“Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead.” – Charles Bukowski.
Today’s post is all about keeping things simple ! A super simple cake made with simple ingredients . And it tastes simply great !
I call this cake a snack cake. They are low on fuss , and need no embellishments .A slice goes great alongside a cup of coffee or tea. And you can just cut yourself small (or not so small) chunks when u feel hungry throughout the day. Or whenever you pass the kitchen .
This cake is a version of the “wacky” or “crazy” cake- called so because the whole idea of making a cake without eggs and butter was just unimaginable to people at that point of time. These cakes came about during the depression era in the US when ingredients for cakes were expensive and so this kind of cake is also called the Depression cake.
Which is kind of funny , because the cake is good enough to lift your spirits if you do happen to be feeling low !
I have already shared the chocolate version of this cake here which is even more delicious ( I am biased towards chocolate , you know that !)
This cake turns out soft and has a great vanilla flavour . The chocolate chips are an easy way to add some oomph to a simple cake ! Instead , you could sprinkle some nuts on top before baking or spread some ganache or dust some icing sugar after. Or you could try it plain – it can handle it 🙂 .
Eggless chocolate chip cake
Ingredients
- 250 grams or 2 cups all purpose flour
- 200 grams or 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 240 ml or 1 cup milk
- 120 ml or 1/2 cup oil
- 4 teaspoons vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C or 350 F. Grease an 8 x 8 inch square pan with butter and dust with flour. Cover the bottom with parchment paper (Optional).
- In a mixing bowl , whisk together the dry ingredients - flour , sugar , baking powder , baking soda and salt - until well combined.
- Dust the chocolate chips with a tablespoon or two of this mixture.
- Whisk in the oil , vinegar and vanilla extract into the remaining dry mixture.
- Whisk in the milk until smooth .
- Fold in the chocolate chips gently.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Bake at 180 C / 350 F for 28-30 minutes . The top will be golden brown , the edges will come away from the pan and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out completely dry.
- Cool in pan for 5 minutes , and then unmould to cool completely on a wire rack.
Notes
Dusting the chocolate chips with the flour prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the pan. Also, once they are folded in , pour batter immediately into pan and bake soon so that they dont have a chance to sink!
To make this cake vegan, use soy milk or almond milk instead.
The cake isnt too sweet but the chocolate chips take care of that.
You could skip the chocolate chips , but consider increasing the sugar by couple of tablespoons.
I wasn’t kidding about the simple , was I? But the cake really does taste very good for the amount of effort and time it demands of you. Definitely worth a try !
Affiliate links : Just so you know, I have baked this eggless chocolate chip cake in my trusty Morphy Richards 52 Litre Oven 
Happy baking !
Hi, this recipe looks amazing and I would like to try it for my 2 year old son’s birthday.. One question- Can I use milk chocolate like dairy milk for chocolate chips?
Hi Karuna… Yes , you can. But they ll melt while baking so you will have small packets of gooey chocolate in your cake.. very delicious . But be sure to chop small .. or they ll sink to the bottom of the cake… Happy birthday to your little one !
I tried this recipe and the cake was very yummy, my little one liked it too. Thanks so much!!
So glad to know that !
Thanks for the recipie. After reading all the comments, I cant wait to try!
Let me know if you do try it Parvathi !
Hi
Can I replace vinegar with lemon juice?
Hi Swati …you can. But the rise with vinegar is just better
HI, can I bake this in a 8″ round pan?
Hi.. one of the ingredients is Vinegar …any particular vinegar or can I use calverts dark vinegar
Hi Yovita , i only ever used white or apple cider vinegar in bakes. I think the black vinegar’s flavour might be tasted in the final cake .
Can i use butter instead of oil?
Hi Sia !you can use an equal quantity of melted butter. The cake will harden slightly over time especially on refrigerating. But not really a deal breaker
Hi..
Do we need to add granulated sugar directly?does it melt while baking?
When ever I try with granulated sugar.. sometimes I can feel them after baking…
Sorry for the really late reply! I use granulated sugar but never had that problem. You can pulse the sugar once in the mixer to get smaller granules. That will help Harika…
hello
I am new to baking. I have a 6 inch tin so if i want to make half the quantity how does it affect the quantity of the ingredients. Do i use half of all including baking powder & soda.
Hi Disha… If u have a high 6 Inch pan, you half the recipe. And yes, halve all ingredients like baking soda and powder toi
Hello
I have become a ardent fan of all your recipes and I have tried a few ones and all have turned perfect and tasty .but this CC cake was not perfect as in your picture.
The cake cracked onto top and formed a dome .yes my MR oven does get heated on the higher side and I use a oven temperature to get the result .i guess I need to make it again
I use a lower rack to bake and with no fan mode on.i hope Iam doing it right .pls guide
Hi vandana ! Sorry for the late response- was travelling for a bit ! Sorry to hear about the cake… I would suggest using the middle rack. Also, did u use a smaller pan than in recipe. You could try baking in a slightly larger pan at same time or in the same pan at 20 c lesser. The crack and the dome suggests that the temp was too high for the depth of the batter .hope this helps !
Thank you so much for replying back. I will try at lower temperature next time.
Hi
This recipe is really amazing. I have tried it for 4 to 5 times now. The taste is really nice. The only problem that I have been facing is craked dome. I have to trim the cake on top and most of it is wasted and I dont get enough layers for frosting.
I’m using bajaj 28 liters OTG. I don’t have a setting in my oven to bake on either rod. Both upper are lower rods are turned on while on bake mode. I bake at given temperature in the recipe.
Please suggest me how can I prevent this cracked dome problem.
Also I mix the batter until sugar almost disappears or dissolves. Is this overmixing?
Thanks for trying the cake Priyanka ! About the cracked dome – it could mean the oven is too hot or that the pan is smaller than the one in the recipe. So the outside gets heated n cracks…Inside takes longer to cook. Bake At 20 C less next time. I m sure your problem will b solved ! About the sugar – in this recipe, everything is mixed together. So mix only until smooth. Don’t worry about the sugar. In recipes where there are several steps , don’t mix too much after adding the flour (which is usually the last step ) … Hope this helps !
Hi I am new to baking and want to try this recipe
.It will be really helpful if you can explain me where we need to use butter and where oil.
Will it make any change in taste..In some recipes it’s mentioned as butter an in some recepies oil is mentioned
Hi MoNA.. there is a difference in taste and texture. Butter cakes have the definite taste of butter while the oil used in cake is flavourless. And as butter hardens when cool, these cakes may harden when refrigerated. Thats one reason people use oil in cakes – because it stays soft even after refrigeration. Another reason is that when butter is used , creaming of it is usually needed. With oil, just mixing it in is enough . Also butter is more expensive. So several reasons. Because you are a beginner, you should follow whatever the recipe says. When you try a few cakes and decide which you prefer – you can substitute melted butter for oil in many recipes. Hope this helps !
Hi thanks for the recipe! It’s so easy and quick! The only change I made was to bake it for 50 min in my oven. But that’s ok as every oven setting is different. Thanks again for the recipe it saved my evening 🙂
thats great to know Nidhi ! Thanks for trying and taking the time to jot down the result as well !!
Hi, can i reduce maida and add choca powder? I want to make chocolate cake with choco chips
Hi Richa…. you can use half cocoa and half maida but the cake might turn out drier. If you wish, you can use the recipe below for an eggless chocolate cake and add chocolate chips to it.
http://floursandfrostings.com/eggless-chocolate-snack-cake-recipe/
Loved your recipe! I too bought an MRCSS 52 L recently but am quite disappointed with the temperature inaccuracy . Tried on lower rod and on both rods with convection but my cake was a disaster.. Any tips to tame my otg would be appreciated. TIA
Glad you liked the cake Anju… While many ovens aren’t accurate with temperature , you can surely bake well once you understand your oven. Most MR s run a little hotter , so try baking your cake at 20 C lesser than what the recipe asks. So if the recipe asks for 180, try baking at 160 C. Always use middle rack for cakes. I prefer to use only bottom rod for most of my bakes as I feel using both rods bakes up the cake faster , but the cake gets unevenly cooked. The downside of using only bottom rod is , the browning on top might not be as good in some cakes . In that case, you can turn the mode to both rods for the last 5 minutes. To remove guesswork of temperature inaccuracy, you can invest in an oven thermometer. I don’t have one , the 20 c lesser trick works for me. When you say the cake was a disaster , what exactly went wrong ? Do let me know and i might have a clearer idea. And i promise I won’t take 2 weeks to reply this time !
Hi I tried this cake on my sister’s birthday. Being a home baker I keep baking and making cakes with cream. As a family we love simple suttle cakes. This cake was polished in no time my little one who is less than two years old wanted more and more of it. The birthday girl relished it to the core. Thank you so much for the lovely recipe. It added a lot to our celebration
Hi Jaya ! Thanks for trying the cake and writing in. I m glad the simple cake could add to your celebration and please your toddler too ! Like you say, Simple cakes do have a charm of their own !
I m gonna try it soon..
Sure Trishna.. let me know how it turns out for you!
Hi
Is this recipe suitable for cupcakes (without the chocolate chips, don’t have any right now)??
Hey Danielle…sorry for the late reply . Had some issues with the site !Yes, they bake up just fine into cupcakes!
Hi.. can we use this recipe for frosted cake.. i mean putting sugar syrup and then covering with whipping cream. Will it taste great?
Hi Harsh… Yes, u can ☺
Awsome recipe…. I gave it a little twist by adding 5-6 drops of pineapple flavored oil. OMG it was divine ,everyone loved it.
Thanks a lot for sharing this recipe.
Thank you so much for letting me know Tisha and the pineapple flavoured oil must have tasted great in it!
I tried this cake…its tastes amazing…. i dont like eggless cakes but this was an exception…thanks a ton for the recipe.
Thanks for the great feedback Eleena.. happy that the cake was up to your standards !!
Can I replace the oil with melted butter of the same quantity?
Hi Eleena… you could , but the end result would be a cake that is slightly less moist and one that would harden on refrigerating 🙂
Hi I baked these day before and omg it just came out perfect !! Loved it totally
Thats great to know Hena…thanks for trying and leaving your feedback on here . Appreciate it !!