Vanilla Crazy Cake You Can Make With No Eggs, Milk, Or Butter
I’ve got the craziest recipe for you guys today! But I suppose you already knew that from the title, didn’t you?
Vanilla Crazy Cake – also known as Wacky Cake or Depression Cake, doesn’t need dairy or eggs to make them.
Want more cake recipes? Check out:
- Bailey’s Mousse Cake
- Almond Bundt Cake
- The Best Icebox Cakes
- Rainbow Unicorn Cake
- Chocolate Crazy Cake
- Victoria Sponge Cake
In fact, you don’t even need to get a separate bowl dirty – you can make it right in the pan!
These cakes became popular during the Great Depression when eggs and dairy products were expensive and hard to come by. Nowadays, they’re great for people with food allergies, and everyone will love them!
All things aside, sometimes we just need a quick and delicious way to satisfy our sweet tooth and this is it!
The beauty is, you can change out ingredients or add to it as needed. Take the basis of this recipe and add sprinkles or a different flavored extract. Maybe you want to make it a fun color, you can add some food dye and truly make it fun and colorful.
Have fun making this cake and we cannot wait to see the look on your face when it’s made without those eggs and and dairy products!
What You’ll Need To Make Vanilla Crazy Cake:
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Baking soda
- Salt
- White vinegar
- Vegetable oil
- Water
- Pure vanilla extract
How To Make Vanilla Crazy Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a greased 8″ square (or round…I prefer the round, but I’ve made this in both) baking pan.
Make 3 depressions in the dry ingredients – two small and one large. Pour the vinegar and vanilla in each of the two smaller depressions, and the vegetable oil in the large one.
Pour water over the entire thing and mix until smooth.
Bake on the middle rack of the oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Let it cool, then top with your favorite frosting and enjoy!
If you’re more of a chocolate fan, check out our Chocolate Crazy Cake recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Cups All-purpose flour
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp White vinegar
- 5 tbsp Vegetable oil
- 1 Cup Water
- 1 ½ tsp Pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a greased 8″ square (or round…I prefer the round, but I’ve made this in both) baking pan.
- Make 3 depressions in the dry ingredients – two small and one large. Pour the vinegar and vanilla in each of the two smaller depressions, and the vegetable oil in the large one.
- Pour water over the entire thing and mix until smooth.
- Bake on the middle rack of the oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Let it cool, then top with your favorite frosting and enjoy!
very Nice…can I add some chocolate chips? how much do you recommend?
thanks ☺️
Not sure how this recipe has such amazing reviews. I mean no disrespect to the creator of the recipe. The baking soda taste is very prominent and rather off-putting because baking soda doesn’t taste good!
I used this recipe to make my daughter’s bday cake. Thankfully it’s an ice cream cake, so I think with the ice cream and a little frosting it will be ok, but really wishing I used my regular vanilla cake recipe.
Rose beautiful, just doesn’t taste good.
Honestly, I get it! This is a well-known, old recipe. It’s something that was made at a time when grocery items weren’t always available and people enjoyed it for what it was. I made it when I could no longer eat eggs and dairy, and it was literally just a good way for me to be able to have my cake and eat it, too (get what I did there??).
I’m glad you tried it, but sad you did it for a special occasion. Stick to what you know for the big moments. Try things like depression cake on a weekend when it’s raining and you’re bored. <3
Can this be made into a Bundt cake? I’d also like to add a small amount of applesauce. Please advise. Thank you!
I’ve never tried it as a bundt, or with applesauce! You should try it and let me know how it turns out. I can’t wait to hear! I say go for it. It’s a few really cheap, really small ingredients. Have fun, experiment, and you either end up with something delicious or a funny story to tell later. Good luck!
What could I do to make it chocolate?
Add 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
If you want the whole cake to be chocolate do what Rory said. If you just want some chocolate flavor in the cake, Tollhouse has some plant-based chocolate chips that are pretty decent. Give them a go and let us know what you think!
Very nice easy cake perfect for people that cannot eat dairy eggs nuts thank you. Dianne
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I shared this one when I knew couldn’t have eggs and dairy, but didn’t know what else I couldn’t have. Now I know I can’t have wheat, either (gluten’s fine, but wheat is off-limits), BUT! I have another recipe for you to try.
Pick up a box of cake mix (or in my case gluten-free because they don’t sell wheat-free), 2 sticks of plant-based butter (I use Country Crock Avocado), or not-butter butter, or something, and 2 cans of pie filling.
Put the dry cake mix on the bottom of a cake pan (nothing else). Slice the butter on top of the cake mix so that there are pats of butter all over the bottom. Dump the pie filling on top. Pop it into a preheated 350-degree oven for 45-50ish minutes, and you will have the most delicious cake you’ve had in So long. You’ll know it’s done if the top is golden brown and there is filling bubbling around the sides.
Seriously one of my favorite go-to cake recipes. Good luck!
I would like to make your Crazy Vanilla cake. I want to know if I can use Robin Hood – All-Purpos – Glutten Free Flour for it? I’ve tried a cake recipe with it and it turned out sandy. What are your suggestions?
I haven’t tried Robin Hood, but I use gluten-free flour now, too. I just looked up the ingredients, and I think you should try it. The advice I’d give is to mix everything, cover it, and then let it sit for at least an hour. Sometimes I put things like cookie dough in the refrigerator overnight. I’ve noticed with a lot of the gluten-free flours, you have to let them soften in the recipe a bit before cooking, and then the sandy texture goes away.
Good luck! I hope it works out for you!
When I made the batter their was not a lot of batter but It turned out delicious
I’m glad you liked it! When I make it, I usually double the recipe and make two cake pans so I have a layer cake. But, honestly, if you’ve had a bad day and just want some cake… make just the one and tell the bad day to fork off. Who’s gonna know?? How would they know? *grin*
I add one cup of water.