This recipe for Chocolate-Mayonnaise Cake with Ganache Drizzle makes a beautiful, light-textured cake that’s incredibly moist. The Ganache Drizzle finishes it off with the perfect amount of indulgence! I had an English friend asked me if I’ve ever had a mayonnaise cake. To be honest, I’d never heard of it before. She told me it was super moist and the best chocolate cake she’d ever had.
Considering that mayonnaise is mainly eggs and oil, I could see how it would work. I looked it up and most recipes I came across, completely omitted any eggs or fat.
I wasn’t sure how it would work but set to create a recipe. I originally planned to just use cocoa powder and no chocolate in the recipe. This was only because I knew I wanted to make a ganache icing and I only had 7oz of chocolate on hand.
If you love chocolate cake, I have other amazing recipes such as No Bake Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake or Easy Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes.
While I was in the middle of making this cake I had a food order delivered which had chocolate chips in it so I melted some and added it. I’m really glad I did because it really needed it.
The cake turned out much lighter in color than any other chocolate cake I’ve ever made and the texture was super moist and dense.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to wait until the cake is completely cool before handling it. I was short on time and moved it too soon and it broke in several places.
Luckily, it was after I shot the photos and the friends I made it for are used to my cakes already being cut by the time I serve it (something that comes along with having a food blog). The Ganache Drizzle was the star of the show. It added something special to the cake and it was a big hit. Now that I’ve made it this way, I can’t imagine making it any other way.
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Let's Make Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
Ingredients
For The Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup coffee
For the ganache icing
- 7 ounces dark chocolate (no less than 54% cocoa) chopped
- ¾ cup heavy cream or whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease and lightly flour a bundt cake pan.
- In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, add the buttermilk, mayonnaise, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well to combine.
- Stir the mayonnaise mixture and the coffee into the flour mixture until combined. The batter will be thin. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake until a cake tester comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 30-40 minutes.
- Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for then minutes before turning out. Remove cake from pan and allow to cool completely.
For The Ganache Icing
- Place the chopped chocolate into a medium-sized, heatproof bowl.
- In a small saucepan, heat the cream until it just begins to simmer and then pour it over the chopped chocolate. Let it sit a minute and then gently stir with a wooden spoon until the chocolate has fully melted and the ganache is smooth.
- Then cover and set aside until it is set enough to drizzle over the cake, but isn't too runny.
Tips + Notes
- It’s very important to allow your cake to cool. If you move it while it’s still warm it is likely to fall apart.
- Always use full fat mayonnaise, any other mayonnaise will not give you the desired results.
- Try to use the best quality cocoa powder you can find. It really makes a huge difference to the flavor of your cake.
Apolla E says
Tried and true. Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I just added 2-3 teaspoons of peanut butter….yum
Sif says
I will definitely try this one for my sons birthday 🙂 How about add fresh fruits in the middle of the cake, I thought it may look nice 😉
Erren says
Hi Sif, Sounds lovely. Just keep in mind that the moisture from the fruit can change the consistency of the cake.
Jmac says
I like this cake” *****5star’s
Erren says
Thank you! 🙂
magdykrm says
So good!
Valerie Hart says
In the recipe for the chocolate mayonnaise cake, in the directions it says to mix baking soda etc and in the list of ingredients there isn’t baking soda listed so how much soda do you use..thanks
Erren says
Hi Valerie, sorry about that. No baking soda. It was an error. I’ve corrected it now. Thanks for letting me know!
huntfortheverybest says
it looks delicious!
Erren says
Thank you! 🙂