The secret to super moist cake is … mayo?

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I know mayonnaise is a polarizing ingredient. And perhaps it’s even more polarizing to suggest you add mayo to your chocolate cake. But trust me! If you love mayonnaise, read on. And if you hate mayonnaise? Read on! 

What is mayonnaise? 

We all know mayonnaise — that white, creamy condiment that’s found in everything from potato salad to tuna salad to salad dressing. But unless you’ve made it from scratch, you might not realize that mayonnaise is just an emulsion of eggs and oil, often seasoned with salt, lemon juice, or vinegar, and with added lecithin, an emulsifier that helps prevent the emulsion from separating. An emulsion brings together two liquids that don’t normally want to mix by blending them so thoroughly that the fat particles are broken up into tiny droplets suspended in liquid that can’t come back together. 

Should I really use mayonnaise in my cake? 

Mayonnaise cakes have been around for a long time, gaining popularity in the late 1930s after Best Foods published a recipe in their cookbook, Cakes and Cookies with Personality. And while its use in cake might seem like a clever mayonnaise marketing scheme, mayonnaise is actually a great baking ingredient.  

Because mayonnaise is little more than eggs and oil — two common baking ingredients — using it in a sweet cake isn’t as weird as it may at first seem. The mayo provides the protein, fat, and moisture essential to a cake’s structure and taste, and it also effectively coats the flour in cake batter, which limits gluten development, resulting in a cake with moist, fine crumb, like the best box mix cakes. (Sound familiar? It’s the same reason reverse-creamed cakes are ultra-tender.) What’s more, because mayonnaise is mostly oil, cakes made with it (instead of butter) stay fresh-tasting and moist for days and days due to oil’s higher fat percentage. 

Photography by Rick Holbrook, food styling by Kaitlin Wayne

Have I convinced you? Bake this! 

If you’re ready to give mayonnaise in cake a try, start with this new recipe for Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake. There’s no butter to soften, no eggs to separate, no mixer required; what’s more, it takes under one hour to make, including baking, and requires only nine ingredients. (And no, if you’re worried, it doesn’t taste like mayonnaise at all.) And it’s not just how easy it is to make, either: With its velvety crumb and deeply chocolatey flavor (plus how easy it is), this might become your new favorite chocolate cake.  

Lately, I’ve been serving it with nothing more than a dusting of confectioners’ sugar, a plop of whipped cream, and whatever summer berries I’ve got. But add a generous slather of our Super-Simple Chocolate Frosting and you’ve got a party-ready cake with a secret no one will guess. 

More surprising ways to bake with mayonnaise: This perfect-for-summer Tomato Pie with Parmesan and Basil and these verdant Green Goddess Herb Biscuits. 

Cover photo (Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake) by Rick Holbrook, food styling by Kaitlin Wayne.