Here’s a trick to have your cake and some treats too
Halloween is a time to treat yourself, so this cupcake recipe is decidedly unhealthy but still student-friendly. The cake part of the recipe is adapted from a really popular depression-era chocolate cake called wacky cake.
During the Great Depression, it was difficult to get ingredients like butter, eggs, and milk, so this cake recipe uses oil, vinegar, and baking soda as replacements. Depression-era folks looked at this vegan cake recipe and thought, “That’s straight-up wacky, hep-cat!” And maybe it is, but it’s also super easy and tastes way better than anything you’ll get out of a box.
Most of the online wacky cake recipes are for chocolate cake but can easily be turned into any flavour you’re craving. To make your own flavour, simply omit the four tablespoons of cocoa powder you’ll find in the recipe and replace it with other flavours—or nothing at all to make vanilla.
I’ve made a pumpkin spice cake by using two teaspoons of ground cinnamon, one teaspoon of ginger powder, half a teaspoon of ground cloves, and a pinch of ground nutmeg; a matcha green tea cake by using three tablespoons of green tea powder; and even banana bread by replacing the sugar with half a cup of brown sugar and two ripe, mashed bananas, and then adding half a tablespoon of cinnamon. Don’t be afraid to try something new.
For an extra Halloween treat, this recipe can include any of your favourite fun-sized chocolate bars—I even made one with Swedish Berries, which was a lot better than I thought it would be, so don’t be afraid to experiment with a couple in the batch.
This recipe should make 12 cupcakes and can be doubled or tripled to make more.
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Dry Ingredients
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated white sugar (normally this would be one cup, but the candy makes it too sweet so I used a half instead)
1 teaspoon baking soda (not baking powder; they are different)
½ teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
6 tablespoons oil (use either vegetable oil or melted margarine; other oils have too strong a flavour. Also, six tablespoons is basically a quarter cup plus two tablespoons)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup water
Icing
If you’re in a hurry, buy a can of your favourite icing. If you have time you can make your own icing by following the recipe on the icing sugar that you purchase.
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Directions
Chop fun-sized chocolate bars of your choice into halves or smaller. Keep in mind that certain chocolate bars, such as those containing a harder caramel or other ingredients, may not hold up well when heated in this way. Do a variety of chocolate the first time so you can find out what works well and what you like the most. Some chocolates that worked well are: Caramilk, Reese’s pieces, and Reese’s cups. My favourite, Wunderbar, doesn’t turn out so great.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients. Mix them around with a fork and then make two small wells and one large well (basically, take a spoon and press a wacky looking happy face into it).
Put the vinegar in one small well, the vanilla in another small well, and the oil into the large well.
Add the cup of water and then mix everything until incorporated and the batter is lump-free.
Prepare a cupcake tin with liners. Pour a quarter cup of batter per cupcake.
Adding about half a fun-sized chocolate bar to each cupcake is a good amount. Make sure that you push it just below the surface.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick or knife can be inserted into the cake and come out clean. If the toothpick has any batter on it, put the cupcakes back in for another two minutes and then test them again.
Once the cupcakes cool, you can ice them and top with some chopped chocolate.
Enjoy!
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