Saturday, May 7, 2011

My Recipe Box: Depression Cake

Yesterday, I had quite a sweet tooth. I also was hankering to do some baking. I looked in our cabinets to see what we had and decided to make a chocolate cake. I found a recipe for a cake that was popular during the Great Depression and I thought that was perfect! Since I had finished up The Grapes of Wrath that morning, what better way to commemorate that than by baking a cake popular during that time period? The cake turned out delicious! I was surprised at how moist and yummy it was because it doesn't take milk or eggs as most cakes do. Those were expensive during the Great Depression so people weren't always able to buy them. I also made a chocolate glaze that tasted good, but didn't turn out to be very pretty. I used skim milk in it and I wonder if that was my problem because I followed the directions exactly. Sometimes recipes work and sometimes they don't!
Depression Cake

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups cold water

Sift flour, sugar, salt, soda and cocoa powder together into an ungreased 9x13 inch cake pan. Make three wells. Pour oil into one well, vinegar into second well and vanilla into third well. Pour cold water all over and stir with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Frost with your favorite icing.

1 comment:

Ashley said...

I think I have all the ingredients for that cake - looks like I will need to try that. Bad thing is...Brad doesn't like chocolate! Maybe I will make it to take for our mother's day gathering at the park tomorrow. Thanks!