No Oil Wacky Cake

Fri, Apr 29, 2016

When my birthday was coming up, I was delighted to find a “vegan” recipe in the Penzeys catalog https://www.penzeys.com for baking a chocolate cake. Although the recipe had no dairy or eggs, it did have 2/3 cup of oil, which is the “worst thing you can eat”, my starch-based diet gurus (McDougall, Esselstyn, Novick, and Chef AJ) inform me.

This recipe is based on the Incredible Vegan Chocolate Cake and Grandma Russell’s Wacky Cake recipes.

The Incredible Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe from Kerri Godfrey was published in the Penzeys Summer catalog (the year may be 2012-ish). Kerri notes in her recipe description that the cake was originally called “Wacky Cake” and she believed her mom took the recipe with with her when she left the orphanage.

I combined the Penzeys Wacky Cake recipe with Grandma Russell’s Wacky Cake recipe from David Russell (published in the March/April 2016 Texas Journey Magazine from AAA) to make No Oil Wacky Cake. (I’m taking a leap here to assume that Kerri’s mom and Grandma Russell grew up in the same orphanage.)

The main change I made in combining the recipes was to substitute applesauce for the oil. If you are eating gluten-free, you may wish to substitute your favorite gluten-free flour for the whole-wheat pastry flour. And the recipes also both included sugar. (You may notice a powdered sugar design on the top of the cake in the photo … I leave the designs off these days.) I’ve also substituted frozen apple juice concentrate for the sugar in the recipes.

Note: I’ve experimented with a gluten-free version for the cake using combinations of almond flour and oat flour instead of wheat. These types of substitutions do not seem to adversely affect the final outcome.

Rebecca’s No Oil Wacky Cake

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour of your choice
• 1 12 ounce can frozen apple juice concentrate (thawed)
• 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• Powdered sugar to sprinkle on top

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• Line a 9 by 13-inch pan with parchment paper (see photo below).

• Mix the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

• Combine the apple juice, applesauce, vanilla, and vinegar, stir into the dry ingredients, and mix well.

• Add the water ONLY if the batter seems extra thick.

• Pour into the parchment-lined pan.

• Bake 40-50 minutes, checking with toothpick for doneness.

• Cool on rack.

• Store leftover cake, covered, in the refrigerator (Note: remove cake from the parchment paper for storing, as the paper gets soggy after leaving the oven and can promote mold growth).

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In the days before I moved to the starch based vegan diet, I used to love the 5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake recipe a friend sent me. This cake you mix in a mug and bake in the microwave. I have now modified her recipe to be egg, oil, and dairy free. Brilliant!

Rebecca’s No Oil Cake In-A-Mug

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed in 3 tablespoons water and allowed to gel (about 5 minutes)
• 4 tablespoons whole-wheat pastry flour
• 4 tablespoons white granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 small splash vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
• 4 tablespoons water
• 1 large mug (my mug is 4 in. high by approx. 3-3/4 in. diameter)

Instructions

• Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well.

• Add the gelled flaxseed and mix thouroughly.

• Pour in the applesauce/water etc. liquid and mix well.

• Put mug in microwave and cook at full power for 3 minutes.

• If toothpick check does not come out clean, cook for another minute.

Note 1: Do not be alarmed if cake rises over the top of the mug. This may happen if your mug is not as large as the mug I use.

• If you do become alarmed, cook in one minute intervals for about 4 minutes total.

Note 2: Cake will be nearly molten when done. Allow to cool before eating!

— Rebecca