Recipe of the Month: Secret Ingredient Chocolate Cake

Hey everyone! This week I’m sharing a recipe that has a lot of nostalgia for me. When I was growing up, my Aunt Joyce made this melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cake for all the family birthday parties and it became a favorite of us all! Seriously—this stuff reached legendary status. It was family tradition.

So, imagine my surprise when I was 5, and I walked into my aunt’s kitchen while she was baking the cake and saw her secret ingredient to making it so moist: MAYONNAISE! I was appalled, and briefly thought about boycotting it at my birthday dinner that night. However, when it came out of the oven, I simply didn’t have enough willpower to resist it’s chocolate-y deliciousness. Haha! Seriously, as much as I hate mayo, I am here to tell you that you can’t taste any hint of it in this cake. Somehow, it works. Trust me on this one. :)

Secret Ingredient Chocolate Cake

Cake Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1/3 cups cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 cups real mayonnaise (don’t use low fat mayo, the cake won’t be moist)

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Cake Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 X 1 1/2 inch layer cake pans. Sift together dry ingredients into a large bowl. Stir in mayonnaise. Gradually stir in water and vanilla until smooth, then blend. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until cake springs back when touched. *Let the cake cool before you frost it.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:

6 tbsp. butter

2 & 2/3 cups cocoa

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Frosting directions:

Beat butter until creamy. Ad powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with vanilla and milk. Add the vanilla first, then add milk a little at a time. You may not need all the milk to get desired frosting consistency. After you frost the cake you can garnish with nuts, if you like them!