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Kahlúa Wacky Cake

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You might have grown up eating crazy cake or wacky cake… the amazing cake that requires no bowl, no eggs, and no milk of any kind. But I’m willing to wager you’ve never had a wacky cake as delicious as this Kahlúa Wacky Cake before now!

Kahlúa Wacky Cake aka crazy cake aka the “Pantry’s Bare Cake” is a delectable cake that is moist and flavorful, but in this one, our secret recipe is the coffee liqueur.

Unlike most cakes which require the use of eggs, butter or milk to impart the light spongy texture, this brain-child concoction of the depression era can be thrown together in a single baking dish, without the need for dirtying a bowl. In fact, it doesn’t even need the Kahlua.
kahlua-wacky-cake

Kahlúa Wacky Cake Recipe

You’ll Need:
1 1/2 cups flour (all-purpose)
1/4 c unsweetened baking cocoa
1 c granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
5 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3/4 cup brewed coffee (cold or room temperature)
1/4 cup Kahlúa OR Tia Maria OR Sheridan Coffee Liqueur or Allen’s Coffee Brandy (if you’re a Yankee)

Wacky Cake Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter or grease a 9″x9″ baking dish. Now measure all the dry ingredients right into the dish, mix them around with a fork. Make sure that there aren’t any little lumps of flour. Now, add all of the liquid ingredients, dump them right in, you don’t have to make little depressions into the dry stuff, you literally just dump them into the mix. Now, stir it with a fork again until it’s relatively smooth.

If you don’t have a coffee liqueur (or if you’re against liqueur in general) you could omit the liqueur and increase the amount of STRONG coffee to 1 cup, instead. But, WHY would you do that??

kahlua-wacky-cake

The Pantry’s Bare Wacky Cake

1 1/2 c. Flour
1 c. white sugar
1/4 c. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbs Cider Vinegar
6 Tbs Oil
1 c. water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter or grease a 9″x9″ baking dish. Now measure all the dry ingredients right into the dish, mix them around with a fork. Make sure that there aren’t any little lumps of flour. Now, add all of the liquid ingredients, dump them right in, you don’t have to make little depressions into the dry stuff, you literally just dump them into the mix. Now, stir it with a fork again until it’s relatively smooth.

Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 32-35 minutes. Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean.

Cool. Then frost with your favorite chocolate frosting or dust generously with powdered sugar. (Need a Quickie Chocolate Frosting Recipe? Check out this delicious 2 Minute Frosting!!)

Melissa 'Liss' Burnell, Founder of Budget101

👩‍🍳 About the Author

Melissa "Liss" Burnell started Budget101.com in 2001 because she needed it to exist — not because she saw a market opportunity. She was feeding a family of four on under $200 a month, and people kept asking how, so she started writing everything down.

That turned into 25 years of recipes, debt-busting strategies, and DIY content — including figuring out how to make 128 loads of laundry detergent for less than $2. Millions of families have quietly used this site to stretch a dollar without feeling like they're sacrificing anything. She's also the author of two bestselling budget cooking ebooks, available on Amazon.

📚 More on the About page, or find her on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.

7 thoughts on “Kahlúa Wacky Cake”

      • First listed ingredient under You’ll Need.

        because of the formatting of the page- the flour in list of ingredients is separated from the rest of the ingredients. The flour (on my browser) is listed up next to the top left corner of the picture and the rest of the ingredients is below it, making it hard to find the flour for the recipe.

        Reply
        • because of the formatting of the page- the flour in list of ingredients is separated from the rest of the ingredients. The flour (on my browser) is listed up next to the top left corner of the picture and the rest of the ingredients is below it, making it hard to find the flour for the recipe.

          what is your screen resolution?

          To See yours click the following link:
          What is my screen resolution

          Reply
  1. While I would add Kahlua, not everyone can have alcohol, so I appreciate the additional mention if how to make the cake alcohol free. I do wish others would add a way to leave out alcohol in recipes, if it can be done.

    Reply
    • Is there a way to save a recipe on here?

      There are actually a couple different ways! You can

      1. Save to Favorites – here’s a step by step on how to use it

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