Chocolate Dessert #24, Of Course!

I made this cake from my 365 Chocolate Desserts cookbook; it's recipe #24.

UPDATED CHOCOLATE MAYONNAISE CAKE

1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup nonfat mayonnaise
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
2-1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

In a bowl, mix the cocoa powder and boiling water; stir until the cocoa dissolves and set aside.  In your mixing bowl, beat together the mayonnaise and sugar until well combined; add the cocoa mix and beat until smooth.  Stir together the flour, soda and salt, beat into the chocolate mix, and divide between 2 well greased layer pans.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.  Cool, then frost with this suggested frosting:

COCOA MAYO ICING

1/2 cup nonfat mayonnaise
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp almond extract
1 pound powdered sugar
1 tbsp milk

Beat all together until smooth.  Frost the cake.

The cake was amazingly moist, and the almond extract gave it a nice flavor.  The frosting was only semi-sweet, and even Ryan opined that it was just too much chocolate; he said I should use the regular buttercream frosting next time.  All in all, however, this was a very successful cake, on everyone's "Make this again!" list.  Best of all, it's cholesterol free, and no one knew the difference.

Oh, and to answer Karin's question?  You know Ryan won the race for the cake.  He's eaten about 5 slices in 2 days, to Mark's 2.  Gee.  I wonder why Ryan outweighs Mark.

(To reduce the caloric content of the cake, use 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup stevia instead of the 1-1/4 cups sugar.  Not that this will in any way make it a diet cake.  Just sayin'.)

Have a great weekend, everyone!