So early it's still almost dark out. I'm near the window with coffee,
And the usual early morning stuff that passes for thought.
When I see the boy and his friend
Walking up the road to deliver the newspaper.
They wear caps and sweaters, and one boy has a bag over his shoulder.
They were so happy, they aren't saying anything, these boys.
I think if they could, they would take each other's arm.
It's early in the morning, and they are doing this thing together.
They come on, slowly. The sky is taking on the light.
Though the moon still hangs pale over the water.
Such beauty that for a minute
Death and ambition, even love, doesn't enter this.
Happiness. It comes on,
Unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really,
Any early morning talk about it.
Happiness ~ Raymond Carver
My love for quick bakes is very well evident all over the blog. I love cakes, but I hate when I have to wait for the butter to soften, and then to be beaten, eggs to be bought to room temperature and beaten till fluffed, etc. Yes, they do give soft and pillowy cakes and is worth all the hard work but then people like me for whom each minute is split into seconds for every activity, I always look out for recipes that can be done in a jiffy and the monster in me can be tamed! I have baked with mayonnaise once in these cupcakes and the result was good. I have been hearing a lot about how wonderful the combination of chocolate and mayonnaise and have been wanting to make a cake since ages. This is when I landed up on this recipe. This recipe is great for a snack cake. Very easy to put together, very mild of sugar levels - it goes perfect with a sweet cup of coffee. If you want to frost the cake, then do check out the link which has a frosting recipe in it. I always wonder why I don't frost my cakes. There's hardly any on this blog, apart from the Tiramisu cake, the Black Forest, the Dark Chocolate Cake and my first butter-cream attempt. I have to slowly start putting myself in trying various frostings, but believe me, the calories in a frosted cake really peeve me off, though I would love to have them once in a blue moon!
Easy Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
Makes a 6 inch cake
Recipe adapted from here
Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Method:
Preheat your oven to 170 degrees. Grease and flour a 6 inch pan and set aside.
Mix the dry ingredients using a whisk in a bowl and keep aside. Combine the water, mayonnaise and vanilla in a pitcher till well mixed. Slowly add to the dry ingredients and whisk without lumps. The mixture will be thick. Pour into the prepared pan and tap to level the top.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes till the tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then cool on a rack. Slice and serve!
Notes:
1. The sugar was quite low! If I have to say that, considering that normally I always reduce the level of sugar in almost all my cake recipes, here I did not do it but it was really low on sweetness. Add more sugar if you want.
2. I am sure this cake would have tasted awesome with the suggested frosting but I had no patience to go for the frosting! Hehe... maybe with the frosting, the level of sugar in the cake sounds fine...