Gender roles are obviously well entrenched in Amish society, although that does seem to be changing gradually. There was an Amish woman I met in Geauga County recently who sounded a very unusual note when she told me that she liked to “focus on running the families businesses and not staying home and cranking out babies.” Yes, those words from an Amish woman. I couldn’t believe my ears. But she definitely was/is not the norm. Most Amish women still stay home and raise families and perhaps participate in a home-based business. Which brings me to this cake, I suppose when you work as hard as most Amish women do you can be forgiven for wanting an easy to whip up cake. This cake could be considered vegan, a surprise, because there is no egg in the recipe. That’s not an omission. But this quirky cake is good with a thick layer of frosting. This is a photo of it.
LAZY WOMAN’S CAKE
2 cups white sugar
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cocoa
2 heaping teaspoons baking soda
1 scant cup cooking oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups cold water
Preheat oven to 350. Combine sugar, flour, salt, and baking soda in large bowl. Sift in cocoa powder, and wisk all together. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; add oil, vanilla, vinegar, and water. Mix until thoroughly combined into a smooth batter. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool completely, then frost.
LOL – I love the name. It makes me want to try it even more. Sounds great!!
Wow! She is outspoken and if the truth be told there may be a lot of other women who feel that way.
The reason for the name of this cake is because you can mix it the baking pan..hence saving a dish. There would be no mixing bowl to wash!! Call me old-fashioned,but I hope that Amish women in general keep their traditional roles and values.Society is on a downward spiral as it is!! (My 2 cents worth).
Reminds me of notes Barbara Schwartz posted by the door inside her bakery: “If they can put a man on the moon, why can’t they put them all there?” “If you want something done right, ask a woman.” I was really surprised to see those comments in an Amish bakery! Her husband wouldn’t give her the money to open the bakery, so she took out a loan herself and paid it off in a year. (I don’t know what she used for collateral. I do remember that the Bank of Geneva had a specially adapted drive-through to accommodate Amish buggies.)
This sounds like a recipe that my Great grandmother used to make she called it screwball cake though.
In her recipe you mix the dry ingredients in the cake pan, make three wells in the dry ingredients pour oil,vinegar, and water in each mix up and add vanilla.
we always ate it without icing, just a cold glass of milk.
Oh the memories.
Is it baking soda or baking powder? Also it looks like there are Choc. chips in it too.
I seem to remember a similar cake that my mother used to make, only it was called a “Wacky ” cake. It was very good.
RE: Lazy Woman’s Cake Similar to a cake that my mother made that she called “Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake”. I have also heard it called “Depression Cake” She always added raisins.
Similar to “Eggless Milkless Butterless Cake” or “Depression Cake”