El Pastel de chocolate loco is an easy vegan chocolate cake recipe made without eggs, milk, or butter. Plus, it’s an easy chocolate cake recipe made in one bowl with a delicious, moist chocolate crumb and a sweet chocolate frosting.
I love making all sorts of cake, whether they are accidentally vegan like my Pastel de harina de avena, Pastel sin azúcar, Pastel de chocolate sin hornear con solo 2 ingredientes o Protein Cake or if they are vegan versions of the classics, like my Pastel Bundt vegano, Tarta navideña vegana o Pastel de café vegano.
This crazy chocolate cake is from the first category, a delicious, accidentally vegan cake. You’ll see below that I’ve perfected the method to make it absolutely no-fail every time.
Crazy Cakes, also known as wacky cakes, are easy cake recipes made with pantry ingredients – nothing fresh from the fridge. Also known as depression cake recipes, this was first created during World War II when eggs and milk were scarce.
Nowadays, crazy cakes are popular on the vegan diet, and busy days to fix a quick cake craving with very simple ingredients and minimal dishwashing! A crazy cake recipe is naturally:
- Libre de lactosa
- Sin huevo
- Vegano
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Pastel de chocolate loco
Ingredientes
- 1 ½ taza de Harina para todo uso - (nota 1)
- ¾ taza de Azúcar de caña sin refinar - see note for sugar-free/unrefined options
- ⅓ taza de Cacao en polvo sin azúcar
- 1 cucharadita de Vinagre de sidra de manzana - or white vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 cucharadita de Bicarbonato de sodio
- ¼ cucharadita de Salt
- ⅓ taza de Aceite de canola - o aceite de oliva suave
- 1 taza de Agua - a temperatura ambiente
Dairy-free chocolate ganache
- 3.5 oz Pepitas de chocolate negro sin lácteos - or dark chocolate pieces (70-85% cocoa)
- ⅓ taza de Leche De Coco Enlatada - or coconut cream
Instrucciones para la impresión en alta definición
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Lightly grease a 9-inch x 9-inch square cake pan with oil. Glass or ceramic pans work the best.
- Directly in the cake pan (no bowl is needed for this recipe), add the flour, sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. Whisk to combine.
- Make 2 wells in the dry ingredients and add the vinegar in one of the wells and the oil in the other well.
- Pour the water, at room temperature, over the ingredients and whisk to form a batter with no lump. Careful, don't use boiling water, or the cake will be very chewy. Very cold water may create lumps, especially with gluten-free all-purpose flour.
- Hornear por De 25 a 30 minutos or until a pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool the cake down to room temperature before frosting. If you used a glass/ceramic pan, cool the cake in the pan, no need to unmold it. Otherwise, unmold after 10 minutos and cool down on a rack.
- Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate ganache
Ganache de chocolate
- Combine the melted chocolate with coconut cream
- Heat the coconut milk or cream in a small pan (you can also use your microwave), then pour over the dark chocolate chips and stir until the chocolate in the ganache is smooth and shiny.
- Spread all over the cake before serving
Notas
Nutrición
Ingredientes y sustituciones
Below, I listed the basic ingredients and substitutions available to make this crazy cake recipe with gluten-free, sugar-free, or oil-free foodies.

- Harina – The classic crazy cake recipe uses white flour. I recommend unbleached white wheat flour or spelt flour simply because they are more nourishing. For a gluten-free version, use my Guía de conversión a una dieta sin gluten. Other healthier flour options are spelt flour or oat flour. However, if you are using oat flour, then the texture will be less moist, and you will have to use sugar to keep the texture right. Xylitol or erythritol won’t work with oat flour.
- Azúcar - White sugar will work very well, but I recommend unrefined cane sugar or a sugar-free crystal sweetener like erythritol or xylitol to make the cake sugar-free.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – Sweetened cocoa powder will work, but the cake will be overly sweet, so it’s not recommended.
- Bicarbonato de sodio – or double the amount if you want to use baking powder
- Aceite – Canola oil or light olive oil works the best. I love olive oil to decrease the saturated fat in the cake recipe. Other options are melted coconut oil or avocado oil. For an oil-free option, replace oil with the same amount of unsweetened apple sauce.
- Vinagre – Apple cider vinegar is my healthy choice, but any vinegar or lemon juice would work too.
How To Make A Crazy Chocolate Cake
There’s always a day when you crave a deliciously moist chocolate cake, but you don’t feel like spending hours washing the dishes or baking. So this chocolate crazy cake is very handy for those days.

- The key to making a delicious, crazy cake is to first whisk all the dry ingredients into the baking dish.

- Then, make two great depressions, meaning holes, in the dry ingredients for the wet ingredients.

- Add the oil in one of the depressions and the vinegar in the other one. Pour the water over the other cake ingredients.

- Stir the crazy chocolate cake ingredients to combine and form a smooth chocolate batter.

- Bake the crazy cake on the center rack of your oven for 30 to 35 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until a pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool down on a cooling rack before frosting.

- Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate frosting for your cake. In a mixing bowl, melt dark chocolate chips and coconut cream. You can also bring the mixture into a saucepan and melt it over medium heat until glossy and thick, like a chocolate ganache. Spread the chocolate frosting over the cake and refrigerate the cake to set your frosting.
Carine’s Tips for a Perfect Cake
It’s a no-bowl recipe since you can simply mix all the ingredients directly into the baking dish!
There are two baking dish options for this recipe, depending on what you want, serving the cake in the pan or unmolding it and serving it on a serving plate.
- Ceramic/glass baking pan – this is the best option if you want to serve the cake directly from the pan.
- Regular cake pan – in this case, I like to lay a piece of parchment paper at the bottom of the pan. To prevent the piece of paper from moving, I grease it with oil on both sides. This way, it perfectly adheres to the pan, and the batter doesn’t leak under the paper when you beat the batter into the pan. This pan is great if you want to unmold the cake and serve it on a cake stand or plate.
Sirviendo
This crazy cake is delicious on it’s own, but it can be super-charged with some of the toppings below:
- Glaseado: like my Protein Powder Frosting, Glaseado de anacardos o Glaseado de chocolate vegano.
- Nata montada: like my Crema batida vegana or Vegan Coconut Cream Frosting.
- Frutas frescas: strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries.
- Mantequilla de nueces: Drizzle your favorite peanut butter, cashew butter, or sunflower seed butter.

Preguntas frecuentes
This crazy cake recipe is egg-free and dairy-free and can very well be stored in a cake box in the pantry for up to 4 days.
You can store your slices of wacky cake in the freezer for up to 3 months, which increases its fudgy chocolate texture. Thaw it the day before eating a slice.
More Chocolate Baking Recipes
If you love egg-free chocolate cakes, brownies, and bars, I have a few more easy chocolate recipes for you to try.








This cake is so delicious Moist and very easy I didn’t have ingredients for frosting so I just put some chocolate chips on top while cake was still warm
I will definitely make this again
¡Muchas gracias!
This is also called “wacky cake” and it’s a recipe that originated (or was just very popular) during the depression because it didn’t need expensive eggs or cream or butter or milk. There’s also a vanilla version and a lemon version. Can be searched. Making it for years.
True! always a good one for a quick cake.
Absolutely love this recipe, have made it several times and each time the cake only lasts a couple of days!
I’m this cake is crazy delicious!! Wow I’m so impressed & it’s so simple and quick to make! My husband loved it. And that chocolate ganache goes so well with it! Top top!
Merci beaucoup! I discovered your delicious recipes. Easy to converse to low sugar alternative. I will try this one with avocado oil, erythritol and almond flour. Thank you, your website is great!
The most amazing and easy cake and to top it all, vegan!!
My family couldn’t believe that there were no eggs involved!!
The ganache was also super easy to make and complemented the cake perfectly!
Muy rico, gracias por compartir mi familia y yo te lo agradecemos.sakudos de México
Would this recipe work for making a layered cake? Specifically an 8inch cake?
I guess yes, I didn’t try that but it should work well
Being in lockdown without eggs this recipe saved the day. Made it 3x and shared with neighbors. Delicious and used powdered sugar since no frosting ingredients in stock. Loved it with walnuts too. Thanks, stay well.
I used xylitol as a sugar sub and it was great. Didn’t have coconut milk to hand so made a quick chocolate sauce with cocoa powder, cream and sugar- the literal icing on the cake!! It is extremely easy and such a quick baking time; I will definitely make this again!!