Our mayonnaise cake is a rich chocolate cake, moist and dense with a rich chocolate buttercream is the stuff that dreams are made of.
This Old Fashioned Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake Recipe is the ultimate chocolate lover’s cake to be sure.
Don’t you just love those sliced strawberries on top? If you follow my tips for this incredibly moist old fashioned mayonnaise cake, you can say goodbye to all those old dry chocolate cakes of the past.
This homemade, one bowl scratch cake is so easy to make you’ll also say goodbye to cake mixes! Promise!
This post was originally published in May 2017, and updated August 22, 2018, and March 11, 2020
You will need: 1 cup mayonnaise, 1 cup white sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 cups all purpose flour, 4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa, 2 tsp baking soda, 1 cup water and an 8 X 8 or 9 X 9 square baking pan.
Hellmann’s Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
Why would I put mayonnaise in a cake?
Yup, you heard right. When you think about it, it all makes sense, since mayonnaise is full of eggs and oil right? Until I found this chocolate mayonnaise cake recipe in Grandma’s Recipe Book that she had clipped from a Hellmann’s Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake ad, I had no idea.
But since then, since making my very own Chocolate Mayo Cake, lots and lots of folks have shared their Mom or Grandma used to make it for them too!
I was so surprised when many of you said that this Chocolate Cake Recipe reminded you of the cakes from your childhood! This old fashioned recipe really struck an emotional chord with so many and that makes any baker happy!
Kind of full circle, don’t you think?
I just love it when you share your experiences. We have a great group of folks over at Easy as Pie Recipes & More. Come on over and join us!
Why do I call this awesome chocolate mayonnaise cake recipe old fashioned? Well…..
My grandparents lived on a farm and lived through the Great Depression. So I’m sure you understand that they would use up everything they could, since you didn’t know when you be able to get that something again.
Things like envelopes became note paper, and at some point, my Grandma must have come across an old financial ledger that wasn’t being used.
So what did she do? Yes, you’re right. That’s when she started to write down her famous recipes.
Or she would clip them from the weekly newspaper. That’s how I found so many of her old recipes, including this one from Hellman’s Mayonnaise.
Many of these recipes were from the 40’s and 50’s, so maybe I should have used the word ‘vintage’ instead. But when I think of my Grandma, vintage doesn’t come to mind.
She was a delight, and certainly very old-fashioned by today’s standards.
I remember visiting during the summer months and staying for a week or two. We always had so much fun, playing with the neighbourhood kids, catching frogs in the creek behind their house, watching thunderstorms in the summer porch.
And every once in a while, when it wasn’t too hot, Grandma would bake. Often it was her famous Date & Nut Cookies, but sometimes, if my brother and I had been on our best behaviour, she would bake a Chocolate Mayo Cake.
We often squabbled over who would get the corner piece, you know the one with all that fudgy chocolate frosting?
But usually my Grandfather would solve the squabble and take it for himself!
My husband Mark loves chocolate cake, and I’ve made several different recipes. I even recently made him the Ding Dong Cake from iambaker.net! Now that was a lot of work, but definitely worth the effort.
Mark loves my Chocolate Cake too, so every now and then…..
I’m so grateful that I have all of Grandma’s recipes to this day, and you will see some of her other recipes on the blog.
I’m starting to work my way through them, so stay tuned! Her Chocolate Fudge Cake is amazing! And be sure to check out our Orange Cranberry Bundt Cake Recipe!
Want even more chocolate? Grandma’s homemade chocolate pie is to die for!
So making this Hellman’s chocolate mayonnaise cake was certainly a labor of love!
It’s so easy and the taste is out of this world! In my research for this post I also found similar mayonnaise cake recipes like Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake from Southern Living, Taste of Home and of course an updated one from Hellman’s!
Some bakers have even created a Chocolate Mayonnaise Sheet Cake.
TIPS FOR A PERFECT MAYONNAISE CAKE
- Use fresh ingredients. Baking ingredients like flour and baking soda, even cocoa have expiry dates on them
- Grease and flour your baking pan to make it easy to serve
- I use Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise, but use real mayonnaise, not a salad dressing blend
- Follow all of the directions carefully
- Let the cake cool completely before frosting, or you will have a runny mess on your hands
As I mentioned above, Grandma was an amazing cook, raised on a farm, and had to provide hot and hearty meals to the farm hands every day for their noon dinner.
I can only imagine what time she had to get up to make the meal, since we’re talking early 1900’s and no modern-day appliances to ease the work! Well fast forward to today and her recipes still live on.
Here are the ingredients you will need for your Old Fashioned Mayonnaise Cake Recipe:
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup water
How Do I Make an Old Fashioned Mayonnaise Cake?
Directions – Preheat oven to 350F
1. Mix the mayonnaise, sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl and set aside.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.
3. Add the flour mixture alternatively to the mayonnaise mixture, and add the cold water
4. Pour batter into a 9 X 9 greased and floured baking pan.
5. Bake at 350F for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
6. Cool completely and frost with a Dark Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
And serve with a big scoop of French Vanilla Ice Cream!
Please take a minute and watch the Old Fashioned Mayonnaise Cake Recipe video. You will see that with a few easy steps, you can create this awesome cake. It will feed 9 hungry people with a generous slice or 12 smaller slices.
See the video below to follow for step by step instructions. It’s had over 75K views on Facebook!
In the comments below one of my readers turned my chocolate mayonnaise cake recipe completely gluten free and vegan!
She used gluten free flour and Hellman’s Vegan Mayonnaise.
How’s that for being creative!
This Old Fashioned Mayonnaise Cake batter mixes up very quickly and the ingredients are right in your pantry. I think everyone has a jar of mayonnaise on hand.
I just love using a bundt pan for cake recipes, but this time I decided to use a 9X9 square pan and I’m glad I did! The cake rises beautifully, and because you grease and flour the pan, it will drop out quite nicely on an inverted cake plate.
The dark chocolate buttercream completes this rich and decadent cake. You can see my buttercream recipe right here. I think any Mom or Grandma would be happy to receive such a delightful sweet treat anytime!
OLD FASHIONED CHOCOLATE MAYONNAISE CAKE RECIPE
This cake is the real deal. No boring cake mix, or a chocolate cake that dries out after the first slice.
Moist, melt in your mouth deliciousness that a really good chocolate cake delivers. You will be asked for this cake over and over, birthdays, potlucks, bake sales, and just because.
Chocolate Cake is a very important part of our daily life, in my humble opinion, and this Mayonnaise Cake is about to become a big part of yours!
If you love the recipe as much as the folks below did, please give it a 5 star rating in the recipe card.
Old Fashioned Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake Recipe
This luscious and deliciously moist Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake Recipe comes from my Grandma's old recipe ledger. It's so easy and the taste is out of this world!
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup water, cold
Instructions
- Mix the mayonnaise, sugar and vanilla together in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.
- Add the flour mixture alternatively to the mayonnaise mixture, and add the cold water
- Pour batter into a 9 X 9 greased and floured baking pan.
- Bake at 350F for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Icing:
- Ice with a Dark Chocolate Buttercream and serve with a big scoop of French Vanilla Ice Cream!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
9Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 364Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 437mgCarbohydrates: 45gFiber: 1gSugar: 22gProtein: 4g
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This Old Fashioned Mayonnaise Cake will become your family’s favorite, for birthdays, parties and potlucks.
Enjoy.
xo, Judy
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looking for a reply to my comment
Hey Dennis I hope the replies help you out. I would love to see a photo of your cake the next time.
Hi Judy! mayonaise cake is wonderful, and I enjoy making them, but, for some reason, mke cake doesn’t rise very much. I used a nine by thirteen glass cake dish, is that my mistake?
Hi Dennis – 9 X 13 dish is fine, but you would need to double your recipe. Thanks for asking!
Hi Judy! I love making mayonaise cake and they taste so good. But, I always have the problem of my cake never rises very much, the only difference is I used a 9X13 glass cake dish. Is the 9X9 pan better to use?
Hi Dennis! Check the expiry dates of your ingredients first. Sometimes things like flour, baking powder etc. expire. This cake recipe has always turned out great, I usually bake it in a 9 X 9 pan. Hope that helps!
Can you give me the recipe for the frosting???
Hi Davena. You can use our buttercream frosting recipe in our Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe. Thanks!
I grew up on mayonnaise cake it is so moist and yummy.
I am wondering if I have to ad the cocoa powder? My husband prefers a yellow cake.
Would it taste different?
Hi Peggy, I don’t see why not. There are also many mayonnaise cake recipes that don’t use chocolate. I’d love to see a photo when you do!
Could you tell me how many cupcakes this recipe would make?
Hi Kathy! I would estimate 12 cupcakes, or double the recipe to get 24. Enjoy!
Can u make this in cake layers? 8” cake pans. Also I saw a recipe that used coffee liquid instead of water, have u tried that?
Hi Brenda! You can bake this cake in l layers. Coffee does enhance the flavour of chocolate. You could try a couple of tablespoons at first. Thanks for asking and let me know how t turns out!
I made this chocolate mayonnaise cake, it is delicious, I recommended. Very easy to
make! If I want to make cup cakes, do I bake them for 35 minutes ?
Thanks !
Hi Vilma – That time sounds about right, but I always caution to use a range for baking. Maybe start at 30 minutes and go up, as everyone’s oven is different when it comes to temperature.
Hi..it looks so yummyy, so eager to try tho im new to baking., Can i use 8×8 tray instead cos i’ve this size. Will it turn out differently ?
Thank you ?
Hi Ziza, sure you can – sorry for the late reply, but your comment just popped up! Your cake will just be a bit higher in the pan, no need to change ingredients at all. Enjoy! Be sure to share a pic of your cake please. xo
what is the serving size related to the nutritional information? It’s not listed
Hi Tim, you will get 9 pieces of cake from you 9″ square pan. The servings are listed at the top of the recipe. Precisely, it would be 1 X 2″. Hope that helps.
I have never tried mayonnaise in a cake, but it totally makes sense the texture looks amazing!
Thanks Brian! It is a delicious cake to be sure.
So glad I found your recipe ! I lost my Chocolate Mayonnaise recipe recently and can not wait to try your recipe 🙂
Hi Linda! Thanks so much, yes this recipe is a keeper for sure!
This cake looks perfect! I’d love a big slice!
Thanks so much Allison!
Wasn’t sure if I read that right…. it sounds kind of weird but I’m intrigued. I have to try this asap! It look so good.
Hi Christie. Mayonnaise is made from eggs and oil, so it’s perfect for a rich and moist cake.
I’ve never had a mayonnaise cake. I’m intrigued and will try it. Looks luscious!
Thanks Valentina!
Would you please share your Dark Chocolate Buttercream frosting?
Thank you!
Hi Michele!
Thanks for the catch. The recipe is in my Chocolate Fudge Cake post – so i’ve updated this post to include the link. You can get it here at https://pieladybakes.com/chocolate-fudge-cake/.
Best, Judy
I’ve recently moved from a lower elevation in southeast Michigan to a higher elevation in Knoxville, Tennessee. I’ve noticed that it takes a lot longer to boil eggs than I’m used to, so I’m wondering if there’s any differences in baking? I’ve been looking for a mayonnaise chocolate cake recipe for over 25 years, like the one I had at a birthday party once. This sounds perfect, and I don’t want to mess it up!
Hi Becky! I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to find an answer for you. This link takes you to a great chart from King Arthur Flour – looks like you need to add eggs to cakes. Please see http://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Good Luck and please let me know how it turns out. I would love to see a photo!
Well I had to let you know I turned your cake gluten free and vegan. I used Bobs Red Mill all purpose gluten free flour and Hellmans new Vegan Mayonnaise. The rest of the recipe I followed as written. This cake is AWESOME:). Thanks again !!!!!!
Wow! Good for you, Teressa! So glad you enjoyed it!