In our family we start our birthday celebrations with the delightful Dexter in December and we run through them, one a month, with the exception of February, until we reach the end with the awesome Alex in April. Dexter always want’s a pecan pie and it never, ever is as good as the one I baked at thanksgiving. Dave too get’s pie…this year it was a blueberry galette, all tangy with blue fruit and crisp with buttery, sugary pastry.

My birthday in March is usually when the cake craving starts. This year Dexter suggested an ice cream cake from Culver’s. It was our hope that it would be similar to a Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake in that it would include actual sheetcake sandwiching layers of ice cream and frosted with ice cream. But alas…it was a cruel hoax and was merely a block of ice cream drizzled with toppings. Totally not what I wanted. The next attempt at acquiring a cake was from Whole Foods were I purchased a lovely chocolate raspberry cake. It was a good cake but the frosting was overpowering; stiff and overly sweet with not enough chocolate flavor. This past week we celebrated Alex’s birthday and he too wanted pie, apple is his favorite. But I made a scheduling mistake and ended up not making the dough a day ahead of time like I should have, plus I measured wrong and used too much butter. It was a good pie but the crust was too buttery and it wouldn’t crisp up. That brings us to Sunday morning.

My cake craving had yet to be satisfied and I’d been daydreaming about a cake I used to make when I was a child; a chocolate cake known as the crazy cake. It involved cocoa, vinegar and baking soda and that’s about all I remembered…but who needs a memory when there’s google? I turned up several different versions and finally found one to settle on. Most recipes for this cake are similar…flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar, vinegar, vegetable oil, vanilla, and water and always feature the instruction to mix the cake in the baking pan. This cake was popular during the WWII rationing because it requires no milk, butter, or eggs. Beyond that it’s a dead easy cake to make and it’s light, moist, tender and packed with chocolate flavor.

I’m sure there are some cake baking, cooling, and frosting skills that I could acquire if I were willing to put the time in. But I’m not. That’s why every single cake I make is ugly but delicious and this cake is no exception. The frosting is simple too and it’s the perfect topper for an old fashioned cake like this.

Old Fashion Chocolate Cake
Printer-friendly recipe

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons white vinegar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups cold water

Preheat oven to 350° F. Makes 2 round cake layers

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa, salt, and sugar. Make 3 holes in the flour mixture and add the vegetable oil to one, the vinegar to another, and the vanilla to the last. Pour the water over the top and stir the ingredients together until most of the lumps disappear. Note: I could never get all the lumps out).

Fill two round cake pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top is springy and a tester inserted in the center comes out dry. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack, then frost and serve.

Easy Peasy Chocolate Frosting

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
4 oz. butter, softened
Powder sugar
Milk (about 1/3 cup)

Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Add it to a mixing bowl along with the softened butter and whipp it with the whisk attachment. gradually add in sifted powder sugar until it stiffens up and starts to clump. Then add in just enough milk until you have a fluffy, light, spreadable consistency.