Visual Traveler & Chocolate Blog

I had previously heard about Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake and vaguely remembered one that Kansas City, Missouri, Chef Jasper J. Mirabile, Jr. had shared long ago. He was kind enough to share it with me directly, for this post.

Jasper says his mom came up with this recipe during the Great Depression when oil and eggs were being rationed. During 2016, he wrote about the dessert and its origins, for the Kansas City Star (readable with a newspaper subscription)

​The recipe then went viral. Hellmann's Mayonnaise put it on their website and many magazines - including Good Housekeeping - later published it.  And Jasper says Mama Josephine was so happy at that time!

VOE: If you're curious about the topping in the above photo, see instructions below the main recipe. 
 
Mama Josephine Mirabile's Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
Source: Courtesy of Hellman’s Mayonnaise

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mayonnaise
1 1/3 cups water
 
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour two 9-inch round cake pans; set aside. VOE: I used olive oil to grease my pans. 

VOE: I considered making a traditional buttercream frosting but decided to avoid using butter, as Mama Josephine did.

​Instead I melted 1/2 cup of bittersweet chocolate before 'painting' it across the first cake layer and then drizzling it on the top and sides. Though crunchy as a topping, moisture from the cake softens this filling in the middle. See what you think!

This Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cheesecake with Chocolate Glaze comes from the kitchen of Martha Stewart. Very tasty and pretty to look at, this recipe - nevertheless - required plenty of patience + far more time needed for prep than Stewart suggested + dirty-ing 'everything but the kitchen sink.'

VOE - DO exhaustively read the cheesecake recipe before you begin, to make sure you have the right equipment on-hand. Here's what I used during my culinary adventure with the primary recipe: 

Food processor (including one use and one reuse)
Foil
Parchment paper
Springform pan
Roasting pan (that fitted the circumference of my springform pan) 
2 large stainless steel bowls
2 flexible spatulas
2 measuring cups
1 large spoon
1 medium saucepan with lid plus a stainless steel bowl that easily rested at the top (for melting chocolate)
Measuring spoons

VOE - I don't own an offset spatula so used my regular spatula, instead.

Above: Prepared springform pan.
VOE: I used melted butter on the pan surface and parchment paper, as I don't keep cooking spray on-hand.

VOE: I did my best to completely cover each of the previous filling layers. But I ended up with less of the peanut butter filling in my bowl than the optimal amount needed for complete coverage.