Using mayonnaise in baking is an ingenious trick that no one really talks about. It sounds odd because we usually associate this condiment with just sandwiches, burgers, dips, and salads. It also forms the base for many sauces like tartar sauce for fish and chips, and the American favourite ranch dressing.
It doesn’t have to be that way. We’ll tell you why. Mayonnaise is essentially a thick and creamy emulsion created with oil, raw egg yolks, vinegar or lemon juice. These ingredients are whipped until they are a pale colour and fluffy, just like a meringue. In fact, mayonnaise was a big part of the baking recipes during the Great Depression when there was a deep scarcity of ingredients. Eggs and oil are some of the ingredients most commonly found in cakes, so using this ready-made condiment makes way more sense now, doesn't it?
Here are some ways you can incorporate mayonnaise into your baking repertoire:
- Replace the eggs and fat with mayonnaise in your homemade cake recipe’s batter to add moisture and richness for a tender crumb. Mayonnaise blends particularly well into batters for chocolate cakes, which are usually dense and decadent.
- Elevate a simple cake recipe using a box cake mix with this and make any cake top notch, like it would from a professional bakery. Use up all the ingredients that are mentioned in the box and add about ½ cup of mayo (not the eggless kind) to this and watch the magic unfold.
- Banana bread and even banana cake recipe with eggs is already known to be moist because you’re using the ripest version of the fruit in it. But if you want prolonged moistness, simply add some mayo!
- Scones or biscuits, as they say in the States, can have a tendency to come out dry. But you know who can save you from baking hard as rock scones? Mayo!
- Surely you don’t need anymore convincing about integrating mayo into your cakes and bakes. So without further adieu, here’s a decadent chocolate cake recipe (tried and tested by bakers) that you can attempt at home. Don’t forget to make the frosting; that just adds an oomph factor to make the cake even more enjoyable.
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 240 gm plain flour
- 200 gm granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 50 gm Cadbury Cocoa Powder
- 220 gm full fat mayonnaise
- 240 gm (about a cup) lukewarm water
For the frosting:
- 300 gm room temperature unsalted butter
- 500 gm confectioner’s sugar
- 2 tbsp Cadbury Cocoa Powder
- 1 tbsp strong coffee powder
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions:
- Start with the cake first by preheating the oven to 180° C.
- Prepare the cake tin by lining it with some butter, then lightly dusting it with flour. Alternatively, you can also line it with baking paper or just use a silicon baking vessel. Set aside.
- Mix all the ingredients well together in a large bowl. Try not to overmix.
- The key is to cream the wet ingredients first and then fold in the dry ingredients in batches.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, sift the dry ingredients for the frosting in a bowl.
- Cream the butter and slowly incorporate the powdered sugar and vanilla extract into it. Follow this up by the sifted ingredients.
- Finally drizzle the heavy cream into this mixture and give it a final whip.
- Once the cake is completely cool and then frost it liberally. Serve a slice with some additional buttercream frosting.