Chocolate Wacky Cake is the easiest scratch cake you will ever make! (No eggs, no milk, no butter, no clean-up.) Made exclusively with pantry staples, this surprisingly moist, delicious snack cake mixes up in a jiffy, right in the pan!
Preheat the oven to 350°F [177°C].Spray an 8x8 pan (or 9x9) with cooking spray.
Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together directly into the pan.
Flatten the sifted dry ingredients and form three depressions in the top - one large and two small.
Pour oil into the large depression, vanilla into the second depression, and vinegar into the third.Pour water over the whole thing.
Stir with spoon or fork until thoroughly mixed. Be sure to check the corners.The cake batter will produce bubbles on the top of the cake.
Gently tamp the cake pan on the countertop once or twice to release gas. Bake at 350°F | 177°C for 25-30 minutes, until the top springs back when touched.Remove cake from the oven and allow cake to cool on rack.
Wacky Cake can be served as is, or with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, or iced with your favorite frosting.
Notes
Be sure to use natural cocoa if possible, and not Dutch-pressed (which is also sometimes called European-style or alkalized). Dutch-pressed cocoa is washed with a solution of potassium carbonate which lessens its acidity, and Wacky Cake depends on that acidity to strengthen the gluten and help the cake rise.