Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Heather
2 days ago
2 min read

Described as a depression-era recipe, this cake uses mayonnaise in place of eggs and oil. It may sound to us strange today, but it does produce a rich, moist chocolate cake. I topped it with a simple poured icing, but you can use buttercream, ganache or anything you like!

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook time: 30 min

Yield: 8ish servings (2 x 8-inch layers)

Ingredients

For the cake

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups hot coffee
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp vanilla

For the icing
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp butter (5 grams)
2 tbsp boiling water

Directions

Bake the cake:

Preheat your oven to 350F and grease two 8-inch cake pans (I recommend lining the bottom with parchment for easy removal).
Place cocoa powder in a heat-safe bowl and pour the hot coffee over it and whisk together. Set aside to bloom for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugars in a medium-sized bowl.
When the cocoa/coffee mixture looks a little bubbly and has cooled a bit, add it to the dry ingredients and mix to form your batter.
Divide the batter between the two cake pans and bake for about 30 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the centre come out clean.
All ow the cakes to cool most of the way in the pans on a wire rack, then flip the pans upside down to pop out the cakes. Finish cooling completely before icing.

Make the icing:
Sift icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl. Make a well and place butter in the centre.
Add boiling water in middle of well and wait 30 seconds for the butter to mostly melt. Stir to combine.
Place one cake on your plate and pour icing over the cake - use a little less than half for this layer. Use a spatula to smooth toward the edges. Place the other cake on top and repeat with the remaining icing. Sprinkle with flaked sea salt (optional).