Back • Return Home

No-No Cake Recipe (02/22/2024)
[Originally written for The 32-Bit Cookbook. Come check out The 32-Bit Cafe Forum.]

This was given to me by an elderly friend who lived through some difficult circumstances in Japan during WWII. The idea is that it can be made with limited ingredients and mixed directly within the pan. The "No-No" within the name refers to "no dairy, no eggs". Instead, the cake rises due to the combination of vinegar and baking soda.

It is also sometimes called a "Depression Cake", in reference to The Great Depression of the 1930s. Yet another name that one hears sometimes is a "Wacky" or "Crazy Cake". I am not sure where the latter name comes from. All in all, it is a delicious treat when one does not have a lot.

No-No Cake

US/Imperial measures; Metric in brackets

Dry Ingredients:

• One and a half cups [192 g] flour
• One cup [201 g] sugar
• One-third cup [33 g] cocoa powder
• One teaspoon [3.4 g] baking soda
• One-half teaspoon [2.9 g] salt

Wet Ingredients:

• One cup [2-1/3 dL] cold water
• One-third cup [3/4 dL] oil
• One tablespoon [15 mL] vinegar
• One teaspoon [5 mL] vanilla

Directions:

Step 1 - Sift dry ingredients into an 8x8 inch [~20x20 cm] cake pan.
Step 2 - Make three holes in the dry ingredients. Pour the vinegar in one hole, the vanilla in another, and the oil in the other.
Step 3 - Pour the cold water all over and mix it well.
Step 4 - Bake at 350-degrees Fahrenheit [~177 C] for 30-40 minutes.

While I haven't tried them, there are also a couple of variations possible...

• Leave out the cocoa powder and add another one-half teaspoon [2.5 mL] of vanilla for the vanilla version
• Leave out the cocoa powder and add the juice of two lemons [~1/2 cup or ~1-1/8 dL] for the lemon version

😋🍰

---

Some music:
• OM53 - Slim (Live From NJ)

---

← Leap Into The Past • Head Into The Future →