Try this vegan chocolate cake from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks At Home and you may never go back. Egg-free batter means you can make it on a whim without going to the store, and you can let your kids lick the bowl again. It helps too that this cake is extremely delicious. Z licked the bowl last night when we made this cake for Jenni's mother's birthday (I didn't leave much in the bowl - it was 8:00 p.m., and I'm no fool), and the kid looked like she had died and gone to heaven.

Six-Minute Vegan Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. cold water or brewed coffee
2 t. pure vanilla extract
2 T. cider vinegar

Directions: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and sugar into an ungreased 8" square or 9" round baking pan. In a two-cup liquid measuring cup, measure oil, measure in water or coffee, and add vanilla (minimizes dishes). Pour liquid ingredients into the baking pan and mix with a fork. When the batter is smooth, add cider vinegar and stir quickly. There will be pale swirls in the batter where the baking soda and vinegar are reacting. Stir just until the vinegar is evenly distributed throughout the batter. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow a four-year-old to decorate it with toys, preferably unicorns and swans.

When we first posted this recipe on Z Recommends after Z's third birthday (hint - it's very moist, so doesn't work well in detailed cake molds), reader Carrie wrote about her experience with the recipe on her blog Cheap and Saucy, and shared a great frosting recipe to go with it.