Last month, someone suggested trying a mayonnaise cake as the base recipe. I was reminded of a moist chocolate cake my mom made when I was a child. My friends used to tease me that my favorite dessert was a mayonnaise cake. Unfortunately, my mom lost her recipe years ago, but I cruised the Internet reading several mayonnaise cake recipes. Last Saturday when I made the Spinach and Mushroom enchiladas, I made this cake for dessert. I cut out a little piece to sample and finally felt that I nailed the flavor and the texture. I made a coffee whip cream frosting to serve on the cake at dessert time. Unfortunately my guests were too full from dinner, so the cake did not get cut into until after a trip to a local watering hole. The cake was extremely moist and the whipped cream and strawberries I spooned on top were very tasty. However, I decided that as much as I liked the coffee cream, it needed a chocolate icing. Sunday morning, I made up chocolate sour cream frosting. Jean and Joe stopped by, so I gave them a couple pieces with each icing to take back home with the condition that I wanted feedback. As soon as they left, it hit me…put the whip cream in the center and then ice the cake. I sent a text with my suggestions to Jean and Joe. Ding ding ding, eight months later we have a winner!
Making an icing and a cream filling may seem daunting, but they are both easy!!! It takes no more than 15 minutes to do both. And of course, you can make one or another, but I recommend both. So I present to you an unusual list of ingredients, but I swear it yields a moist chocolate cake with subtle spice notes and a complex filling. Just a little different that it makes one wonder, but can be enjoyed by all.
WINE: 2008 Ventana Rubystone, Arroyo Seco (Monterey)
http://www.ventanawines.com/Ventana_Estate_Wines
Forty percent Grenache and 60% Syrah this wine begins with flavors of strawberries and cherries, followed by a cinnamon spice mid-palate. It finishes with a late hit of vanilla.
Red wine and chocolate are a natural pairing, so you probably can’t screw this up. I also think Port would pair beautifully with this dessert. If you want to go non-alcoholic, coffee is another great accompaniment. Not that I had any leftovers for breakfast, nor did I put a spoonful of the extra cream filling in my coffee cup.
RECIPE: Spiced Chocolate Cake with Coffee Cream Filling
Ingredients for Cake:
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups mayonnaise
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp chili powder
• 3/4 cups cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cups hot water
• Strawberries, for garnish
Ingredients for Filling:
• 1 cup whipping cream or heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ½-1 tbsp powdered sugar
Ingredients for Icing:
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (the mini chips melt the best)
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
Directions for Cake:
1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl on medium-high speed until thick and very light in color; about 6 to 8 minutes. Don’t be afraid or get impatient, think about the nice moist result.
3. Add the mayonnaise and vanilla extract, and beat on medium speed until combined.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into bowl.
5. Add the cocoa powder, cinnamon, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and salt, and beat on low speed until combined. The mixture will look thick and fudgy.
6. Add the water and mix on low speed until well blended.
7. Pour the batter into the pans and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. My oven bakes things quickly, so adjust as needed.
8. OPTIONAL: I’m not sure if this is necessary, but I took an extra step to help with moisture. I boiled water in a tea kettle and poured into a pan that I placed in the oven under the cake will it baked. I’m not sure how much a role this played since the ingredients themselves have a lot of moisture.
9. Allow the cakes to cool.
Directions for Filling:
1. Put medium bowl and beaters in the fridge until they are cold.
2. Put whipping cream, vanilla, espresso powder and powdered sugar in cold bowl.
3. Begin to beat on medium speed.
4. You can add more sugar, vanilla or espresso powder to your taste.
5. Beat until stiff peaks form.
6. Spread cream on top of one of the 9’ cakes. Place second cake on top.
Directions for Icing:
1. Melt chocolate and the butter in microwave. I check this at 30 second increments.
2. Once melted stir together.
3. Let cool a couple minutes then blend in the sour cream, vanilla, and salt.
4. Slowly add the confectioner's sugar until the frosting of the consistency and sweetness you like. You can use more sugar if you like.
5. Beat well to remove powdered sugar lumps.
6. Ice outside of cake.
7. OPTIONAL: Garnish cake with fresh strawberries.
8. Refrigerate finished cake.
Yum! That sounds intriguing and delicious, Ginger. I must say I have never tried mayonnaise in a cake, before, but this is inspiring! :-)
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed. Chris might like it if I kept making chocolate cake over and over until I got it right, but our waistlines would not! :)
ReplyDelete@ Krissy: Luckily for our waistlines, I spread the experimental chocolate cakes out!
ReplyDelete@Rachael: Mayonnaise is mostly eggs and oil, so when you think about it that way maybe it is less strange. A lot of recipes used it as a direct substitute for the eggs and oil. I liked that this recipe has eggs too for extra moisture.