Huffpost: Recipes To Bake After Banana Bread: A Choose-Your-Own Adventure Guide

Sarah

We had a good thing going there, banana bread. All through the early days of sheltering in place during the coronavirus pandemic, you were our go-to baking project for so many reasons: You’re delicious, inexpensive, easy to make — and you helped us save food that would otherwise be going bad. Even with all your virtues, though, it might be time to move on and expand our culinary horizons.

Don’t worry, we’ll be back. But in the meantime, here are some new banana-bread-adjacent recipes that might be fun to flirt with now and then.

There’s nothing better than having a freshly baked treat on the kitchen counter, allowing you to take a sliver each time you pass. While banana bread has been front and center on many counters for weeks now, you might want to try this made-for-snacking cake that uses a secret ingredient ― mayonnaise! — in place of eggs or butter.

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  • Prep time: 20 minutes
  • Cook time: 40 minutes
  • Total time: 1 hour
  • Serves: 20 people

No eggs, no oil, no butter, no problem. Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake is a Depression-era cake is a rich, chocolate cake that gets its velvety texture from a cup of mayonnaise. It's topped with a decadent Fudge Frosting made by boiling sugar, cocoa, milk and butter.

Ingredients

Cake

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 4 tablespoons cocoa
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup mayo, (Allie and Pix prefer Hellman's)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla

Fudge Icing

  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup cocoa
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup butter

Method

Cake

  • 1)

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.; grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.

  • 2)

    Sift all dry ingredients into mixing bowl.

  • 3)

    Add water, mayo and vanilla.

  • 4)

    Beat just enough until it’s blended.

  • 5)

    Pour into greased/floured 9 x 13 pan.

  • 6)

    Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Fudge Icing

  • 1)

    Mix all ingredients and bring to a boil.

  • 2)

    Boil for three minutes; continue mixing and scraping the sides as it boils to avoid crystallization.

  • 3)

    Let cool and beat until creamy.

  • 4)

    Add pecans if desired.

Notes

Pix’s tip: “After boiling the icing, keep whipping the mixture as it cools. Once it starts to become stiff but hasn’t yet crystallized, pour it on the cake.” She also adds, “make sure to cool the cake before pouring the frosting.”

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