Crazy Cake (in a blender)

This recipe has been around the block several times and continues to be the favorite birthday cake recipe of each of my kids.  It’s hard to improve on a favorite, but I did try something new with it.  The past year I’ve adapted it to assemble quickly and easily in my blender.  Easy to make, and now easy to clean up.

This isn't a show-stopper cake - you won't find it on Food Gawker or similar sites.  But it IS in my family recipe book - and all my kids now make it for THEIR kids.  So I've decided to document it here for sentimental reasons.

Not the classiest cake - but my son didn't turn it down for his birthday last week.

It’s hard to find another cake recipe that is as successful as this one.  I’ve heard it called several names.  For instance, have you heard of “Wacky Cake”, “Depression Cake”, “Three Hole Cake”, “Joe Cake”, “War Cake”, and even “Happy Valley Cake”?  So many names - but it is basically a moist chocolate cake made without butter, eggs, or milk.  

This recipe is the one that has the most splashes, spills, and post-it notes stuck to the page.
I've made it in several sizes - from sheet cakes, tiny rounds, and the "grand-daddy" size pan.

When I was a 4-H’er (back in the day) - my friend and I won at State Demonstrations with this recipe.  We mixed the dry ingredients, made three depressions in the mixture - then added vanilla, vinegar, and oil into each of them.  We finished by pouring the water over the whole thing and mixed it up.  (We looked so spiffy in our matching aprons)

Mixing the dry ingredients first is helpful, but there's a better way to do it...

I have changed how I mix this up over the years.  I used to add about half the water to the dry ingredients and mix it until smooth to avoid lumps, then add the remaining water last.  But now I use my Blendtec to do the job.  

The first time I used the blender method, I pulsed the dry ingredients first before adding the liquids.  It worked, but it took a lot of scraping the sides down.  Then I found a better solution.  Liquids mixed first, then add the sugar, and lastly the remaining dry ingredients.  Bingo.  So simple.  

Clean-up is easy with a blender also.  Just a few squirts of dish detergent and a few cups of water - pulse till clean, and then rinse in hot water.  Done.

For the Crazy Cake recipe, and instructions for making it in your blender - go to:
www.changeabletable.com