Chocolate Depression Cake (Egg and Dairy-Free)
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Featuring no , , or eggs, this decadent chocolate depression cake recipe is magically both deliciously fudgy yet fluffy, like a devil’s food cake made from scratch.
Friends, today I have something you need in your life: chocolate depression cake. It’s something that is ridiculously simple to make and decadently delicious.
Now, you’re probably wondering why it’s called a depression cake? Well, recipes like this grew in popularity during hard times in our history like The Great Depression, when ingredients for typical cakes grew scarce. This particular depression cake recipe uses simple and doesn’t need any butter, milk, or even eggs! It is kind of the dairy-free fluffy cake version of my Mama’s Chocolate Cobbler. It’s also known as a Crazy Cake or Wacky Cake, as a cake without butter is definitely a Wacky Cake, right?
Don’t let the simple ingredients fool ya into thinking this is a run-of-the-mill cake, though! With a deeply rich and fudgy and fluffy texture, it is similar to a moist devil’s food cake. We like it without icing as a great snack cake, but you can add in some simple frosting to make it a dessert worthy of any table. Just note that the frosting does include dairy. If you arent in the mood for chocolate check out some of my other cake recipes like Fresh Strawberry Cake With Cream Cheese Icing, Easy Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, or Grandmama’s Coconut Cake With No-Fail Seven Minute Frosting
Recipe Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Sugar
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Vanilla extract
- Vegetable oil (I regularly use refined coconut oil, which doesn’t have a coconut flavor).
- Vinegar
- Water
Helpful Kitchen Tools
Stir together all of your dry ingredients first.
Once your dry ingredients are mixed together, add in all of your wet ingredients.
Give that a stir until well combined.
Pour into a greased 8×8 baking dish.
This batter is heavenly!
Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Can you smell it? I sure can. Wish you were here!
Look at that crazy beautiful !
I just topped the cooled cake with a can of frosting, but you can whip up a homemade frosting, glaze, or sprinkle a little confectioner’s sugar over the top.
Look at this pretty little slice of chocolate depression cake, just waiting for you to eat it!
There ya go!
YUM!
Storage
- Store cake leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- Freeze slices of the frosted or unfrosted chocolate cake for up to 3 months.
Recipe Notes
- Now, y’all know I’m all about dumping it all in a bowl and going for it. But in this recipe, make sure you pay attention. If you stir all your dry ingredients together first, your batter comes together as smooth as can be in no time at all.
- As mentioned, you can serve this in lots of different ways. Simply sprinkle a slice with powdered sugar, serve with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or top with icing. You will find a recipe for vanilla icing here or homemade creamy chocolate frosting here.
- To make this cake recipe into cupcakes, pour the chocolate cake batter into a lined muffin tin. Fill each cup about 3/4 full and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 350.
- To make this chocolate depression cake gluten-free, simply use gluten-free all-purpose flour.
You may also like these chocolate recipes:
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars
Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix – So good!
Chocolate Pound Cake with Fudge Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch baking dish with a non-stick cooking spray.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Add in the vinegar, vanilla, oil, and water, and stir until well combined. Pour the cake batter into the baking dish.1 teaspoon vinegar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 cup water
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Eat the chocolate cake warm or cool completely and frost, if desired.
Nutrition
This post featured on Meal Plan Monday.
Just took the cake out of the oven !
I sprinkled heath bar bits and milk chocolate chips on the top of the cake, waited a few minutes, then spread the melted chips evenly.
It makes a delicious frosting for a fabulous cake !
Thank you for the recipe! I’m going to try it. It sounds delicious. A 13×9 cake is a lot for my little family to eat. This is the perfect sized cake and being chocolate makes it even better.
Christy, do you use regular vinegar in the depression cake or apple cider vinegar? Thanks for all your wonderful recipes. God Bless.
Can you please post the recipe for the chocolate icing. It looks as delicious as the cake!
She said she used canned frosting on this cake. I’m sure her website has recipes for homemade frosting though.
This is *almost* my grandma’s recipe for what she called War Cake (because during the war you didn’t have an abundance of milk and eggs). Her recipe did not have cinnamon in it. I mix it directly in the baking dish because this does not need to go in a greased and floured pan because you serve it directly from the pan. We always topped it with a generous portion of vanilla buttercream frosting. I mix all my dry ingredients together than make three holes, one for the water, one for the oil, and one for the vinegar. Very quick mix up with very little clean up.
That was exactly my thought!! We have made that cake for years, the first one my kids learned to make, and we always mixed it right in the pan.
We all remember the time my son just dropped the fork he was stirring with into the cake and it got baked. We didn’t find it until we started to cut the cake and there was “something” there!!
Hi Christy! Thanks for this delicious and ingredient saving chocolate cake. Found it very intriguing without eggs or milk as all of us are trying to keep from using excess items in the kitchen when we could make these stretch for other meals. Decided to see if these would also work as cupcakes and they turned out beautifully; I got 16 from this recipe. Fill your cupcake liners 1/2 -2/3 full, bake at 350 for 15 minutes or til toothpicks come out clean. In these times of quarantined at home mindless nibbling, having the portion control with individual cupcakes should come in handy. Blessings to you, you’re one to all of us!
I am so glad you gave it a try!! Thanks for letting us know how the cupcakes turned out!
Perfect timing! I have been trying to order Devil’s Food Cake Mix for weeks without success! I wanted the cake mix for the chocolate cherry cake recipe where you add a can of cherry pie filling to the mix. Do you have any suggestions for adapting it for this recipe? I should be able to figure it out, but I have “quarantine brain” right now! I think it is in pajama mode! Thank you in advance!
Have a most blessed day!
I have really been craving chocolate cake with buttercream frosting, but didn’t want a big ole cake for just my husband & myself, so, perfect timing on this 8 x 8 cake! Thanks Christy! 🙂