Maggie, author of the Pony Mama blog, is into horses. Really into horses. In fact in making the delicious cup cakes below, she even made a few horses. Awesome! Here’s Maggie….
This chocolate cake is the first cake I ever baked all by myself. I was in 7th grade and made it for my favorite teacher’s birthday. So, in doing the math, I’ve been using this recipe for about 37 years. That is a bit scary!
The recipe calls for mayonnaise. (I actually prefer Miracle Whip for this) That might sound a little gross at first, for a cake. But when you break down what mayo is made of- eggs and oil, it makes sense. And with just 6 ingredients, it is super-simple. The cake itself is rather light, but it bakes up with a lovely heavy “crust” on top that adds just a bit of chewiness that is satisfying.
Most often I bake this in a 13”x9” cake pan. But it does well as a layer cake and cupcakes. I frost it with homemade butter cream icing. If I am feeling a little frisky, I place thinly sliced strawberries between layers.
The cake is delicious by itself- yummy with no icing or just a dusting of powdered sugar. But slathering it with butter cream frosting makes for an amazing and rich piece of cake. I also like the fact that you just plop all the ingredients in the bowl and mix it up. No sifting or mixing of dry ingredients, or creaming butter, sugars, etc. Couldn’t be an easier recipe on which a little 7th grader could cut her baking teeth!
This is the cake that my siblings and I had for almost every birthday over the years. We still call it Mayo Cake! It continues to grace many a birthday table in our family. The photos here are from my daughter’s 11th birthday that was celebrated at a horse show. This is the first time I made this cake in the shape of a horse!
If you like chocolate cake, try this recipe. Don’t let the mayo scare you off! It is not the prettiest cake around, but dang, it is good eats!
Chocolate Mayo Cake
What you need:
3 cups flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1/3 cup processed cocoa powder
1 -15 oz jar of mayonnaise (I use Miracle Whip)
3 t baking soda dissolved in 1 ½ cups warm water
2 t vanilla
What you do:
Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl and blend until smooth. Place in greased and floured pan(s). Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Don’t over-bake or the cake can become tough.
Watch it closely and remove as soon as it is done. Let cool.
Then frost as desired.
Rantings of an Amateur Chef 
Haven’t made a mayo cake in ages. Never tried a mayo horse, but I might now. They are too cute!
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Now this is creative… I never heard about mayo cake!
Love the horses… 😉
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this looks so easy and so yummy!
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looks great!
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I remember mayo chocolate cakes. Thanks for reviving the recipe. I like Miracle Whip too!
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at first, I thought to myself “what?!” when I read mayo and cake together. And then I realized just because I don’t know about it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. And the pics look delish so I will try this one fosho.
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I have heard of mayo cakes… but I don’t know… sounds too weird!!! Would love to try a piece first though!
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Looks simply delicious – but I’ll stick with real mayo.
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