Active Time
30 minutes
Total Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Mayonnaise replaces the oil that's typically used in chocolate cakes. It gives this cake—which would make the ideal birthday cake—an incredibly moist and tender texture. Serve with glasses of ice-cold milk.
Ingredients
Makes 10 to 12 servings
Cake:
Frosting:
Special Equipment
Preparation
For cake:
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour three 8-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Combine chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in medium metal bowl. Add 1 3/4 cups boiling water and whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
Step 2
Sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder into another medium bowl.Using electric mixer, beat both sugars and mayonnaise in large bowl until well blended, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture in 4 additions alternately with chocolate mixture in 3 additions, beating until blended after each addition and occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. Divide batter among prepared cake pans (about 2 1/3 cups for each).
Step 3
Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 30 to 32 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 20 minutes. Run small knife around sides of cakes to loosen. Carefully invert cakes onto racks and let cool completely.
For frosting:
Step 4
Place chopped chocolate in medium metal bowl; set bowl over saucepan of simmering water and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Carefully remove bowl from over water; let melted chocolate cool until lukewarm, stirring occasionally.
Step 5
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth and creamy. Sift powdered sugar over butter and beat until well blended, about 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add melted chocolate and beat until well blended and smooth, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl.
Step 6
Place 1 cake layer on platter. Spread 3/4 cup frosting over top of cake layer to edges. Top with second cake layer; spread 3/4 cup frosting over. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining frosting decoratively over top and sides of cake. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and let stand at room temperature.
Step 7
Cut cake into wedges and serve.
Nutrition Per Serving
Leave a Review
Reviews (94)
Back to TopNot very moist. A disappointment.
poor willy
11/21/2022
Sounds real good.
Connie Chisholm
Flagstaff, AZ
5/15/2022
Preliminary star rating. I have not made it yet but intend to. I made a chocolate mayo cake with my mom all the time in the early 70's ingredients included cocoa, mayo, white sugar and a cream cheese frosting and I seem to remember a small amount of brewed coffee in the mix. I could never get enough of it but have since lost the original recipe. This one is interesting. Hoping the mayo of today makes the cake just like it did back then, we always used Hellmans.
Cooking T
Buffalo NY
3/31/2022
Made this cake for our Sunday night family dinner last week - universally loved and no one had a clue about the mayo! Cake stayed deliciously moist until the last of it disappeared a few days later. And REALLY easy to make.
El in RVA
Richmond VA
3/28/2022
Can u get the same result with adding sour cream or whole milk plain yogurt instead of mayo? Can Dutch processed chocolate be subbed for the cocoa in both cake and icing?
Gia
Sf Bay Area
3/13/2022
I have been making a similar cake for years -- my mama taught me. I also put mayonnaise in brownies made with cocoa. The best. I on't think you can go wrong adding some mayonnaise to most cakes. It doesn't have to be chocolate.
Jennie Phipps
Punta Gorda, FL
3/7/2022
Hellmans or Best Foods definitely have no onions! Never heard of onions in mayo.
Nursejlo
Riverside, CA
3/7/2022
Most mayo nowadays has onions in it
Anonymous
3/6/2022
Can I substitute semi-sweet chocolate chips for the chopped chocolate?
Anonymous
Sharon Ontario Canada
9/19/2021
This cake had a very strong taste of mayonnaise. We made it for a party my son was hosting for his friends (he's a teen, and he hates mayonnaise). In retrospect, a mistake to choose this cake, but I didn't think the taste of mayo would come through like it did. In the end, we made another cake for his party and didn't eat this one. Perhaps if you reduce the mayo it would be better, but that's the fat that keeps the cake moist, so it makes more sense to just make another cake, at least for my family!
eveshalley
Maryland
4/11/2019
This cake was a fabulous birthday cake! It was really easy and just swoon-delicious. Those of you who have trouble with the cake being dry: ALWAYS weigh your flour, 4 ounces per one cup (you don’t have to weigh sugar; it’s a crystal and doesn’t pack down like flour does). You’ll be surprised at how much better your baked goods are when you’re not packing 6 ounces of flour into a cup (it’s easy to do if you scoop from the bag). I have a small digital food scale I use whenever I bake, husband bought it as a gift and it’s a cake-saver.
lamcnam7588
New Mexico
2/15/2018
I used the buttercream between the layers. I made a chocolate ganache to use as the icing. Big hit as a birthday cake.
stephaniegrubler6166
Trumbull, CT
10/15/2017
just made this yesterday as a birthday cake for my kid and it was a major hit. the icing is amazing, and it's a pretty straightforward bake...
moniquevanni
São Paulo, Brazil
8/7/2017
I was raised on this recipe. My mother always put mayo in the chocolate cakes. It's so moist! If anyone had a dry cake then they packed the our to much. It's the only way it could be dry. This cake is super moist and you don't taste the mayo period. It truly is easy and definitely delicious. Thank you for sharing again!❤
stardust4300
Mocksville,NC
3/5/2017
This cake rocks. I make it for my husband's birthday every year on Christmas, since the two days overlap. Never a crumb left on the plate. I leave out the word 'mayonnaise' as it makes some people squeamish, but the mayo really makes the cake what it is. Fabulous!
andrea_robertson
Palo AltoPalo Palo Alto
12/21/2016
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