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Baking · Old-Fashioned Classics

Old-Fashioned Wacky Cake

G By Our Grannies' Kitchen Updated Jul 2026 4.8 (273 ratings)
Old-Fashioned Wacky Cake
Old-Fashioned Wacky Cake
4.8 / 5
9 servings

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Ingredients

Tick each one off as you go.

  • 1 ½ cups (190 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
  • 25 g cocoa powder (about 4 tbsp), sifted if lumpy
  • 1 tsp baking soda and ½ tsp fine salt
  • 1 tbsp white vinegar (or cider vinegar)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ⅓ cup (75 ml) vegetable or sunflower oil
  • 1 cup (240 ml) cold water
  • powdered sugar, to dust (optional)

Method

  1. Heat the oven. 350°F (180°C, fan 160°C). Get out a 20 cm square pan — no greasing, no lining. You'll mix in it, bake in it and serve from it.
  2. Whisk the dry. Flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt straight into the pan. Whisk with a fork for a good 30 seconds, until one even color with no pale streaks, then level it off.
  3. Poke three wells. Two small, one large. Vinegar into the first, vanilla into the second, oil into the big one.
  4. Add the water. Pour the cold water over the whole lot — it will start to fizz, and that fizz is the lift. Stir with the fork until just smooth, chasing the dry flour out of the corners. A few small lumps are fine; the batter is thin.
  5. Bake. Straight into the oven — no dawdling — for 30–35 minutes, until risen and a skewer in the center comes out clean.
  6. Cool and cut. Cool in the pan, dust with powdered sugar and cut into 9 squares — served straight from the pan, as it always was.
Granny's tip

Granny never greased the pan and never turned the cake out — squares were cut and handed over the side, one by one. If you want yours out whole for frosting, mix the batter in a bowl instead and pour it into a greased, lined pan; the cake won't mind a bit.

Tips for the lightest wacky cake

Whisk the dry properly

A stray pocket of bicarbonate tastes soapy. Thirty seconds with a fork until the cocoa is one even color is the cheapest insurance in baking.

No dawdling

The fizz starts the moment water meets vinegar — and that fizz is the only lift this cake has. Mix, then straight into the hot oven.

Stop at smooth-ish

Stir just until no dry flour hides in the corners. Beating a thin batter knocks the bubbles out and toughens the crumb.

Questions, answered

Why does wacky cake have no eggs, butter or milk?

It was invented when there weren't any — during the Depression and the wartime rationing of the 1930s and 40s, when eggs, butter and milk were scarce or too dear. Oil supplies the richness, and baking soda reacting with vinegar supplies all the lift eggs normally would. That also makes it naturally vegan and dairy-free, with no substitutions needed.

Why is there vinegar in wacky cake — can you taste it?

No. The vinegar is there purely to react with the baking soda, producing the carbon dioxide bubbles that raise the cake. The reaction uses the vinegar up as it bakes, so there is no sour taste at all in the finished cake. White vinegar, cider vinegar or even lemon juice all work.

Should wacky cake be frosted or just dusted with powdered sugar?

Traditionally just a dusting of powdered sugar once cool — sugar was rationed too, so frosting was for high days. It also takes a simple chocolate water icing (powdered sugar, cocoa and a splash of hot water) or a swirl of buttercream beautifully. Frost only when the cake is completely cool, and frost it right in the pan.

Can I double wacky cake for a 23 × 33 cm (9 × 13 in) pan?

Yes — double every ingredient, mix directly in the larger pan (poke six wells, or three bigger ones) and bake at the same temperature for 35–40 minutes, until a skewer in the center comes out clean. It cuts into about 18 squares.

From Granny's Pantry

The know-how behind this recipe:

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