Home » Dessert Recipes » Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake (+Video)

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake (+Video)

This Homemade Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake uses mayo instead of eggs and oil to make it so moist. Topped with a homemade brown sugar frosting!

AN OLD-FASHIONED CAKE RECIPE

This cake should never, ever be forgotten or lost to recipe history. It’s an old school recipe that doesn’t require eggs or oil. That’s where the mayonnaise comes in. I mean, that’s what mayonnaise is; eggs and oil. It makes this cake SO incredibly moist. If you need a go-to homemade chocolate cake, this is it! And it is all topped off with the most delicious homemade brown sugar frosting. Perfection!

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake slice on a plate, topped with chocolate chips.

DO I NEED TO ADD COFFEE TO CHOCOLATE CAKE?

You don’t taste the coffee in this. It just accentuates and deepens the chocolate flavor. I learned that little trick from Ina Garten and it really does work. If you don’t keep coffee around, no worries, just leave it out. You’ll still have a moist and yummy chocolate cake!

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake with Homemade Brown Sugar Frosting recipe, slice shown on a plate with chocolate chips.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)

  • all-purpose flour
  • sugar
  • unsweetened baking cocoa
  • baking soda
  • water
  • mayonnaise
  • vanilla extract
  • brewed coffee
  • brown sugar
  • butter
  • milk
  • powdered sugar
all-purpose flour, sugar, unsweetened baking cocoa, baking soda, mayonnaise, vanilla extract
(frosting ingredients not pictured)

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE MAYONNAISE CAKE:

Preheat oven to 350f degrees. Spray a 9×9-inch square pan with nonstick baking spray. I like the kind of nonstick spray that has flour in it. It makes removal so much easier.

Pam baking spray with flour.

In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking cocoa and baking soda.)

flour, baking soda and cocoa mixed together in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together water, mayonnaise, vanilla extract and coffee.

water and mayonnaise whisked together in a bowl.

You just want to use plain, brewed coffee – no additional milk or sugar added. If you don’t have coffee, just skip this step.

vanilla extract added to milk and water in a bowl.

Now, slowly add the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients.

coffee and milk mixture poured into cocoa flour mixture.

Stir just until combined. It may be a little lumpy but that’s okay. You don’t want to over-stir (it makes the cake tough.)

whisking chocolate cake batter in a bowl.

Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for about 30-35 minutes (until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.)

chocolate cake batter poured into a white square baking dish.

Once the cake is finished, start preparing the frosting.

butter and brown sugar in a pot.

In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine brown sugar and butter and cook until bubbly. Be sure to whisk constantly so it doesn’t burn.

brown sugar and butter bubbling in a sauce pan.

Take off the heat and stir in the milk. Then gradually add in powdered sugar.

powdered sugar stirred into pot with butter and brown sugar.

 Whisk until smooth.

brown sugar frosting whipped together in a pot.

Now, frost the cake! Note: The cake doesn’t have to be cooled completely to top with this frosting. Work quickly. The frosting hardens fast as it cools.

brown sugar frosting spread onto chocolate cake.

Slice and serve.

close up of slice of mayonnaise cake on a circle white plate.

I just sprinkled a few chocolate chips to each serving just to make it pretty.

forkful, chocolate mayonnaise cake.

CRAVING MORE RECIPES?

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake (+Video)

This Homemade Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake uses mayo instead of eggs and oil to make it so moist. Topped with a homemade brown sugar frosting!
4.89 from 35 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 12

Ingredients

For the cake:

For the frosting:

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 9×9-inch square pan with nonstick baking spray.
  • In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking cocoa and baking soda)
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together water, mayonnaise, vanilla extract and coffee. You just want to use plain, brewed coffee – no additional milk or sugar added.
  • Slowly add the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients.
  • Stir just until combined.
  • Pour into prepared baking dish.
  • Bake for about 30-35 minutes (until a toothpick inserted comes out clean).
  • Once the cake is finished, start preparing the frosting. In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine brown sugar and butter and cook until bubbly. Be sure to whisk constantly so it doesn't burn.
  • Take off the heat and stir in the milk.
  • Then gradually add in powdered sugar. Whisk until smooth.
  • Frost the cake!

Video

YouTube video

Notes

  • The cake doesn’t have to be cooled completely to top with this frosting. Work quickly. The frosting hardens fast as it cools.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Calories: 420kcal | Carbohydrates: 62g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 18g | Sodium: 368mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 45g

Nutritional Disclaimer

“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

Did you make this recipe?Share it on Instagram @thecountrycook and mention us #thecountrycook!

Originally published: March 2015
Updated & republished: September 2020

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Recipe Rating




57 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    OMG ! I made this cake this morning and it's to die for ! It melts in your mouth. I did modify it a bit because I only had 1 1/2 cups of mayonnaise ( I doubled recipe ) so I put 1/2 a cup of sour cream , it came out beautifully. Thank you. I certainly will be sharing this with family and friends. 🙂

  2. 5 stars
    I have made mayonnaise cake before and loved it. Looking forward to this recipe and the brown sugar frosting.

  3. I'd like to make this for a church dinner. For a 10 x 15 dish, do you think I should double or just 1 1/2 the recipe? It looks divine! (Pun intended!)

  4. Just made mine and as it cooled it sunk terribly. I live at 4,500 feet and wonder if has to do with my altitude? Any ideas on how to prevent the falling during cooling?

  5. I would like to make a layer cake for my moms birthday, she loves this cake! Can I make 2 round 9 or 10inch cake without having to adjust the recipe? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  6. Can you make CUPCAKES with this recipe? I find that not all cake recipes translate well to the cupcake form. Any thoughts here?

  7. 5 stars
    I made this last week. It was so moist and delicious. I love the recipes for smaller families or for those who don't want too much leftover. Thanks!

  8. 5 stars
    I have been eating choc. mayo cake for over 40 years. My mother made it when I was a kid, choc. frosting on hers. We love it. Moistest cake. When I make it for people, they are shocked it has mayo in it.

  9. 5 stars
    WOW! This recipe makes a very moist cake, my family likes it very much. My mayo cake it more dense, maybe mixing all the liquids before adding to dry makes the difference.

  10. 5 stars
    My recipe is a little different. It makes a 9×13 size pan. I frost it with chocolate frosting. I just made this for my son's 9th birthday. I had to make two so everyone could get some.

  11. 5 stars
    I have a recipe for mayo cake very similar to this. My family requests this cake often. I just frosted the one I made today! Thank you, Brandie for posting it!

  12. 5 stars
    A wonderful cake…I made this for my children all the years they lived at home. It is so moist & chocolatey & moist,a winner!

  13. Love it! Yep, moist – very moist. Say it all you want! Haha! I know y'all don't know me from Adam but I mean it when I say – no mayo or coffee taste at all with this. Scout's honor. I love for folks to try it and ask what's in it. They usually will sit there with their mouths gaping for a bit…and then hopefully they go home and make it! 🙂

    1. Brandie, I’m wondering if you can make cupcakes with this recipe, and if so, how much batter in each single cupcake (1/2 or 3/4 full)? Thank you!

  14. 5 stars
    Wow! My daughter (14 yrs old) just made this recipe this week for a school competition. It is by far the most moist homemade cake we make. Delicious!

  15. 5 stars
    If you add about 1cup rinsed,well drained sauerkraut it will taste like a chocolate coconut but cake. I am a product of people from the depression era.

    1. we always take and soak the saurkraut over night then rinse and rinse in the morn makes the best coconut cake ever, and love the no bake cookies as well, they taste like almond joy bars

  16. 5 stars
    My aunt makes this cake every year for our family reunion! It's amazing(She frosts hers with chocolate frosting, though). When she told my husband the secret ingredient was mayonnaise he liked to have fell out of his chair:)