I use whole wheat flour quite regularly in baking; this recipe comes from a very informative booklet produced by my church called “Cooking with Wheat.” My supply of whole wheat flour was diminishing, so I decided to finish off what I had with this recipe. There were many other desserts made with whole wheat flour, so I’m sure I’ll come back to this booklet again.
I have to admit, however, that the idea of mayonnaise in cake sort of grossed me out. Mayonnaise is tangy! Chocolate cake shouldn’t be tangy! Ewww! I put my reservations aside, however, because the mayonnaise seems to take the place of egg and butter/oil in the recipe, so the cake should work. In theory.
The Recipe
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
½ tsp salt
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp vanilla
4 Tbs cocoa
1 cup warm water
1 cup mayonnaise
Put all ingredients in bowl; mix thoroughly; put into a greased and floured tin. Bake at 350F/180C/Gas 4 for 30 minutes or until springs back when touched. When cool, top with chocolate butter icing.
My Alterations
I stuck to the recipe pretty closely. It was incredibly easy – dump in bowl, mix, bake. Those are the best kinds of recipes!
The only difference was my use of flours. I ran out of regular whole wheat flour, and ended up using wholegrain spelt flour. It has a different taste and texture to whole wheat flours, and it did make a difference in the cake.
As shown on the flour packaging:
Ancient relative of modern wheat, spelt grain, triticum speltum, was widely grown by the Romans. This 100% wholegrain flour has complex flavours and bakes a delicious loaf.
The Results
I was worried that the mayonnaise would give the cake a tangy after-taste, but I couldn’t taste anything out of the ordinary. In fact, the cake turned out very light and flavourful. The spelt flour was too bitty, making the cake itself taste a bit grainy and with a slight wheaty, nutty taste. I would expect that from a cake made with any whole wheat flour, but I would have preferred a finer grain flour than what I used.
The Verdict
This is definitely a good cake. It’s easy to make, and chances are you’ll have all the ingredients in your house without having to make a special trip to get anything. On those days when you want cake or need to take cake to a function and suddenly ran out of eggs, this is a perfect substitute.
I would try it with a finer whole wheat flour, to see if that improves the texture. If you aren’t a big whole wheat flour fan, using half wheat and half white flour would work just as well.
The Rating
4/5
Easy to bake, great flavour and texture. Experiment with different flours.
