The reason I am choosing this recipe in honor of my daughter's move to college today is that when she was 8 years old she secretly made this cake for my husband and I, from scratch, while we were out to dinner for our 11th wedding Anniversary. Our neighbor was babysitting for the three children in her home across the street and my daughter convinced her that we allowed her to bake in our home 'all the time' (truth: never) so my friend let her go back home to make us a surprise cake. Just a second grader, she baked her first cake, from scratch, all by herself and even found a frosting recipe in my cookbooks and made tinted frostings to decorate it.
Eggless Chocolate Cake
2 c flour
1 c sugar
1/4 t salt
1/3 c cocoa
1 t baking soda
1 c cold water
1 1/2 t vanilla
2/3 c mayonnaise
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the water, vanilla and mayonnaise. Beat 100 strokes with a wooden spoon until smooth. Grease 2 - 8" layer pans, line the bottoms with wax paper and pour half the batter in each. Bake at 350 degree's for 25-35 minutes until done. Cool in pans 5 minutes before turning out to cool completely.
I like to freeze the layers which makes it easy to assemble the cake later.
For the center use frosting, mousse, or even a light layer of raspberry or cherry jam. Another delicious filling we've used is hot fudge sauce.
I used a Seven (7) Minute Frosting for the top but you can use your favorite frosting.
Spread the frosting over the cake
