I used to make this cake when I was a kid/teenager; unfortunately, the recipe was lost years ago and it was from an old cookbook (one from the fifties - dinosaur age for some of you! ;)). Does anyone have a good recipe, I mean one that you’ve baked yourself? It’s a chocolate cake, made with mayonnaise, and I used to frost it with a mocha frosting. This is a truly delicious cake, believe it or not and (IIRC) fairly easy to make (it couldn’t be too hard, because I can remember making it when I was 10!).
I also used to make those chocolate, no-bake oatmeal cookies. I’ve got a pretty decent recipe for them, although I can’t believe that they taught us to make them when I was in fifth grade!!! You have to bring the ingredients to a boil and let them boil for a minute or two - I guess they figured that Mom would be there watching us (like a hawk!). If anyone wants to share a recipe for them too, though, please do. They’re delicious as well, although very rich.
Here’s the recipe from the hellmann’s website. My grandmother used to make this cake, I hadn’t thought of it in years, but it was really good. I remember seeing the hellmann’s label in her recipe box. My mom would never try it, just the thought of mayonnaise in cake weirded her out.
I’m pretty sure my grandmother did not put the optional cinnamon into this recipe. And I don’t have a mocha frosting recipe for you; I recall that she always made a chocolate buttercream for this cake.
SUPER-MOIST CHOCOLATE MAYO CAKE
1 box (18 oz.) chocolate cake mix
1 cup Hellmann’s ® or Best Foods ® Real Mayonnaise
1 cup water
3 eggs
1 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and lightly flour two 9-inch round cake pans*; set aside.
In large bowl, with electric mixer on low speed, beat cake mix, Hellmann’s ® or Best Foods ® Real Mayonnaise, water, eggs and cinnamon 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed, scraping sides occasionally, 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. On wire rack, cool 10 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely. Sprinkle, if desired, with confectioners sugar or fill and frost.
*Or, prepare cake mix as above in 13 x 9-inch baking pan and bake 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
VARIATIONS:
For a Pecan Coconut Topped Cake…combine 1 cup flaked coconut, 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar and 1/2 cup chopped pecans, then sprinkle over cake batter in 13 x 9-inch baking dish before baking.
For a Black Forest Chocolate Cake…do not flour baking pan. Evenly spread 2 cans (21 oz. ea.) cherry pie filling over bottom of 13 x 9-inch baking pan, top with prepared cake batter and bake 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, then turn upside down onto serving platter.
For a Decadent Chocolate Lava Cake…combine 2 packages (3.4 oz. ea.) instant pudding, 2 cups water, 2 cups milk and 1/3 cup sugar until blended, then pour over cake batter in 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Bake 1 hour or until toothpick inserted along edge comes out clean and serve warm.
For a Yellow Mayonnaise Cake…substitute 1 box (18 oz.) yellow cake mix for chocolate cake mix.
The rational part of my mind says, “Well, it’s basically just adding eggs and oil so I’m sure it tastes fine,” but the rest of me says, “Mayo? MAYO?! In a CAKE?!!”
Audiobottle, I know, but it’s surprisingly tasty. My grandmother also made another wonderful chocolate cake with white vinegar in it - somehow it just enhanced the dark chocolate taste, and didn’t taste like vinegar at all.
From Rose Levy Birnbaum’s “The Cake Bible” she got it from somewhere else (her first chocolate cake recipe, developed by the wife of a Hellman’s salesman) so I don’t believe its copyrighted.
1/3 c cocoa
1 c boiling water
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 c mayo (I use Miracle Whip - which adds the spicy taste)
2 c sifted cake flour
1 c sugar
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
wisk cocoa and boiling water and cool. Wisk in vanilla and mayo
combine remaining dry ingrediates, add liquid. mix low to incorporate and high for a minute to aerate. Scrape into pans (she uses 2 8" pans, greased and flours, it works in a rectangle as well) Bake 20-15 nubytes until tester inserted comes out clean.
(Great book for cake bakers, including a wonderful and easy flourless chocolate recipe and wonderful white chocolate cake and a good cheesecake.)
My mother’s had it forever recipe card recipe is the same, I believe this is the Hellman’s recipe from “the time before cake mixes.”
1 heaping TBS of mayo
1 cup of SELF RISING flour
enough milk to make it thick. like tar mixed with concrete thick.
oven 450 for 8-15 mins or until the tops are just beginning to show signs of browning.
That one is “Wacky Cake”, at least, thats what my mom’s recipe was called. She used to make both of those cakes all the time when I was growing up. I hate mayonnaise but I love the cake. Ya gotta have peanut butter frosting though. < Homer>Mmmmmmmm caaaake grglhgrglgrglh< /H>
Thanks, Dangerosa! I had to laugh, too, at your “time before cake mixes,” because that’s when this recipe was from. I don’t recall the boiling water part of it, but then again, that was over 40 years ago … laughs And thanks especially for pointing me in the direction of Rose Levy Birnbaum’s “The Cake Bible,” which I’m going to look for now. I do remember making the cake with “Swan’s Down” cake flour, which they do still carry in the grocery store, fortunately.
Thanks to everyone who responded too. I’m still hoping to maybe get some no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookie recipes too, though.
