Chocolate-Mayonnaise Cake

When I offered to make the cake for a family birthday party a few days ago, my host requested chocolate. This excellent cake cooks up in a jiffy: There’s no taste of the mayonnaise that provides its fat and some of its moisture. Because this was to be a party cake, I took extra care in its finishing, brushing the layers with Kahlua-Flavored Simple Syrup, icing the center with a snowy Bake-Shop Frosting, and topping it with a silky Sour Cream Ganache. 

If you’re a Ganache lover, you may also want to try Julia Child’s Heavy Cream Ganache. 

Chocolate-Mayonnaise Cake:

2 c. unsifted all-purpose flour

⅔ c. sifted cocoa powder

1-¼ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. baking powder

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1-⅔ c. granulated sugar

1 c. full-fat mayonnaise

1-⅓ c. cold water

Kahlua-Flavored Simple Syrup (optional; see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Grease and “flour” two 9-in. cake pans (see Note). Set aside. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder to medium bowl, combining well. Set aside. Beat eggs and vanilla at high speed, using electric mixer. Gradually add sugar, scraping down sides of bowl and beating until no graininess remains when you rub a small amount of batter between your finger and thumb. Continue beating until thick and creamy, about 5 min. Reduce beater speed to low and add mayonnaise.

Beginning and ending with dry ingredients, alternate additions of flour mixture and water, beating well between each addition and continuing to scrape down sides of bowl. Distribute batter equally between two cake pans. Rap pans once on work surface to remove large air bubbles. Bake 45 min., until a toothpick or skewer poked into centre of cake emerges dry. Let cakes rest in pans 10 min. before inverting onto cooling racks. While cakes are still warm, brush “crumb” side of each with 1 tbsp. Simple Syrup combined with 1 tsp. Kahlua or other coffee-flavored liqueur. 

Simple Syrup: East to make and use. 

I frosted the top and sides of this rich and gooey cake with Sour Cream Ganache, using Bake-Shop Frosting for the center layer. Using a little more than half this easy-to-spread frosting for the middle layer, I froze the rest for “next time.” It’s never a surprise how fast “next time” rolls around when there’s a delicious frosting in the freezer!

Note: Use sifted cocoa powder to dust greased cake pans for chocolate cakes.  Dust pans for other cakes with all-purpose flour.

Further Note: Purists slice away the “dome” that results after baking some cakes. My personal preference is to press lightly on the top of each hot cake in the pan, flattening its dome while maintaining the delicate texture of the cake. That does the job to my satisfaction.

To Prepare the Kahlua-Flavored Simple Syrup:

Simple Syrup is a very useful ingredient to stock in the fridge. Among its many uses is keeping cakes moist and adding a burst of subtle flavor. To make basic Simple Syrup, boil equal parts of sugar and water together 5 min. Chill for future use. 

I usually keep a modest amount on hand in a covered, labeled jar. For this cake, I brushed the “crumb” side of each layer (the side closest to the cake pan) with 1 tbsp. Simple Syrup to which I added 1 tsp. Kahlua. Tailor this basic recipe to your cake: Boil an orange with the Simple Syrup you intend to brush onto an Orange Cake, for instance, and add a splash of orange liqueur or non-alcoholic orange extract to the syrup. Let your imagination soar! 

For the record, Dollinks, I used only a whisper of alcohol in my syrup because this cake was intended for children. 

Dust pans with sieved cocoa. I use cake pans with built-in

sliding “cutters” that easily release the cake from the pan.

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda.

Pre-measuring ingredients makes the work go faster!

Beat eggs, vanilla, sugar, and mayonnaise. To this, add 

alternate additions of flour mixture and water.

Prepare Simple Syrup as cake bakes. Use

only what you need, adding liqueur or extract.

Brush cake with syrup - no need to soak it!

Another satisfied customer: Sydney

Two candles blown out ... seven more to go: Lyndsay

Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache

I recently frosted a Chocolate-Mayonnaise Cake with a delicious Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache - one of the richest and most decadent frostings you can make. Ganache is thought to have been invented in Switzerland or France more than 150 years ago, where it was always made with heavy cream. 

It’s really quite simple to make - chocolate, cream, a splash of vanilla - but it’s also quite simple to ruin, if you don’t melt the chocolate with care and respect. You’ll want to use the best chocolate you can afford: Some people use a slab of Callebaut, but a pastry chef recently told me he finds the far-less-expensive Lindt brand every bit as good. 

My step-daughter, cake artist Deena Fisher of Los Cabos, Mexico, uses bittersweet chocolate and a small quantity of Kahlua in her Ganache. I can guarantee the result is out of this world! When I looked for bittersweet chocolate in my local supermarket, there was none. Unwilling to pay for a slab of premium chocolate, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips in this recipe. 

(The Cook’s Thesaurus reports that bittersweet chocolate “is a sweetened chocolate that's heavy on the cocoa solids and light on the sugar, giving it a rich, intense chocolate flavor.  Many pastry chefs prefer bittersweet to semi-sweet or sweet chocolate, but the three can be used interchangeably in most recipes. The best bittersweet chocolates contain at least 50% cocoa solids.”

(The Thesaurus suggests: “To make semi-sweet chocolate more like bittersweet chocolate, add some unsweetened chocolate or cocoa powder to it.” This excellent reference has more about chocolate at http://www.foodsubs.com/Chocvan.html)

Now, for the cream! Ganache normally uses heavy or “whipping” cream, but Deena and many other pastry chefs have turned to dairy sour cream for its lower calorie hit and excellent flavor. If you’re already on the road to calorie hell (as you are with the chocolate), you may want to use heavy cream. If so, see Julia Child’s recipe for Heavy Cream Ganache. 

As for the vanilla, use a good one, if you can afford it. If not, soldier on! Or do what Deena does - add a small amount of Kahlua. No matter which type of Ganache you choose, whether calorific or not, I hope you’ll enjoy this lower-calorie, lower-cost version of a superb treat! 

Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache:

2 c. (500 mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1-½ c. (375 mL) dairy sour cream

1 tsp. (5 mL) vanilla extract (or 2 tsp. (10 mL) coffee-flavored liqueur)

Partially melt chocolate chips in heat-proof bowl over simmering - not boiling - water in saucepan, effectively making your own “double boiler.” Stir until smooth to complete melting. When chocolate has fully melted, stir in sour cream and flavoring. Frost chilled cake while Ganache is still warm. 

Note: Deena makes a very thin “crumb-coat frosting” on her cakes - a smart thing to do if you want your cake to be a show-stopper. 

Deena trims cake’s rough outer edges before spreading

top and sides with thin Crumb Coat Frosting.

A “crumb-coat frosting” is one that catches and seals the crumbs that might otherwise mar a picture-perfect icing. Thick and creamy, Ganache doesn’t lend itself to “crumb-coat frostings,” but the above-posted recipe for Bake-Shop Frosting or my recipe for Buttercream Frosting will. As chocolate Ganache will be spread over this cake, add a little sifted cocoa powder to your remaining Bake-Shop Frosting, spreading it very, very thinly over the chilled cake’s top and sides. Chill or freeze the “crumb-coat frosted” cake until you’re able to spread it with Ganache, with no risk that the two frostings will bleed into one another or that any loose crumbs will spoil the texture of the Ganache.

Crumb Coat Frosting catches cake’s 

crumbs while locking in moisture. 

Deena’s Tip: The wooden, stabilizing dowels some pastry 

chefs use to stabilize multi-layer cakes may leave an unpleasant 

after-taste. Instead, drive wooden chopsticks through the cake. 

Replace chopsticks with plastic straws before frosting. Remove

straws before serving, frosting lightly over each depression.

Julia Child’s Heavy Cream Ganache

Julia Child presented her fans with this excellent, full-fat Ganache in 1989.

Julia Child’s Heavy Cream Ganache:

8 oz. sweet cream chocolate (or 6 oz. sweet and 2 oz. unsweetened)

1 c. (250 mL) heavy (“whipping”) cream

2 tsp. (10 mL) vanilla extract

2-to-3 tbsp. (30-to-45 mL) light rum (optional; see Note) 

Confectioners sugar (“icing” or “powdered” sugar), as required

Chop chocolate coarsely. Add to large, heavy saucepan with cream. Stir over medium heat until chocolate has melted and cream starts to simmer. Stir vigorously to combine cream and chocolate. Remove from heat and add vanilla and/or rum (see Note). Transfer hot chocolate mixture to a large stainless mixing bowl set into a larger mixing bowl filled with ice. Beat with an electric mixer or balloon whisk until mixture thickens to spreading consistency. Sift in confectioners sugar, to taste (see Further Note). 

Note: I prefer Kahlua or other coffee-flavored liqueur.

Further Note: The verb “sift” is extremely important! Ignore at your peril!

- Adapted from“The Way to Cook” © Julia Child (Alfred A. Knopf)