Depression Cake | Vegan Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Are you wondering why a cake must have this weird name!Is there a doubt in the corner of your mind asking  if the cake will give lead you down the road to depression or the cake has a ‘depressed’ look…Then, dear friends, you are mistaken!!

Way back in the in the 1930’s there was a great economic depression preceding the World War II. Though the timing varied across nations, it was the longest and most wide spread depression of the 20th century. It stated in the United states and from September 29th 1929, the stock markets began to fall and on October 29th 1929, the stock markets crashed and hence that day is still called-Black Tuesday!!

So when the economy was shattering all around people found it hard to find food .Several modifications to cooking and alternative use of ingredients were suggested by the government to tide over the food crisis.
So when people baked cake they used shortening instead of butter, substituted water for milk and used baking powder in the place of eggs. One such dish born by using minimal ingredients yet that tasted good was this cake.

This cake does not have expensive ingredients like milk/ butter/ eggs . There are affordable not but in those days of economic depression, they were pretty expensive! s

This is also called – Milkless, Eggles, Butterless cake / War Cake / Boiled Raisin Cake etc. The main ingredients were flour, apple or pear, a few nuts like almonds , walnuts, pecans and some spices like cinnamon, allspice etc.[Source – Wiki]

Later on when things got back to the normal, the basic recipe remained the same but there were some add-ons like the chocolate chips used here….

So,In continuation to the ‘cake walk’ we had here last week, here is another one for out Bake-a-thon, Finally I am able to try out all the cakes that I have been bookmarking.This one is from Foodomania…

The cake is very soft and as you can see it did not unmold properly though I greased the tray well..

I used:

All purpose flour [APF]- 3/4 cup
Powdered sugar  1/2 cup
Cocoa powder- 2 tablespoons
Vegetable oil- 6 tablespoons
Warm water- 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence- 1 teaspoon
Baking powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Baking Soda- 1/8th teaspoon
Salt- a pinch
Chocolate chips- 1/4 cup [ I used a combo of white and dark]

1. Grease and dust a bundt pan and keep aside. Sift together APF,cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt.In a bowl, mix together water, oil and sugar. Whisk till sugar dissolves.

2.To this water -oil mixture, add the sifted flour in batches making sure there are no lumps.[If the batter is too thick add a few teaspoons of warm water. I did not add extra ] Do not over mix it. Add the dark chocolate chips and mix to combine.

3. Pour the batter into the bundt pan and top it up with white chocolate chips. Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degree C for 30 minutes [oven timings will vary ,keep a watch after 25 minutes] or till a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes and carefully invert it onto a cooling rack. When cooled, cut and serve….

This cake was moist and tasted very good. I will be making this again sometime soon….

Here are the other bakes that are a part of this Bake- A – Thon group….

This cake also goes to Srivalli’s Cake Mela, Kalyani’s Only Baked Treats , an event started by Pari, Nayna’s Let’s Cook Christmas Party Foods