The BEST chocolate cake EVER! And it’s vegan

If you don’t eat cake, I don’t think we can be friends. Kidding! Not really ;) Today I want to share with you the BEST chocolate cake recipe EVER! And it’s vegan.

Cara is allergic to eggs, dairy and peanuts. It sounds a little more hectic than it actually is. Or maybe we’re just so used to it that it’s easy to get around it.

Cake isn’t always that easy though. We often bake muffins and cupcakes and then we substitute the eggs with bananas and use soy milk if the recipes calls for it (read: if it says add milk on the packet).

The BEST chocolate cake EVER! And it’s vegan

A proper cake is a different story. Then I remembered that we used to bake an AMAZING chocolate cake when I was a kid (thanks Tannie Elmari!). And it contained no eggs and no dairy! Yay for being vegan/vegetarian friendly.

I did a little search on the web and found similar recipes (this one is still the best!) and learnt that this cake is also called Depression Cake (the recipe originates from the Great Depression when eggs and dairy were a luxury), Crazy Cake or Wacky Cake. I just call it the yummiest and easiest cake in the world.

Chocolate Crazy Cake

The BEST chocolate cake EVER! And it’s vegan

Ingredients:

  • 750 ml flour
  • 20 ml baking powder
  • 500 ml sugar
  • 80 ml cocoa powder
  • 500 ml boiled water
  • 250 ml cooking oil
  • 10 ml vanilla essence
  • 50 ml white vinegar*
  • 5 ml bicarbonate of soda

*Not all white vinegar is vegan! I have seen white vinegar substituted with apple cider vinegar, but I have yet to try it. I’d love some vegan advice!

Pop over here for a handy conversions table from Huletts.

Steps:

Sift and mix the dry ingredients (excluding the bicarb) in a large bowl.

Mix the wet ingredients & bicarb in a separate bowl.

Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk lightly until completely combined and there are no lumps.

Bake in a greased dish at 180º for about 20 min.

The one I use is an approx 33cm x 25cm / 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking dish. It’s the ‘bakpan’ that came with the oven (damn, I think I’m ready for the Great SA Bake Off!).  If you know more about baking than I do, and I’m sure you do, you’ll now what to use. Trick: if the toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, it’s perfect.

And there you have the MOST DIVINE CHOCOLATE CAKE! And it contains no eggs and no dairy!

Let me know if you try it.

I’m going to have a piece now …

xoxo

14 Replies to “The BEST chocolate cake EVER! And it’s vegan”

  1. Best chocolate cake ever. I had it on the weekend for the first time! Pretty please Charlie… Thank you for sharing this. I’m in love

  2. Been making this cake for a number of years and always turns out beautifully. Have made the same omitting the chocolate for a family member who dose not like chocolate cake but does not mind the icing in chocolate.

  3. This cake looks great but I’m confused.. How do you measure ml of dry ingredients like flour/baking powder? I thought ml was for liquid?

    1. Hi Rachel. Oh my word, I’m not a baker at all, haha! The few recipes I use all measure in mls… makes it so much easier for me… I measure everything (dry and wet) in measuring cups/jugs and spoons. It’s a bit tricky because we use different measuring systems – “Officially, a US Cup is 240ml (or 8.45 imperial fluid ounces.) This is slightly different from an Australian, Canadian and South African Cup which is 250ml.” Let me know when you try the recipe xx

  4. Hi there. Thanks for this recipe. Looks amazing. Can’t wait to try. Do you have this recipe in terms of cups, tsps? Just intrigued by the use of ml to measure.

    1. Hi Anusooya! Oh my word, I am not a baker! This is the recipe I grew up with, but I just updated the post with a link to a conversions table. I hope it helps! xx

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