Vegan Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake (4 Mile Run for New Year and Pass the Cake!)

A vegan chocolate cake as my first new year post. Very fitting. While the rest of the free world begins their year with fad diets and insane workout promises I had another cake craving. A chocolate cake craving. I wanted a fast cake. I am so over the cookie thing. I'd be okay not seeing a cookie for a long time. (Even though I found myself in the kitchen yesterday afternoon whipping up a batch of almost healthy oatmeal coconut cookies!)

On New Year's day, I always try to get a good run in. Not that it's a resolution of any kind. I don't make resolutions. Setting myself up for failure is not my idea of a good way to begin anything. That whole, "I will swear to blah, blah, blah". It's a miracle I wake up and function for a full day much less try to give myself over to a year of what ifs. But I'm a runner, it's what I do and try to do year round. It's my sanity saver. (I'm considering another half marathon this spring.) I said "considering". So off we went to our favorite trail, all bundled up. Dr. Thyme walks, I run. It was a cold day considering we had temps in the upper sixties, near seventy the day before. (We had tornadoes, too. More on that later).

I love watching people. Nothing is more fun than folks trying out their fitness mojo on the first of the year. Human creatures--we are a site to behold. Coming around my third mile heading back to the car, I catch up and pass a group of four women. Clearly not runners, but out nonetheless, kudos to them, I thought. Then swung around, came up behind them again and saw one of the women swinging hand weights up, down, in, out--the others walking on. I supposed they had an agreement of some kind, one would do upper body workouts, the others would cluck along with her. They took up the WHOLE trail width. I had to now plan my passing. But wait, there was the "workout" dude in new Kohl's sweats all groomed and doing leg stretches at the bridge in front of me and looking BACK. . . at me. (Okay first of all, DH and I spent the holiday watching the entire Dexter seasons on DVD. Perhaps my "fear" level is a bit heightened owing to this awewome thriller show--alright, a bit freaky and not for the faint of heart--but we LOVED it!) Anywho,  trail etiquette requires ANY woman out running who finds a male runner in front of her glancing BACK to keep on running, looking straight ahead. On guard girls! Always on guard. (Please take note male runners: It's creepy to look back, okay? So don't.) On I ran--face forward passing him and the HEAVY man fragrance clinging to the air! Who wears man cologne to run? WHO?! Now I'm annoyed. A trap. I am trapped between mid-life crisis dude who thought some Old Spice would help his performance, and ladies doing Denise Austin while walking! What the?! I passed the cluckers, passed department-store-Harry-maybe-serial-killer, finished my run, met Dr. Thyme at the car and asked my usual: How was my time? Forty five minutes. Really? That's not great, but I'll take it given what I had run through.

Tornadoes blew through St. Louis on New Year's Eve. In case you missed it, we had seven of those things touch down in our area. As most of my fellow readers know--I am a HUGE scardy cat when it comes to storms (house struck by lightening when I was little: twice!). So let's just say the "Eve" brought in some serious considerations to the idea of getting one of those "weather watch" radios (which I'm sure I'd find myself glued to if even a hint of a storm was forecast). Sadly for several in our area, homes were lifted and like that, "poof": gone. We had a forty degree temperature drop in one day. Ah, life in the Midwest.

Back to the important stuff: chocolate cake. I had four cookbooks spread out in front of me at six in the evening--all had a chapter on "fast" or "quick" cakes, several requiring baking cakes in two pans, meaning two layers to cool, two layers to frost. Sometimes, I am just too tired for all that. They seemed like too much work. Dr. Thyme's been home with me for almost three weeks now. He's helped in the kitchen and provided a nice break for me. And, yes, clearly I have taken a much needed break from the blog AND computer. (Sort of felt a tech break was in order, plus that and the fact I really had some book reading to catch up on--no Kindle, the real ones. . . with paper and ink.)

The old Fannie Farmer Baking Cookbook beckoned me. My eye landed on the cake called: Mayonnaise Chocolate Cake. No eggs. LOVE that! But, one cup mayo was required. Did I have Vegenaise on hand. Well, of course I did! I love mayo! So it was decided. I'd give this cake a shot, and the jury is in: Wow! This vegan chocolate cake was one of the best I'd ever made. Moist. Tender crumb. Just chocolate goodness and tons of fluffy chocolate frosting. Now, could it have something to do with it being the darkest time of the year and my desperation for "feel good" is at a peak level? Perhaps. But let me add, we snacked on this cake for four nights! It's moistness and chocolate yum was still good. . . til the last crumb. Fannie Farmer suggested a frosting called, Continental. I abided by her suggestion. So glad I did. I had never made frosting with a base of flour and soy milk before. Again. Wow. Delish. Super delish. Will I make this cake again? You betcha! Oh, and Happy New Year!

Vegan Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Adapted from the Fannie Farmer Baking Book

*Cook's note: This recipe requires a cup of cold coffee. I always keep a jar of dry roasted decaf in my fridge for such occasions. It works like a charm when a cake or whatever calls for coffee. I also omitted adding salt to this cake because of the Vegenaise. This vegan mayo substitute contains quite a bit of salt as is and I felt no extra salt was needed.

2 cups cake flour (I used King Arthur)

1 cup Florida Crystals sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup vegan mayo

1 cup cold coffee

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Line two 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper on the bottom and then spray with baking spray. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the mayo, coffee and vanilla extract and mix well. In another bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients, then carefully add the dry ingredients to the mayo mixture in thirds. Mix until the batter is smooth. Pour into the prepared pans, dividing the batter evenly between them. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Allow to cool in pans about 10 minutes, then remove from pans carefully, place on cooling rack to fully cool off before frosting. While the cakes cool, prep the frosting. 

Vegan Chocolate Frosting (Continental Style)

1 cup unsweetened soy milk

5 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup unsalted vegetable margerine

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups (or more or less) confectioner's sugar

2 ounces melted unsweetened baking chocolate

3 tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa

In a small sauce pan, add the milk and warm it over medium heat. While whisking, add the flour one tablespoon at a time to the milk, whisking the whole time. Bring heat up bring mixture to a boil, whisking constantly until mixture is a smooth paste. Remove from heat and set aside--allow to cool completely! Meantime, melt the chocolate squares in the microwave--set aside. Now, in the bowl of a stand mixer, blend the margerine and vanilla extract together until it is smooth. Add the melted chocolate to the margerine, then a cup of the powdered sugar to this--mixing on low speed. The frosting will begin to come together. Now, begin adding a tablespoon at a time of the flour mixture. It may be very lumpy, but keep adding a tablespoon at a time, alternating with the powdered sugar. I did not use ALL of my flour mixture. I added probably half of it. I then sprinkled in the powdered cocoa to get a more chocolate-looking frosting. Then kept adding the powdered sugar until I had the consistency I wanted. You will find this frosting is very light and fluffy and stays that way! Frost cooled cakes and enjoy!