Wacky Cake

Welcome to “There’s a Dad in the Kitchen!”  I aim to have a simple, limited ingredient recipe with basic, easy-to-follow, step-by-step directions each week.  So easy, even a dad can do it!

I love to cook.  Working in the kitchen takes me back to a simpler time when my family worked to keep Latshaw’s Bakery running in Spring City, Pennsylvania.  Started by my great-grandfather, Hosea Latshaw, in 1882, Latshaw’s served the Spring City and Royersford communities for 92 years, when it closed in 1974.

Latshaw's Bakery, 1897
(My great-grandmother, Zaidee, is on the right)

My grandmother, Ruth Latshaw-Willauer, bought the business from her father in the 1940’s, and my father, Ray, worked for her as the third generation of bakers, taking over the business from his mother in the 1960’s.  My parents, two brothers and I all worked together at Latshaw’s.  I have to tell you that it was an enriching and rewarding experience.  As with any family, we had our “moments,” but we knew we were it in together, literally working to put bread on the table!

Christmas, 1956
(That's me.  I still have the toque and apron.)

As a result of my exposure to cooking and baking at an early age, I was comfortable around the kitchen.  While my start in the baking business consisted mostly of “pearl diving” (washing pots and pans), I remember being “promoted” to actually working with the baked goods.  Filling donuts and applying icing to sweet rolls was fun, but you knew you had arrived when you were permitted to fry thirty-six donuts at once in the donut fryer.  The epitome of my accomplishments was learning how flip a tray of five dozen cinnamon buns when they had finished baking.  To me, flipping a full pan of molten cinnamon and sugar so that it could flow like lava over the finished product was akin to a stunt that Evel Knievel would perform.  Whenever I did it, I silently played a drum roll in my head.

My comfortability in the kitchen resulted in my frequently baking something at home.  I’d come home from school famished, but with two brothers knew I’d find nothing to eat.  To survive I’d bake a cake, and this week’s recipe was my standard:  Wacky Cake.  I’m not sure how it got its name, but up until that point in time, I’d never heard of a cake recipe that included vinegar.

You simply mix everything together in the order listed until it’s smooth, without any lumps, and bake it.

Here are some pointers:  After adding the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, run the mixer on a low speed for a few minutes to evenly distribute those items.  Stop the mixer and then add all of the “wet” ingredients.  Again, use a low speed and allow the mixer to run for about five minutes.  Stop the mixer again and use a spatula or scraper to scrape down to the bottom of the bowl, going around the whole circumference.  This loosens any dry ingredients that have stuck to the sides and have not blended into the batter.  Another minute or two of mixing and the batter should be well-blended.  You’re ready to put it into an ungreased, non-stick, 9”x13” pan.  (This recipe will also make two 8”x8” square pans, or two 10” round pans.)

WACKY CAKE

Pre-heat oven to 350°F

“Dry” Ingredients

3 cups flour

6 Tablespoons cocoa

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

“Wet” Ingredients

2/3 cup of vegetable oil

2 teaspoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups cold water

Place cake pan on an oven rack as close to the middle of the oven space as possible.  Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.

How to tell when most cakes are done:  First, resist the temptation to open the oven door repeatedly to check on progress.  After baking time has elapsed or is within five minutes, the middle of the top should not be dented in.  When a light touch to the middle of the top of the cake bounces back, the cake is ready to come out of the oven.  Place it on a rack or cold stove burner to cool.

This cake is so moist you actually don’t have to put icing on it.  After it’s cool you can sprinkle powdered sugar on top.  And remember, cakes, (unless they have milk in the batter or icing --- or are ice cream cakes), don’t have to be refrigerated.  Cold cake is not the way it was intended to be eaten!

Have fun and enjoy!