I'll never forget the first time I made this cake. It was August of 2014 and my husband's birthday was coming up that Sunday. He came into the kitchen the day before his birthday to ask for a chocolate cake.
Sure, no problem! Usually I make this vanilla cake with buttercream, but hey, you want chocolate then you're getting chocolate!
I told him "Absolutely!" and went to the fridge to gather the ingredients. Only one problem... I of course had zero milk on hand, and not a single egg in the house!
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This wouldn't have been such an issue if we were able to drink pasteurized milk, but we can't. And since the raw dairy we frequent is a 2 hour round trip, I had to go in search of a no milk chocolate cake recipe.
RELATED: How to freeze milk
Chocolate Wacky Cake
After what seemed an eternity, I finally found it. The Holy Grail, as it were... I had to wade through quite a few recipes on Pinterest before finding this gem - A Depression Era Dark Chocolate Cake.
I was so excited to see that not only was it milk-free, it was also free of eggs and butter!! Talk about a cheap cake! After looking at the ingredients I did end up opting to use butter instead of vegetable oil. But you can use oil or coconut oil if you prefer.
Armed with this new recipe, I took another look at my kitchen and found that I had all the ingredients on hand and was able to whip this together in just 30 minutes, including the icing!
With the recipe calling for Apple Cider Vinegar, I was a little worried that it wouldn't be as tasty as if I had just made a regular ol' chocolate cake... However, my worries were for nothing! This is honestly, THE. BEST. Chocolate. Cake. I've EVER HAD!
It's incredibly moist and unbelievably chocolaty!! Plus, it ended up being SUPER CHEAP! Which, on our budget is a big deal.
All totaled this cake cost a whopping $4.00! Talk about savings, and with all real ingredients too! Try it today, I bet you have all the ingredients... and it's ready in only 30 minutes! You WILL NOT be disappointed!
Check out this video for an overview, and then print the recipe below that!
Einkorn Chocolate Cake
Easy and delicious chocolate wacky cake recipe from The Great Depression. Egg-free, dairy free, and can be made with any wheat flour!
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 3 cups Einkorn flour (or any wheat)
- 2 cups cane sugar
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 6 Tbs cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup salted butter melted
- 2 tsp homemade vanilla extract
- 2 cups room temperature water
- 2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
For the Icing
- 3 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar (I used the wholesome brand that doesn't have cornstarch)
- 1 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup salted butter
- 1 tsp homemade vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
For the Cake
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.
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In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, cocoa powder, and baking soda, stirring to mix well.
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Add melted butter, vanilla, and lukewarm water. Mix until well combined.
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Add apple cider vinegar, stirring well to make sure there are no lumps in the batter.
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Pour batter into cake pans and bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
For the Icing
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Combine powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl.
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Add vanilla extract and butter.
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Gradually add water, stirring well to combine until icing reaches the right consistency for spreading.
To Combine
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Allow cake layers to cool completely before removing from the pans.
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Stack one on top of the other (I didn't add an icing layer between the two cakes, but you definitely could... I just forgot!).
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Pour the icing on top and spread as normal.
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If the icing has "set up" a bit before you get it on the cake, just stir well and it will be fine!
Recipe Notes
You can sub coconut oil for any butter in the recipe.
Kathleen Tollerton says
I was excited to see the product : organic powdered sugar without corn starch.
I did not know powder sugar existed without corn starch. Can you please tell me the organic powdered sugar name?? Due to being allergic to corn makes it difficult to make a good icing.
Victoria says
Hi Kathleen! I totally understand, I’m also allergic to corn and it’s such a pain! I have found that I don’t have any reaction to organic corn, so it’s likely a pesticide reaction instead of actual corn allergy. However, this is the brand we use (wholesome) and then our local grocery chain (HEB) has their own line of organics, so when we can we get their organic powdered sugar.
I hope that helps! I thought I had linked the brand in the recipe, so I appreciate you letting me know it wasn’t there!
Debi says
Thanks for sharing your recipe. I can’t wait to try it. I love the old recipes best.
Victoria says
You’re welcome! Let me know when you try it :-)
Jamie says
Hi Victoria! Jamie in southern Arkansas here. I’ve been following your posts for a very long time now and I have pinned several posts for future reference on Pinterest. However I do find it very difficult and time consuming to do this. I have not had any trouble pinning from other blog posts that I follow. Could you possibly look into this for me? I just love your content. Thanks ever so much!
Victoria says
Hi Jamie! Thanks for your message! So far everyone that has had an issue pinning has been able to pin easily if they disable pop-up blocker. I’m not sure why it’s an issue for some sites and not others, but there you go.
I hope that helps and thank you so much for being here!
Geeky Girl says
I made this for the kids next door. FANTASTIC. Easy to make and Ilove it that you are using einkorn flour. FABULOUS. We feasted like kings. Thank you
Victoria says
Whoo hoo!! I made this last week as a 9×13 “sheet cake” for my husband’s birthday (5th year in a row!) and it’s like I always forget how amazing it is… that first bite is always sooooo good!
Of course, so are the rest of the bites ;-)
Glad y’all enjoyed this one too!!
Kari H. says
This was absolutely delicious, thank you for the recipe!
I cut the sugar in half for the cake only using 1 cup instead of 2. With the sweetness of the frosting the cake was perfection for our family :)
With the frosting, I am wondering if the recipe has an error? With 1/4 cup of butter the frosting was dry and crumbly so I increased the butter to 3/4 cup and that made the flavor and texture perfect.
Lastly, I wanted to check about when to add the baking soda. Your video shows it being added after the apple cider vinegar but the recipes says to add it with the dry ingredients. My 9 year old daughter is learning to bake (this was her 1st cake!) and was unsure when to add it; we copied what you did in the video.
Thank you again!
Victoria says
Yay! I’m so glad you loved it Kari! Great to know about the sugar reduction too!
As for the frosting, no error, the water addition is what takes it from crumbly to smooth. Depending on the way the powdered sugar was measured, it might have just needed a bit more water. BUT adding extra butter was probably more delicious any way! <3
The baking soda can be added either way, for the video I wanted to add it after in case it bubbled during addition (I didn't want that during the other mixing stages for the video). But, either way is fine for this recipe.
I'm so glad she's learning to bake, what an exciting time! I'm glad her first cake was a success!!