If you too have a hump day food dilemma, read our poem:
Take inspiration from recipes new and old
Recipes that are trendy and traditional, so I am told
Recipes for crops and recipes by region
Recipes no matter what the season
Where are these recipes you say?
They are online at smallfarmcanada.ca
In the early 20th Century before widespread electricity, the natural rhythm of the seasons meant that in winter hens laid less and cows were dry in anticipation of spring calving. Eggs, milk and butter were in shorter supply during winter months.
What did they do? Substitutes and alternatives were developed through working with what was on hand. What developed was a simple, go-to chocolate cake recipe without milk, eggs or butter.
This recipe is from the January-February 2017 issue of Small Farm Canada magazine. It was written by Helen Lammers-Helps. Five years after it was initially published, a subscriber wrote to us saying that she lost her copy with the chocolate cake recipe. We decided to republish the recipe in the next issue, September-October 2022.
Jiffy’s Devil Food Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp. cocoa
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 Tbsp. white vinegar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the cocoa, flour and baking soda. Add the sugar and salt and stir. Add the vinegar to the water and then pour into the dry ingredients along with the vegetable oil and vanilla. Mix until blended. (I often do this by hand and it still turns out fine.)
- Pour into a greased 8” X 8” square cake pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
- When cool, frost with your favourite icing or, if you want to keep it dairy-free, sprinkle with icing sugar, drizzle with melted chocolate chips (dairy-free) or you can make a dairy-free chocolate “butter frosting” using vegan margarine, cocoa and almond milk.
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