Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook–I’m so glad you’re here!
Here in Northern California, our early spring weather has been unsettled–rainy, cool, breezy one minute and bright sunshine the next. It’s been so dry that I’m certainly grateful for whatever rain we get. But hands-down, the best part of unsettled weather are the vibrant skies–almost like the sky is putting on a show!
This picture really doesn’t do this gorgeous blaze of a rainbow justice. I saw it out my kitchen window this morning and raced outside to take a picture and just in the seconds it took me to get outside, the rainbow had already faded a tinge. Let’s hope this lovely unsettled weather continues for a while and brings us more much-needed moisture!
Today, I’m continuing my series on the “mother” sauces of California Cuisine. I have two more recipes to share, starting with this great little chocolate-mayonnaise cake!
I have received a lot of fun feedback on my series on sauces, including from a friend of mine who asked me how I might incorporate a sauce into a dessert. Challenge accepted!
If you follow my blog, you know that I don’t feature a ton of desserts. Other than bread, I’m not a big baker and frankly, if I have all those baked goods lying around the house, we’ll just eat them.
I thought I remembered seeing a recipe for a mayonnaise cake at some point, so I searched for one and viola! this little gem of a cake entered my life. With a couple of tweaks, I have come up with a terrific and flavorful cake that uses mayo as a binding and leavening agent (along with baking soda).
First published in the 1920’s, the chocolate mayonnaise cake is a Great Depression and World War 2 era phenomenon that substitutes mayonnaise for eggs and oil, which were either too expensive or in short supply at those times. Mayonnaise is comprised of mainly oil and eggs, plus a hit of vinegar, which acts as a leavening agent, so it’s an ideal substitute for the items in short supply. I do think it’s interesting that mayonnaise was plentiful, and apparently inexpensive, but the raw ingredients to make it were scarce, but oh well! The result is this great little cake. And trust me–it doesn’t taste like mayo! The mayo itself coats the dry ingredients and then melts into them making a moist, flavorful, dense but fluffy crumb that melts in your mouth.
This recipe is so easy to make–it took all of 10 minutes to put together–and that included the time it took me to round up all the ingredients. Plus, preparation is one bowl, a measuring cup, a measuring spoon and a spatula, so clean-up a breeze. And it cooks up in about 25 minutes. But maybe the best thing of all about this recipe is that it can be adjusted to accommodate whatever serving size you want. The recipe I’m sharing will make a single layer, but can easily be cut in half if you only want a couple of servings, or doubled if you want a layer cake, thus solving the problem of having baked goods lying around, crying out to be consumed. Because you’re working with mayo, you don’t have to worry about coming up with a half an egg–the eggs and oil are already in the mayo, so the work is already done for you.
As for the mayo, please use a full fat mayo–it really won’t work as well with low-fat versions. Plus–folks–you’re making a cake, so really–what’s the point in using a low-fat mayo? Also–please, please, please don’t use those nasty olive oil mayos that are on the market. They are terrible and will result in a bitter, angry cake that you will have to toss.
I used a chocolate cream cheese frosting on my cake, but any chocolate icing or glaze would be delicious.
Tune in later in the week for my final recipe featuring mayonnaise.
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
