This has to be the easiest and most frugal cake recipe! Chocolate Mayonnaise Bundt Cake is very moist with a fudge-y center. Yet, the cake is still light and fluffy too!
Mayonnaise in a cake? Yes, Dear Reader, you read that correctly. Your eyes did not deceive you. This cake is most certainly made with mayonnaise, and as weird as it seems, it’s absolute perfection!
This cake gives you the best of both worlds. Not only is the cake light and fluffy on the outside, but the center is very moist and fudge-like. I like to think of this cake as a chocolate lava cake without the lava! Does that make sense?
The first time I made this cake was in 2016. That was when this cake first appeared on the blog. Today, I’m updating the photographs and re-publishing this recipe, because this cake is just too delicious to be forgotten about!
MAYONNAISE AS A BAKING INGREDIENT
Believe it or not, mayonnaise is a very common ingredient in baking. And, if you think about it, why shouldn’t it be? Mayonnaise is made with common ingredients used in baking anyway. Let’s take a closer look.
Mayonnaise has three main ingredients. They are oil, egg yolks, and lemon juice. (The lemon juice is sometimes substituted for vinegar.) Almost every baking recipe, whether it be a cake or a cookie, has eggs and some type of oil. Butter is most commonly used, but many muffin and donut recipes use oil.
Using mayonnaise as an ingredient in baking is not that strange if you think about what mayonnaise is comprised of. In the case of this Chocolate Mayonnaise Bundt Cake, we’re using mayo instead of eggs and butter/oil.
WHICH MAYONNAISE IS BEST?
My Dearest Reader, there are some food brands that cannot be replaced with cheaper or knock-off brands. The taste and texture is just not comparable. One such food item is mayonnaise. If it’s not Hellman’s, leave it right on the shelf! And Miracle Whip is not mayonnaise!!!
Each household has a favourite brand of certain things, and Hellman’s is ours. I know Duke’s is really popular in the south, and it is good, but I still prefer Hellman’s. If you prefer Duke’s, Heinz, Kraft, or McCormick, you can certainly use those brands.
Here’s the tricky part. I have not tested this cake with low fat, fat free, olive oil-based, vegan, etc., mayonnaise products. So, I can’t guarantee that this cake will taste as it should if you use anything other than full fat mayonnaise. If you choose to use something other than full fat, you’ll have to let me know how the cake turns out.
FROSTING YOUR CAKE
Because this cake is so moist and has that fudge-like center, I thought that frosting the cake all over would be just too much. I opted for a basic sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar. I did, however, whip up a batch of chocolate sauce to serve with the cake, just in case someone wanted some version of frosting.
The chocolate sauce is very easy to make. Bring one cup of heavy whipping cream to a slight simmer. Remove from heat and add in 1 1/2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips. Do not stir in the chips! Just add them to the warm cream and set it aside for a few minutes.
After 3-4 minutes, whisk the now melted chocolate chips into the heavy cream until fully incorporated. Transfer the sauce to a small pitcher and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve your cake.
I like the chocolate sauce to look natural, but I know there are some home cooks who prefer a shiny chocolate sauce. If this is you too, add 1 tablespoon of light corn syrup to the mixture after you have whisked together the melted chocolate chips and heavy cream.
SERVING AND PRESENTING YOUR CAKE
Because this cake is a no-fuss cake – meaning that you don’t need fancy decorating tools – I like to present it as such. Place the cake onto a cake stand, dust it with confectioner’s sugar, and plop it right down into the middle of your table.
Place that little pitcher of chocolate sauce nearby and be sure to have bowls of fruit and berries standing by. I served my cake with strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. There were only the three of us and the cake was devoured in one day. It really is that delicious!
Chocolate Mayonnaise Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup Hellman's mayonnaise
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare a bundt pan by lightly spraying the interior with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Using a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt until well blended.
- Add the mayonnaise, water, and vanilla extract to the flour mixture.
- Use a sturdy wooden spoon to stir the ingredients together until well incorporated.
- Spoon the batter into the bundt pan. Bake for 35 minutes. This cake is meant to have a slightly wet center. If you prefer, you can leave the cake to bake 5 minutes longer.
- Remove the cake from the oven. Do not remove from the bundt pan. Place the pan onto a wire cooling rack for 30 minutes.
- Turn the cake out onto a cake stand and dust with confectioner's sugar.
Notes
Nutrition
Erin | Thanks for Cookin says
Ok this mayo in baking thing must be legit. This is the second recipe I’ve seen using it THIS WEEK. Hmm… I’ll have to give it a shot.
PS your new PW gear looks great!
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Thanks, Erin! You’ve gotta try it! 🙂
Marcia Root says
These recipes were brought about during WWII due to oil & eggs going to soldiers. My mother made chocolate mayonnaise cake a lot. It was always my favorite because it was so moist. Have been having trouble duplicating her recipe.
doris says
can you put the glaze on top of cake instead of waiting to cut it
Hillary Reeves says
I put mayo on EVERYTHING, but I don’t think I ever put it IN cake. Brillz!
byronethomas@gmail.com says
If I had your figure, I’d put mayo on everything too. 🙂
Mary - Windy Meadows Farm says
Just what I was looking for…quick & easy, great chocolaty flavor, a hit with our family. Thanks for sharing!
Louise says
Very good recipe. I make it using leftover coffee rather than water. The cake is a little darker and the taste a bit more complex.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Great idea, Louise!
doris says
love mayonnaise cake and if anything ask for coffee I usually replace with water or hot chocolate, But never made a bundt cake always make a 9 by 13 or or half sheet pan.
Jackie says
Hello,
Have you frozen this cake?
That you for your input.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Hi Jackie – no I have not. Cakes never last long enough in our home to freeze. 🙂
Coleen Warfle says
I made this yesterday I used milk instead of water it turned out great. I also put 1cup of chocolate chips in the sauce it was awesome.
Darla says
You can freeze cake without frosting well.
Sandra says
Hi Byron,
I was intrigued by the thought of putting Mayo into a cake, but since it is just eggs and oil, it seems feasable. Since our standard baking cocoa is dutch processed, the first try hat a slightly metallic tinge to it (nevertheless, it was finished in record time), so I swapped the baking soda with baking powder. The taste is great. Unfortunately, due to the dutch process, my cake will never get this lovely red hue 🙂
I’m still working on the consistency, since atmittedly I am not a fudgy cake type of person.
Usually, everyone claims, that the US is the country of megalomania, but that is not the case with cakes (I know, Canada is not the US, but, well, you go by volume instead of weight. So in that regard, it is quite the same for me;)). The German standard cake tin (Springform) is 26 cm (little over 10 ”) in diameter. In that, the cake was quite on the wide but shallow side – but I liked the texture. It was moist and quite a bit crumbly, but not fudgy. Then I tried our Guglhupf tin, whis is about 8.5 ” at the bottom, you could say “our bundt cake”, and it turned out beautifully in shape – but it is rather on the fudgier side. I think I’ll stick to the Guglhupf tin and vary the baking temperature.
Do you bake fan assisted?
Why all the work? Because my daughter, who usually is not a “sweets” person, is stealing my cake 🙂
Yours Sandra