Chocolate Mocha Crazy Cake
This chocolate cake is one of the first recipes I learned to make as a child. According to my mother, it was a depression-era recipe and called “crazy” because it was a cake with no butter, milk, or eggs. In other words, vegan! The original recipe made a light, moist, not-too-rich cake. I’ve since riffed on this cake several ways. My favorite variation is this decadently dark, rich, super-chocolaty cake that even omnivores love. (Proof: I took two plates of this cake to work today and even the crumbs vanished.)
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups self-rising Flour
- 1 cup unrefined Sugar
- 3 tablespoons Dark Cocoa Powder
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 tablespoon Vinegar
- 5 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
- One cup room-temperature Coffee
- 1/3 cup vegan Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips or 1 vegan Dark Chocolate Bar, broken into chunks (optional)
- Cooking Spray or a little extra oil for the baking pan
Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9 x 11 pan with cooking spray.
Combine flour, sugar, and dark cocoa powder. Stir until well blended and any flour lumps are broken up.
Make three holes and put the vanilla extract, vinegar, and vegetable oil into separate holes.
Pour the cup of room temperature coffee over all and stir well. Don’t over-mix.
If using chocolate chips, stir gently into the batter.
Pour into the cooking pan and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.
Notes:
- This cake is good hot, but I think it actually tastes better once it sits and cools.
- Use any kind of coffee; I use a spoonful of instant coffee stirred into a cup of hot water. You can’t actually taste much of the coffee in the cake; it just enhances the flavor of the chocolate like you would not believe before tasting.
- You don’t actually have to make three “holes.” That’s just what the original recipe called for. Rebel that I am, many years ago I just poured the ingredients in willy-nilly and it came out the same.
VegCharlotte 
looks so moist and rich. i dont eat chocolates or anything with cocoa, but this cake makes me want to take a bite:)
Oh, if you don’t eat chocolates you may want to wait for another dessert. It’s verrrry chocolaty!
I bet it’s delicious! And I haven’t yet met a vegan cake I haven’t liked 😀 Will try this!
This looks fantastic. Not even time for breakfast yet and I’m practically drooling. Reminds me of an iron skillet cake my mother used to make with Hershey bars in it. Will try this soon!
That looks so moist – super yum!!! Celeste 🙂
Sounds delicious. I’ll try it out. Thank you.
Please let me know how you like it! It’s super-easy to make! (And my non-vegan friends love it, too!)