It appears today is chocolate cake day. I had no idea that cake had a day. But it does.

I’m not a chocolate fan. I’m not a cake fan. But I am a fan of recipes from Grandma’s cookbooks. So I found this recipe called “Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake” and tried it out. It’s actually pretty tasty. There’s no eggs. Which is weird. There’s also a thing called oleo in it.

Googling has lead me to believe that this is just another word for margarine. I did my best to recreate the recipe by actually using margarine. More googling (I lie, I asked my friends who deal with dairy allergies on a daily basis) leads me to believe that some margarine is considered dairy free, but that there are legit dairy free options there. So – technically? An easy dairy free cake.

I can remember Grandma telling me stories about “war time” and how there were rations and you didn’t use things as freely as you do now a days.  It’s also a good explanation as to why I found 25 (not exaggerated) cans of refried beans in her pantry when she passed away. Right next to the 17 cans of corn.

She lived alone. And she didn’t live on beans alone. So I can imagine that rationing and hoarding (especially canned goods) was a lifestyle for her. I can imagine that eggs and oil were in higher demand back then. Because there’s no eggs or oil in the recipe. Which made me skeptical. But also curious.

On with the baking!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3 tbs. cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup melted butter, margarine, dairy free sub
1 tbs. vinegar
1 cup warm water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, baking soda into mixing bowl.

Add vanilla, butter (or substitute), and vinegar.

Pour warm water over all and mix well.

Pour batter into pan.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Granddaughter notes:

• The first pan I found was a heart shaped cake. So heart shaped it was.
• Upon tasting the cake we realized it was pretty darn good, but we needed an icing. I was overruled with my idea of a homemade cream cheese, so we made a ganache for the top.
• Ganache recipe was not in the recipe book, but if you want it – let me know!

 

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