After our friend Deborah Laux had mentioned that she was the keeper of a family recipe for Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake, I begged her to send it to me so that I could share it with the Modern Retro Woman community. In her email she writes,
My childhood was littered with Chocolate Mayonnaise Cakes – the only cake our family made. It’s simple and quick to make. And, it’s mouth-wateringly moist.
You may notice the recipe does not call for oil or eggs. Mayonnaise is made of oil and eggs blended together. [You thought it was weird, yes?] And, whether you are a Miracle Whip family or a Best Foods family, this cake will work for you. The moistness in this cake has to do with the emulsification of the oil and eggs. If someone knows the science behind it, let me know.
My mom always made the frosting with coffee. You can look up how to make frosting with powdered sugar. Just use brewed coffee as the liquid. Coffee cuts the sweetness and it goes great with chocolate. We ate it as kids so you know it doesn’t really taste like coffee.
Bake in a regular rectangular cake pan. We always frosted it right in the pan because it never lated long enough to bother with the fancy stuff.
Enjoy!
Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake (Courtesy of Deborah Laux)
Sift together:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
5 Tb. cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soda
Add:
1 cup water
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon vanilla
Grease and flour a rectangular pan. Bake at 350*F for 25 to 35 minutes. For cupcakes, bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 325*F.
Naturally, I had to try this out myself so that I could gush about how good it tasted. My only dilemma was that I didn’t have any powdered sugar in the pantry for making a frosting. Thank goodness for the Internet! I did a search for sugarless frosting and found a depression or sugar rationing era at Food Down Under.
My only admonition about this cake is to make sure you are using real mayonnaise or Miracle Whip for best results. The low fat or “other fats” mayonnaise may not give you the results you want.
As Deborah said in her email….Enjoy!
(PS: I apologize for the photos–my digital camera has all but died and I was trying to eke out just a few more shots. My sister has loaned me her camera until I can get a new one)
We do use low-fat Miracle Whip, but I keep a small jar of regular on hand for visiting family. Visits are rare, so this recipe might be a good way to use that aging product. Rotation in all things; waste not, want not; and so on.
OMG – thanks so much! I had completely forgotten about this wonderful cake from my childhood! I’m making it this weekend now.