The History of Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

The earliest recipe for mayonnaise cake was printed in the Oakland Tribune in 1927 and was written by Martha Lee. Roughly a decade later, Mrs. Frank Price, the wife of a Hellmann’s and Best Foods salesman, pitched her recipe for chocolate mayonnaise cake made with readymade mayo as a way to boost sales. Best Foods included Price’s recipe in the company’s 1937 recipe booklet, Cakes and Cookies With Personality: Exciting New Recipes for Cakes, Cookies, and Frostings. Following the publication of the booklet, recipes for mayonnaise cakes began to appear in newspapers more frequently. Other mayonnaise brands also jumped on the trend, including Redwood Empire Mayonnaise and Kraft, the latter of which published a recipe for Miracle Whip Cake in the 1940s. Mayonnaise cakes became even more popular when World War II rationing resulted in shortages for many typical baking ingredients, and they remained popular during the postwar period. In 1951, Winnifred Jardine, a columnist for Deseret News in Salt Lake City, published a recipe for a “$100 chocolate mayonnaise cake.” The recipe was (erroneously) conflated with a cake made at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria. This only boosted its popularity and the cake became a favorite among homemakers. In 1961, Hellmann’s added a mayonnaise cake recipe to the back of its mayonnaise jars and began running corresponding ads in newspapers and magazines. While chocolate mayonnaise cakes aren’t as popular as they were in the middle of the 20th century, it turns out that the product does indeed lead to softer and much more moist cakes, so these recipes have not died out completely. Today, mayonnaise is even reportedly used as a secret ingredient in fine dining kitchens to create extra soft cakes!