December 14, 2018

Single Mom Chronicles Dec. 13th

Single Mom Chronicles Dec. 13th

It’s December, which is full of treats, so today I’m doing a treat recipe.  This was…and still is… my kid’s favorite treat.  It’s a cake my gramma used to make.  This cake was one of those things she’d make just for the two of us and we wouldn’t share it with anyone.  Our secret stash.  She was that way with Girl Scout cookies, too.  This was a recipe she picked up during the last world war, when Americans were on rations for certain staples like eggs and butter.  You might know it as mayonnaise cake.

Yeah, I know.  Mayonnaise.  In a cake.  Weird.  Technically, it’s Miracle Whip and some would argue that Miracle Whip is NOT mayonnaise.  It’s salad dressing.  But is it?  Sure, it tastes different than mayonnaise, but it’s still white and gloopy.  And mayonnaise made from scratch tastes vastly different than the stuff from the jar.  So maybe jarred mayonnaise isn’t really mayonnaise either.  I wonder how many times I can type the word ‘mayonnaise’ in this paragraph.

Just to be clear, this recipe doesn’t work with mayonnaise.  It only works with Miracle Whip.  If nothing else, Miracle Whip has the lock on this cake, even if you are a Miracle Whip hater.  What’s particularly good about this cake is that it needs no frosting.  In fact, frosting doesn’t even taste right with this cake.  If you insist on having something on top, dust it with powdered sugar and add some fresh berries.  We eat it plain.  We’re purists.

This is a one bowl cake that comes together with minimal effort.  The ingredients are inexpensive~ish.  I say “ish” because as a single mom, it was hard for me to justify a five dollar bill for a jar of Miracle Whip when a box cake mix hovered around a buck, but you get at least two cakes out of the regular sized jar and it was a treat, so I looked at it that way.

I mean, when you’re pinching pennies you really are pinching pennies, it’s not just a quaint little saying.  And oh the things I could do with a five dollar bill at the grocery store!  Not to mention, box mixes require eggs and two eggs could be the difference between a meal or no meal, especially if breakfast was on the menu for dinner that night.  Every single parent on the planet knows exactly what I’m talking about.  So if I can get a chocolate cake and still have eggs to eat for dinner?  That’s a win.  And single parenthood ain’t exactly brimming with wins, so I’ll take it.

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Mayonnaise Cake

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 4 heaping soup spoons unsweetened cocoa powder *see note
  • 1 cup Mircale Whip
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla **see note

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350.  Line a 9x11 cake pan with foil and lightly spray with baking oil.  Whisk all the dry ingredients together, then add all the wet ingredients and stir in.  Spread into the cake pan with a spatula and bake for about 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool and cut into squares.

Notes

*I use the tablespoons used for eating, not the tablespoons used for measuring....soup spoons.  I suppose you could use measured tablespoons, but gramma never did in this recipes and neither do I.  Also, I only use Hershey's cocoa for this cake.  I've tried others when they were cheaper and it just doesn't have the same taste for me.
**Gramma never used vanilla for this cake.  I added it later as an adult so it's optional.  Lately, the cost of vanilla has gone through the roof.  If you omit it, you won't miss it at all, I promise.  If the batter seems a little dry, just add a measured tablespoon of water or two and mix it in instead, but it should be thick~ish and not runny.

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