Super Moist Chocolate Mayo Cake

Nothing is better than a yummy moist chocolate cake!  Here's a great recipe I recently found, a newspaper clipping my sweet MIL cut out years ago- that showed up out of nowhere!  Thanks, sweet mom!  I miss you! You were the best mother-in-law a girl could have.  Her birthday was last week and I guess she just wanted a sweet sniff of heavenly birthday cake! (This was the mother-in-law that I thought didn't have a clue on how to make the "correct" Thanksgiving dinner- the cranberries were in the salad, not as a side dish.  She served twice-baked potatoes instead of mashed.  Oh my heck, she served 5 different desserts- like blueberry fluff and lemon something or other instead of the traditional pumpkin.  Later I found out that each of those desserts were her children's favorites....and that people can have different traditions than I do...and guess what?  It's not just okay, it's wonderful!)


I remember making mayo cakes many years ago but actually have forgotten about them.  I knew I liked them back in the day but here is now and I have been "craving" chocolate cake- the good kind.

I like that you make it with a chocolate cake mix and then add all sorts of good stuff.  I loved that they came out of the pan no sweat.

I used little cake pans because I was using just 1/2 of the recipe (since there are only 3 of us and I didn't want a big giant cake hopping up and down on my counter shouting, "Eat me!  Eat me!"

Look how cute it frosted up!

You can actually see in the picture that it is going to be moist.

Yep, it tasted that good!  I thought I would make a simple chocolate buttercream frosting instead of my usual white cream cheese frosting.  It was good but honestly, I had also forgotten that I like chocolate frosting on white or yellow cake and white frosting on chocolate cake.  Can you tell, it's been awhile since I've had chocolate cake?  So next time, the icing will be as perfect as the cake!

After I had my yummy slice of cake, I just couldn't stop thinking about it.  Why wasn't the chocolate on chocolate working for me?  Then I got it- it needed some tang!

I had just purchased some more of my favorite French jam- Bonne Maman.  Don't worry, you don't have to go to Paris to get it, you can get it in most grocery stores here.

I carefully took the layers apart and added a layer of jam on the top.  Finally!  Perfection! Oh so good!

Super Moist Chocolate Mayo Cake

1 box (18 0z.) chocolate cake mix
1 cup Hellmann's or Best Foods Real Mayonnaise
1 cup water
3 eggs
1 tsp. ground cinnamon (opt)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and lightly flour two 9-in round cake pans.  Set aside. 
Beat cake mix, mayo, water, eggs and cinnamon 30 seconds in large bowl, with electric mixer on low speed.  Beat on medium speed, scaping side occasionally, 2 minutes.  Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 30 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 confectioner's sugar or fill and frost.

(if using a 13 x 9 inch baking pan, bake 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.