Chocolate Depression Cake
Updated:
History
Depression cakes are cakes from the Great Depression. During this period, cake was a luxury that was attainable with some substitutions:
- water for milk
- shortening for butter
- baking powder for eggs
During World War 1, war cakes were popular as a result of rationing. Ingredients such as milk and eggs were conserved for the war effort, to feed troops.
Wacky cake is specifically a chocolate cake that became popular during World War 2. It contains no milk, eggs, or butter. As a result, it’s dairy free and vegan. It can be dusted with powder sugar or a simple glaze, similarly made from limited ration ingredients.
Recipe
There are many recipes online and they’re all roughly the same. They tend to be oil-based cakes, with emphasis on spices or cocoa. This masks the lack of flavours. If you think about it, this is very similar to the instructions for box mix.
The substitutions of milk (with water) and butter (with shortening) are pretty predictable. Substituting eggs was a new one for me: how do you even do that and why would vinegar be the answer? Scouring the internet, it seems that low pH will strengthen and tighten gluten. This strengthening provides the requisite structure to help keep the cake set tall.
This recipe is adapted from Budget Bytes. It’s a quickbread-esque cake that comes together quickly. Serve with a dusting of powder sugar (after cooled) or make a simple glaze.
The cake tastes like box mix. Given the simplicity, this is a huge compliment.
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Ratio | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | - | 90 |
| Sugar | 85% | 100 g |
| Cocoa | 22% | 20 g |
| Salt | 1.5% | 1.25 g |
| Baking soda | 3% | 2.5 g |
| Water | 133% | 120 g |
| Oil | 28% | 25 g |
| White vinegar | 3% | 2.5 g |
| Vanilla extract | 3 % | 2.5 g |
- Substitute water for coffee
- Can use any type vinegar, it’s primarily there for modifying pH and reacting leavening
Technique
- Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Mix wet ingredients together in another bowl.
- Mix wet into the dry, half at a time. Keep mixing until no clumps remaining.
- Pour into greased baking pan.
- Bake at 175 C (350 F) for 20-25 min.
- Cake is done when toothpick comes out clean and the top springs back when poked.