I always use rice wine vinegar because I'm pretty sure it's milder than other kinds.



I don't think it really matters much... the vinegar is there to react with the bsking soda and give the cake leavening. I think every kind of vinegar reacts pretty much the same way.

you could also use distilled white vinegar.

I use the regular white vinegar. It's the same stuff I buy for cleaning. (I put half vinegar and half water in an old glass cleaner bottle.)



My MIL mentioned tonight that she had to take something to a potluck on Sunday. I told her that a chocolate cake from scratch sounds impressive. I told her about my recipe that has no milk, eggs, etc. I almost said it is vegan, but she wouldn't have gotten that.



Yum. Now I want some.

I know this recipe but we always called it "wartime cake" or "war cake".



During WW2, eggs were really hard to get unless you had your own chickens, so housewives figured out how to do things like make cakes without eggs. Baking a cake for someone was a biiiig thing back then and this recipe was perfect because most households had the ingredients on hand anyway.



My goodness, that recipe sure brings back some memories for me *takes a little trip down memory lane and decides to make this cake soon*

.

Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is the first vegan dessert that I have tried that I can actually make for "omnis" and not be embarrassed! It's really yummy, and I will put this recipe in the "keeper" file!

i've made an almost identical recipe many times before and it is great



the best part is nobody can tell!

I baked this the other week.. and it took like.. almost 2 hours to cook.. and then was 1/2 uncooked and 1/2 burnt. LEGEND.

maybe your oven was too hot, DK?

Made this recipe yesterday, as always, terrific!



I made them as cupcakes and frosted them with a store bought white frosting (might be Betty Crocker? - it was vegan anyway) and topped with rainbow sprinkles.



Quick. Easy. Yummy!

This is sooo good. I baked it the amount specified and it came out great but I like my cake a little bit undercooked so it's nice and soft... I tried some vegan icing from a different website but it was waaay too sweet even after I tripled the cocoa to try to dumb it down a bit. As I'm not vegan my mom is eating it talking about how fluffy it is and asks how many eggs. I say "none" and she just kind of stares at me... "none?" "Nope." blink. "Really?" "Nope." "hmm."

I made this a couple of days ago and it's really yummy. I used half the recipe and added and extra tbs of cocoa. It's really really moist even a few days latter and the batter is yummy raw



I had a bit of an incident when I poured it in the pan though, I think because the batter is so thin. I was using one of those pans with a removeable bottom and I put it in the hot oven without realized it was leaking out everywhere. I thing the pan may have been screwed up because I poured it in a different removeable bottom pan and put it on some aluminum foil in the oven and it barely leaked. It made a bit of a mess in the oven but was worth it. Would have been even better if I had made chocolate icing

I tried this cake, and I was surprised at how soft it turned out. I used too much baking soda though, and you can taste it in the cake... Next time, I'll also use more sugar, and less cocao, since the cake tuned out black... brown is ok by me

This cake is awesome, and an absolute dead-ringer for an omni cake! I brought mine to a friend's house this weekend, and he commented on how good it was and asked me for the recipe. Everyone loved it and I am the only vegetarian in the crowd.



A few comments: I added 2 tbsp more cocoa per other poster's advice. This made the cake really nice and chocolatey.



On cooking time, 30 minutes really means 30 minutes. I took one of the cakes out of the oven after 20 minutes or so just to stick a knife in and test it. It started to fall! (But it did not fall enough to affect the texture of the cake.) Leave them alone until they've completed the baking time, then test them.



This cake is also known as "war cake". (Thanks, TNS) It's yet another resource-saavy recipe originating from the World War II US.

Also, if you've never baked a cake in your life, this is the perfect cake to start with. It's easy.



Some tips for cooking cakes in general that this recipe does not mention:



Before pouring your batter in a metal or glass baking pan:



Spray your baking pans with spray oil... Cover completely. If you don't have spray oil handy, you can dab your finger with cooking oil and thoroughly cover the pan that way.



Flour the pan after oiling it: Sprinkle a dab of flour into the pan and then shift the pan around until the flour totally covers the bottom and sides of the pan.



If you're using a silicon pan, well you're just too wise for your own britches.... (You don't need to oil and flour, but that's why you bought that pan.)



Don't try to frost a hot cake! You need to let your cake cool down most of the way before you try to frost it. If you try to frost a hot cake, you'll tear it up.



Don't try to catch a cake coming loose from the pan. Then you won't have a small repair job on your hands like I did.

This goes on my list of "Things to do in Albuquerque at Christmas"



1.) Eat chocolate cake...

MMM I made this last night and it is seriously one of the best things I have tasted. I had some of the same cooking problems, the outsides done, but the inside not done at all, but I also wasn't thinking and using a very deep dish and so it was too thick to begin with. Next time I'll just divde it in two pans or find a bigger one.



Soooo good though.

I live in England and noticed a lot of recipes on here use soy milk, is that the same as soya milk? I'd appreciate any help, I'm dying to try some of the recipes!

yes, soymilk & soya milk are the same.



i am soo gonna make this cake tonight. i've only ever made a few vegan cakes, and they turned out only ok..not soft enough and people could tell they were vegan. i might make cupcakes and bring them into uni! see what people think.



i cant wait!

I would like to make this cake for my family. We are at a high altitude and baked things are always hit and miss. Has anyone at up there made this succesfully, have any tips to share? I'm at about 7,000 feet.



Oh, I'd also like to use a fluted stoneware pan.



Any tips would be great.

I made this recipe tonight, but I used 8 tbps (1/2 cup) cocoa rather than 6 and made them into cupcakes (20-25 minutes in over rather and 30) and they were great! My omni-family loved them.

I just made this recipes - it made 12 cupcakes and a cake! and OMG - I could have eaten all of the batter! It was sooo gooey and so chocolately! 10/10 Michael!

This cake is so YUMMMMY!!!! I made it more than a month ago and never posted how great it is, but now I am. I also added more cocoa, yum!! I made a chocolate cake from another recipe that day but it came out like crap so I turned to this one and it was 1,000,000,000,000,000 times better!!

Ok, i'm gonna make this cake. Haha. Wow. I have to get some coca. I think that's the only thing I don't have. Yayyyyyy.

Just so you know - coca and cocoa are two different things and you'll have an Absurdly Awful Chocolate Cake if you plan on using it...



But eh, knock yourself out...

my oven's not working :*(



that means...no chocolate cake for me!! maybe thats not such a bad thing after all? lol

I don't have time to read through all the pages, so perhaps this question has been asked.



What kind of vinegar???? There are so many types.

I've had success using apple cider vinegar and white would work just as well. Just pretend you're living in the 1930's US, can't afford milk or eggs and want to make a cake.

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum

Please, I have one more question. What kind of oil is best for this cake? I want to make it today for my son's 15th birthday celebration and I want it to be as yummy as possible. One does not celebrate 15 years old twice and I want this to be a cake he remembers!!!!