Wacky Cake

I know what you're thinking. Cupcakes? Twice in 2 weeks? Give your head a shake! But, little Charlie needed them for his baby shower and I have that fancy new mixer and a new cake decorating kit (and very little self control).

My mom made wacky cake when I was growing up and it's still a favorite. It's just chocolatey enough without being overly sweet.

Wacky Cake

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. vinegar

5 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 cup cold water

In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Make three wells in the flour mixture. In one put vanilla; in another the vinegar, and in the third the oil. Pour the cold water over the mixture and stir until moistened. Fill cupcake liners about half full. Bake at 350 for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

Chocolate Icing

 

3 cups of icing sugar

1/2 cup softened butter

1/3 cup cocoa

2 tsp. vanilla

4 tbsp. milk

 

Cream together butter, 2 cups of icing sugar and cocoa. Add vanilla and 2 tbsp. of milk. Slowly add up to 1 more cup of icing sugar and 1-2 tbsp of milk*. Mix until desired consistency.

 

*You don't have to add all of the extra icing sugar or milk. Add each slowly until the icing is the right taste and consistency for you. For the icing above, I only added about a half cup of icing sugar and 1 tbsp. of milk and it was perfect for piping.