Chocolate
Wait, We Should Put *What* in Our Chocolate Cake?
The surprise ingredient makes complete sense.
This article is a part of Mayo Week—seven days celebrating all things mayonnaise—presented in partnership by our friends at Primal Kitchen.
Confession: This cake involved some subterfuge. After baking it and enjoying a slice, I knew I'd hit upon an exceptionally good recipe. I've always struggled with chocolate cakes, finding the batter too liquidy and the resulting cakes far too moist to frost easily. Classic chocolate cake recipes never taste truly rich enough for me. This recipe from the back of the cocoa box was my top contender until now.
So I had to share the cake, of course. But here's the issue: This cake is made with an entire! cup! of! mayonnaise! I sensed that bit of information would put people off the cake before giving it a chance. Instead, I served it up without a word about the mayonnaise. Everyone loved it, swooning over the texture and the flavor. Once the last crumbs were eaten, and only smears of frosting remained, I confessed.
Although it sounds bizarre, and your friends will pull a face, mayonnaise makes complete sense in a cake. It's made of eggs and oil, both of which are normal cake ingredients. The recipe is an old-fashioned one that comes from the Hellman's mayonnaise archives. Mayonnaise replaces the oil that's traditionally used in chocolate layer cakes.
You can't taste any mayo-ness at all; it merely serves to give the cake a wonderfully velvety texture and perfectly moist crumb. To get the best chocolate flavor, use a really good quality cocoa powder. You'll see that the recipe calls for espresso powder: This is entirely optional. It's fine if you leave it out, but a pinch of espresso powder really helps to enhance the flavor of chocolate in baking. It won't add any coffee flavor in this small quantity.
In these photos, I used a basic caramel sauce to fill my cake and a simple chocolate buttercream to frost the outside. You could do the same, or you could fill and frost it all with chocolate buttercream. You could also go in lots of other directions using the cake recipe as a base: Peanut butter frosting would be fantastic. Seven-minute frosting would be a great option, particularly if you want something less rich. You could use vanilla buttercream, dulce de leche frosting, or even serve the cake plain with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Any flavor that pairs with chocolate will work here, so go wild. It is cake after all, and when it comes to cake, one should not hold back.
| 2 | cups all-purpose flour |
| 2/3 | cup unsweetened cocoa powder |
| 1 1/4 | teaspoons baking soda |
| 1/4 | teaspoon baking powder |
| 1/2 | teaspoon espresso powder (optional, for enhanced chocolate flavor) |
| 3 | eggs, at room temperature |
| 1 2/3 | cups sugar |
| 1 | teaspoon vanilla extract |
| 1 | cup mayonnaise |
| 1 1/3 | cups water |
| 2 | cups all-purpose flour |
| 2/3 | cup unsweetened cocoa powder |
| 1 1/4 | teaspoons baking soda |
| 1/4 | teaspoon baking powder |
| 1/2 | teaspoon espresso powder (optional, for enhanced chocolate flavor) |
| 3 | eggs, at room temperature |
| 1 2/3 | cups sugar |
| 1 | teaspoon vanilla extract |
| 1 | cup mayonnaise |
| 1 1/3 | cups water |
More from Food52
- Our 52 Most Popular Products of All Time
- Why We Love the Dansk Pitcher
- Our 5 Best Skewer Recipes
- 13 Essentials for Setting a Farmhouse-Inspired Table
Do you think you'll put mayo in your next chocolate cake? Tell us in the comments!
Written by: Posie (Harwood) Brien
Popular on Food52
138 Comments
I probably going to make it soon.
Thank you 52 for the recipe. 🙂
Maybe you're appealing to home bakers with few baking skills, but don't you think it's a good idea to use a beautiful image that readers can aspire to?
No one I know would bring this slap dash mess of a cake to any gathering.
These Chocolate Mayo cakes have been around since the late 40'x, maybe even a little earlier, both Hellman's and Hershey's got in on the act. Probably for the last 40 to 45 years I have been adding about a quarter cup of Mayo to ALL my cakes, it definitely improves them. If I'm only making a two layer 8" cake, or one layer tea cake I'll cut it down to just a few good Tbsp.
Try it, you'll like it.
BTW. I am a baker. Have owned and operated both small and VERY large bakeries. I've made many professional quality cakes, but when I'm with my grandkids, they ALL look just like this, and the kids are just as proud as they can be of their baking skills. And so am I.
Expensive ingredient.
Join The Conversation