Tuesday, February 28, 2012

my kitchen: super moist red velvet mayo cake



Have you ever bought the tub of mayonnaise from Costco? It's HUGE- 64 ounces and there's no way that I could eat enough tuna sandwiches or egg salad for all the mayo. So I was trying to figure out how to use it up and ended up finding a recipe for it in cake. YES, cake!

guess the secret ingredient!

It makes sense, after all, mayo is made from eggs, oil and vinegar. I remember spotting vinegar in the recipe for Auntie Em's red velvet cupcakes (my favorite red velvet in LA) a long time ago, which I thought was curious at the time, but made me think this would work even more since their cupcakes are also very moist. And google showed quite a few people vouching for it, saying that it was their grandma's recipe from WWII when mayo was creatively subbed for eggs or butter. I checked the label for the Kirkland brand which also had a touch of salt, lemon and paprika, which I thought would be fine. I used box mix, though you can also make it from scratch.


It was fun to frost the cake and faster than frosting 24 cupcakes, though the cake was so heavy at the end. I definitely recommend buying a springform pan too so you can just get a perfectly round cake without too much hassle. I did have to cut off the top of the cake to get a smooth surface, and ended up using those using those pieces to taste test.

The end result- I was super happy with. Don't know if you can see how moist the cake is. For red velvet, it would also be good dusted with some powdered sugar too or fresh cream cheese frosting.

Speaking of cakes, does anyone know where to get cute cake stands in Taipei?



SUPER-MOIST RED VELVET MAYO CAKE
(adapted from Hellmann's recipe)

1 box (18 oz.) cake mix
1 cup American style Mayonnaise
1 cup water
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C.
Beat cake mix, mayonnaise, water, eggs and cinnamon in large bowl with electric mixer or by hand. Pour batter into prepared pan(s), springform pan recommended.
Bake 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on wire rack; remove from pans and cool completely. Sprinkle, if desired, with confectioners sugar or fill and frost.

13 comments:

billy said...

wow, that looks awesome

L Gerock said...

Looks delicious! There are two good baking stores that I know of right now and not sure if either has a cake stand - but might be worth a look:
1. (Name Unknown) NW Corner of Dihua St. and Minsheng W. Road, near the fabric market. Well stocked in baking supplies including all manner of pots, pans, utensils, and some hard to find ingredients
2. Sunshine Baking House 台北市信義區莊敬路341巷19號 - similar fare

drama girl said...

yummy AND easy. LIKE!

Wayne said...

Never knew you could use mayo to make cakes. Very cool. I may give it a shot sometime. Not exactly answering your question here but ever since moving to Taiwan, I've stopped buying jars of mayo. It's much easier (and tastier) to just make my own small batches using a hand blender. It's super easy and takes maybe 2-3minutes total. Here's J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's recipe on Serious Eats:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/10/the-food-lab-homemade-mayo-in-2-minutes-or-le.html

joanh said...

billy: thanks!!

l gerock: thanks for the info!! i will have to check them out. I've heard there's a lot of good stuff near Dihua St.

Tiff Tums: Thanks for visiting!! it's was super easy!!

Wayne: thanks so much for the comment. It's actually the first time in my life buying mayo, since I usually don't eat it, but wanted to try my hand at making tuna sandwiches at home. For some reason the thought of making my own mayo grosses me out, but maybe I'll give it a try someday. I didn't know you could use mayo until random searching that you could use it for cakes either!

Apolskie said...

hi! Whats your recipe for the frosting?

Pandalicious said...

wow, mayo in cake. who woulda thunk that? looks moist!

Fine Dining Restaurant said...

Wow, i'm starving to have a bite of this and Weekend will be probably the best time to try this recipe.

~Aansy Stone

Lex said...

I think I saw cake stands at Costco...

Moving Homes said...

Looks amazing the mayo cake, I agree with gerock the Sunshine baking house is one of my favourites as well!

PWT Sports Racing News said...

Looks awesome :)

PWT Health Tips said...

its yummy Thanks for sharing

Joanne said...

Hi Joanh,

Love your velvet cake. make me feel like trying to bake one.

I came across your blog and would like to know how to get to Dihua St.
Near which MRT stn? would like to get some baking stuff when I'm in Taipei end of the month.

Thanks.

:)