That's right: chocolate cake made with mayonnaise.

I saw this recipe in the March/April 2009 Cook's Illustrated, and had heard about recipes like this before, but it wasn't until violetisblue made it (and I had a ton of duck egg mayonnaise to use up) that I decided to try it for myself.

This is just about the easiest chocolate cake I've ever made, second only to the standard Moosewood vegan chocolate cake recipe I've made so many times. If you can't put this together in 15 minutes, you're doing it wrong. The texture is simultaneously light and moist, and the hint of olive oil flavor (thank goodness I made the duck egg mayo with a 2:1 vegetable oil/olive oil ratio) actually worked surprisingly well with the cake.

columbina is still afraid of it. He'd better get over it quickly, though, because I really should not be responsible for eating an entire cake (even if it's only a single layer) all by myself.