MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06
Title: Cockeyed Cake (Crazy Cake/Wacky Cake)
Categories: Cakes
Yield: 1 Cake
MMMMM----------------------------CAKE---------------------------------
1 c Flour; up to 1 1/2 c, sifted
3 tb Cocoa
1 ts Baking soda
1 c Sugar
1/2 ts Salt
5 tb Cooking oil
1 tb Vinegar
1 c Water; cold
MMMMM----------------GOOD OLD CONFECTIONER'S SUGA---------------------
2 c Confectioner's sugar
1 ds Salt
1 ts Vanilla
Cream
Preparation time: 5 to 7 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
This is one of the immortal, beloved recipes from the original,
groundbreaking I Hate to Cook Book (1960) by Ruth Eleanor "Peg"
Bracken (1918-2007), author of breezy, culturally subversive books
starting with the aforementioned volume that asked "Suppose a
cookbook emphasised ease of preparation?", and broke all sales
records when it turned out the answer was "Heck, yes." Being a
counterculture figure before it was cool to be one, she lived in what
was later the hippie haven of Bolinas, California.
Her most-famous book, the one cited, almost didn't get published,
because six publishing firms' acquisition editors summarily turned
down any attempt to make cooking easy, on grounds that "women regard
cooking as sacred" and would never buy it. The seventh was a female
editor at Harcourt Brace, who joyfully picked it up, and it then sold
three million copies in the 1960s alone, and keeps on going.
Put your sifted flour back in the sifter, add to it cocoa, baking
soda, sugar, and salt, and sift this right into a greased cake pan,
about 9x9x2". Now you make three grooves, or holes, in this dry
mixture.
Into one groove, pour the oil; into the next, the vinegar; into the
next, the vanilla. Now, pour the cold water over it all. You'll feel
like you're making mud pies now, but beat it with a spoon until it's
nearly smooth and you can't see the flour. Bake it at 350°F for
30 minutes.
Frosting:
Sift confectioner's sugar with salt. Then, add vanilla, and beat in
enough cream to make it the right consistency to spread.
Notes:
Given the base recipe's omission of eggs, milk, and butter,
ingredients scarce during WWII, there's widespread speculation Peg
Bracken adapted it from a much older, wartime recipe. And, indeed,
very similar recipes can be found under names like "War Cake",
"Depression-Era Chocolate Cake", and "Poor Man's Cake".
"Readers should be alerted to let this cake sit overnight, if
possible; the ingredients need time to become acquainted. It is
scrumptious on the 2nd and 3rd days, preferably with a simple topping
of melted butter, brown sugar, cream, and chopped nuts."
<
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/8765-wacky-cake>
Recipe by I Hate to Cook Book by Ruth Eleanor "Peg" Bracken, 1960
Recipe FROM: <
http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/recipes/cockeyed-cake.html>
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