So if you’ve been on the internet long enough, you’ve probably come across more than a few recipes for “Crazy Cake” or “Depression Cake” – a recipe for a cake without dairy or eggs! Originally, these recipes came about because eggs and dairy products were expensive or rationed, but these days they’re perfect for those of us with food allergies.
Usually, the recipe calls for white vinegar, but since I couldn’t find any in the house on the day I tried this cake out, I substituted with some lemon juice I had in the fridge. I figured the vinegar was needed as an acid, so why not try it with lemon juice (yes, I really wanted cake! :P).
Ingredients:
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 cups standard flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice (yes, I know I have lemon juice twice 🙂 Makes more sense if you read the P.S.)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Line a baking tin with baking paper or grease a cake tin with removable sides.
- In a bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking soda & salt.
- Make 2 depressions in the mixture – 1 small & 1 large.
- In the small depression pour in both lots of lemon juice.
- In the large depression pour in the vegetable oil.
- Pour the water over everything & mix well until the batter is smooth.
- Make for 30-35 minutes (the cake will move away from the sides of the cake tin)
- Cool well before icing 🙂
Enjoy! 🙂
P.S. Using lemon juice does not give the cake a very lemony taste, so if you’re looking for a very lemony taste replace the 1 and half teaspoons of the lemon juice with lemon essence. Of course, if you’re not fond of the lemon taste, replace 1 teaspoon of lemon juice with white vinegar and the 1 and half teaspoons of lemon juice with whatever essence you’d like 🙂 Just make sure to make 2 small depressions instead of 1.
