Crazy Fudge Cake

My mother’s 82nd birthday is today and for that we are planning a family get together tonight. “Meow meow”, as my two-and-a-half year-old daughter calls her, is looking forward to the event. Perhaps her only request was that my daughter make her cake. Joellen loves to make cakes and help me cook other things in the kitchen.

A few days ago she wanted a grilled cheese sandwich and wanted to help me make it. I got her on the step stool and washed her hands, ready to begin the work of making a grilled cheese. “What does the recipe say?” she asked. I explained that we don’t have a recipe for making a grilled cheese sandwich, I just know how to do it. “Oh,” she replied.

After she had buttered the bread and we were ready to add the cheese she said again, “What does the recipe say?” Needless to say I wrote up a recipe for making a grilled cheese sandwich.

Joellen’s specialty cake is a family favorite we call “Crazy Fudge Cake”. My sister Karen first made this recipe from a children’s cookbook when she was just a child. It’s a great recipe for kids to make since it doesn’t use any eggs and you can avoid some extra crunch in your cake from the broken egg shell. Also, it can be simply stirred with a spoon, eliminating splatter from mixer beaters.

For Karen, Crazy Fudge Cake is part of a rite of passage as she makes one with each of her grandchildren at some point during their eighth year of life.

But maybe the best part of Crazy Fudge Cake is that it tastes great and always turns out moist and yummy. Of course any icing you prefer works with Crazy Fudge Cake, but I like topping mine with Betty Crocker’s Rainbow Chip Icing. I love that stuff! I don’t generally like canned icing, but Rainbow Chip is an exception. I even had a friend once that would just open a can and eat just Rainbow Chip Icing as dessert.

A quick Google search found that we are not alone in our love for it. I found sites where people were lamenting the inability to purchase it in their area. We had a Rainbow Chip shortage in New Martinsville for a while, but much to my delight it has returned.

Anyway, I wanted to share the joy of Crazy Fudge Cake so more children and adults can make this cake that is quick and easy, but most importantly, delicious!

Crazy Fudge Cake

6 Tbsp. cocoa

2 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

3 c. flour

2 tsp. soda

Mix dry ingredients and make well for liquid ingredients. Add:

10 Tbsp. oil

2 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp. vinegar

2 c. cold water

Mix. Pour into cake pan and bake at 350 degrees until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean—approximately 35 minutes in rectangular pan.