Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Mayonnaise may sound like a strange ingredient to add into a cake, but if you really think about it, it's not. Mayonnaise is simple egg yolks and oil (with maybe a little bit of vinegar or lemon juice thrown in there), ingredients we already use to keep cake moist. Apparently this is a trick that Portillo's in Chicago uses in it's famous chocolate cake. There are a lot of Portillo's recipe imitators out there that use a box of Devil's Food cake mix and some mayo. I didn't want to go the boxed cake mix route, but I was curious how mayonnaise would fare in baking.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that this cake batter tastes like mayonnaise, but if you do take a sample, it might taste a bit off to you. No worries though, because once you pull your beautiful cake our of the oven, it will taste only of rich, chocolate goodness! Cover in milk chocolate ganache for chocolate overload.

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache

Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3/4 cup whole milk, hot
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 375º. Grease a standard size bundt cake pan with vegetable oil.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder in a medium sized bowl.
3. Whisk together the sugar, egg, and mayonnaise until smooth.
4. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
5. In a small bowl, pour the hot milk over the chocolate and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth.
6. Add the chocolate milk to the other mixture until combined.
7. Pour the batter into the bundt cake pan.
8. Bake for ~35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out cleanly.
9. Allow to cool in pan for at least an hour before removing.

Ganache

• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 6 ounces milk chocolate
• tiny pinch salt

1. Combine the heavy cream, milk chocolate, and salt in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat and cook for about 5 minutes until thick and smooth.
2. Allow to cool slightly before pouring over cake.