Uncle Don's Chocolately, Moist, "Crazy Cake" Recipe

My Uncle Don was a bachelor and not much of a cook according to Mom.  Her brother died in his sleep when he was only forty five and when we were going through his things in his home following his death, we came across this recipe for  "Crazy Cake".  We have no idea where he got the recipe but we've found this recipe to be tried and true for any occasion.  It can be a snack on Saturday afternoon or served for dessert after an elegant dinner.  If you love chocolate you'll love this yummy moist cake!  (Photo of finished cake at bottom of this page.)

Crazy Cake
A delightfully rich and moist cake that is easy and fun to make.  Even a bachelor can do it and make a great impression on the ladies.

•  Using a 9" round glass cake dish, measure into a sifter and sift together right into the cake dish the dry ingredients:

     1 1/2  (one and one half) Cups flour
     1  C sugar
      1 tsp   baking soda
     1/2 (one half) tsp  salt (optional)
      3 Tbsp   unsweetened cocoa

• Stir together the ingredients above in the cake dish, mixing well.

• Make three well-holes in the dry ingredients with a spoon: 

1 large "well"

1 medium "well"
1 small "well"

• In the biggest of the wells put     5 Tbsp vegetable oil

• In the middle sized well, put       1 Tbsp vinegar

• In the smallest well put      1 tsp vanilla

• Pour 1 Cup cold water over all  

•  Stir all ingredients together very well using a spatula

to smash and mix in lumps and to scrape the sides and
bottom of the cake dish to make sure
all the dry gets mixed with the wet.

• Bake in a moderate oven at 325 degrees for 25 minutes.  

 (Note:
If you stick a toothpick into the cake to check for doneness it'll probably always come out with moist crumbs on it so don't use that for a test.  Just tap your finger on top of the middle of the cake and if it springs back and the cake doesn't smell burnt yet, it's done!)

• Now you can serve it as is (good warm and cold) with ice cream, or
• Let it cool and make it fancy by placing a pretty paper doily on top and then sifting powdered sugar over all.  Remove the doily and you've got a beautifully decorated cake!

For a printable page (no photos)  of this recipe, click here