My Grandma Was A Hoarder But Her Chocolate Cake Recipe Is Awesome
I may have mentioned previously that my grandmother was a very organized hoarder. After she died, one of the many things I took from her house (besides her collection of Tic-Tac containers full of perfectly rolled and sized lint balls) was an honest-to-goodness, well-worn depression-era cookbook.
Don’t ask me why my grandma made and collected perfectly sized lint balls in Tic Tac containers that she sorted by color and stored in an old shoebox from the 1950s because I don’t have an answer. After she died, I took the collection because it was just so…her.
Through the years, I’ve tried several recipes from that cookbook – making a point to skip over the section titled “Canning Meat.” (AKA How To Kill Your Family With Botchulism In Five Easy Steps) that gives detailed instructions for canning organ meats and OMG!! CANNED ORGAN MEAT??!! I might have just thrown up a little in my mouth talking about jarred meat.
In the dessert section, there is a yummy chocolate cake recipe I’ve made a few times. The ingredient list is on a wrinkled, stained page, so somebody made that cake often. I want to think it was my grandmother, but maybe it was a complete stranger since I have no idea where that cookbook came from. As I mentioned, Grandma was a hoarder. I’m not saying she was also a dumpster diver back in the day, but I’m not saying she wasn’t. Wink. Wink. My Grandma was quirky (I mean that lovingly).
As we know, the Depression scarred people and changed them, especially the only daughter and oldest sibling in a family that also had 9 sons. I cannot begin to imagine the stress she felt living through the Great Depression, patching clothes, wasting nothing, doing without, and trying to help keep the family fed.
Let me tell you a story about my grandmother: There were train tracks near her home, and once, in the early 1980s, a train derailed. In the dead of night, my grandmother went to the overturned train car and helped herself to a case of Mr. & Mrs. T’s Bloody Mary Mix and various canned goods. Do you want to guess what she gave everyone for Christmas that year? (“Oh look! I got a bottle of Bloody Mary mix from grandma TOO!” ) I can still hear my mother reprimanding her as the family opened their Christmas gifts: “MOM! Were you one of those people who was down at the train tracks LOOTING??!!”
Speaking of trains, let’s get this one back on track. I’m going to share the Depression cookbook chocolate cake recipe with you. Hopefully, you haven’t already barfed yourself to death after getting a mental picture of meat in a jar with the intention that it be eaten months or years later.
So, what makes a depression-era chocolate cake recipe different than any other chocolate cake recipe? Depression recipes rarely used milk, eggs, or butter because they were too expensive or not attainable during the Depression. You’re probably wondering how a cake without milk, eggs, or butter can be tasty, but I swear to you, you should try making this cake and see how delicious it is.
Now, would I lie to you? Would I deliberately steer you wrong? I’m telling you, give it a shot. This cake is so good you would never guess it came from an almost 100-year-old cookbook that also teaches one how to can and pickle a cow tongue. Ha Ha! Here you go:
WACKY CHOCOLATE DEPRESSION CAKE
3 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
6 tablespoons of cocoa
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
Stir together in a large bowl and make three holes. Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar, 1 cup of oil, and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract in the holes and stir until combined.
Spread in a 9 x 13-inch greased baking pan. Bake at 350 for 25 to 35 minutes.
FROSTING
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
6 tablespoons of water
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Stir frosting ingredients together. The frosting is ready when it is thick but pourable. Pour the frosting over the cooled cake, spreading evenly. Allow it to set before cutting and serving.
Enjoy!