Super Moist Chocolate Cake - with a secret ingredient!

My son-in-law Duncan recently celebrated his birthday and I volunteered to make his cake.  My daughter Megan asked me to make it chocolate and I remembered this recipe.  It's an oldie, but a goodie and has an ingredient most people wouldn't associate with cake - mayonnaise!  Because there is no butter or oil used in the cake, the mayonnise is what replaces the fat.

I first made this cake in the 1980's using a version with cake mix as a base.  I've evolved since those days and knew I'd be making this version from scratch.  It's right from the Hellman's website and I didn't change a single thing.  The reason I'm not using a photo of my finished cake is because the icing didn't want to co-operate with the hot weather that day and slid right off the cake!  No-one cared because it still tasted great, even if I did have to scoop up a bit of icing for each slice.

It's a great cake - lovely and moist, with deep dark chocolate flavour.  It sliced beautifully and with an added scoop of vanilla ice cream made everyone very happy.

Image Courtesy Google.com

Here are the details from the Hellman's website.  It's not necessary to use this brand, but it's my favourite.  I used the reduced fat version and it didn't affect the final product at all.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour                      
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder - make sure to sift it to eliminate lumps 
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup Hellmann's® Real Mayonnaise
• 1 1/3 cups water

Directions

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and lightly flour two 9-inch round cake pans; set aside.
2. In medium bowl, combine flour, sifted cocoa, baking soda and baking powder; set aside.
3. In large bowl, with electric mixer at high speed, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in mayonnaise at low speed until blended. Alternately beat in flour mixture with water, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Pour into prepared pans.
4. Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. My oven runs hot, so it only needed 25 miutes, so adjust the time according to your stove.  On wire racks, cool 10 minutes; remove from pans and cool completely. Frost, if desired, or sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

Hope you enjoy it as much we all did!