich cake that's easy to make. It's virtually foolproof, too.
For more information on chemical leavenings, see this blog.
Before I was born, by mother taught 5th grade in the little town of Anthony, New Mexico. Back then, school lunch ladies made all the cafeteria food from scratch. When my mother got this recipe from the school lunch lady in Anthony, it needed several pounds of flour and sugar and served hundreds. She cut it down to a reasonable size to feed her family of six, and then I cut it down further. We've called it Crazy Chocolate Cake, although I've seen similar recipies with many different names.
What makes this cake crazy is what also made it cheap and easy to make when there was little in the larder: instead of being leavened by eggs, this cake uses baking soda vinegar to make the carbon dioxide that leavens it. The result is a moist, rich cake that's easy to make. It's virtually foolproof, too.
For more information on chemical leavenings, see this blog.
Crazy Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cup flour
3 TBS cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
Put all ingredients into an 8" square pan and mix together with a fork.
Mix together in a 2 cup measuring cup, then pour over the dry ingredients and mix. Be sure not to leave powdery pockets in the corners:
6 TBS salad oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup water
1 TBS vinegar
Bake in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back after you have pressed it with your finger. Frost with vanilla or chocolate butter frosting or a chocolate glaze.
3 TBS cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
Put all ingredients into an 8" square pan and mix together with a fork.
Mix together in a 2 cup measuring cup, then pour over the dry ingredients and mix. Be sure not to leave powdery pockets in the corners:
6 TBS salad oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup water
1 TBS vinegar
Bake in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back after you have pressed it with your finger. Frost with vanilla or chocolate butter frosting or a chocolate glaze.
