Happy Birthday Mommy!

...today is my mom's 61st birthday. Like all my sisters, she also has a sweet tooth, she loves chocolate as much as I do so I made her a chocolate mint cake with a rich fudge sauce. I got the recipe somewhere on the internet, it got rave reviews so I tried it myself. The first recipe is for the chocolate mayonnaise cake (yes, instead of eggs and butter--mayonnaise is used). The second recipe is for the fudge frosting that I used to cover my cake. The cake didn't rise as high as I was expecting, but the moistness is worth it.

CHOCOLATE MAYONNAISE CAKE

All-purpose flour 2 cups

Granulated sugar 1 cup

Cocoa Powder 1/3 cup

Baking powder 1 teaspoon

Baking soda 1 teaspoon

Mayonnaise 1 cup

Water 1 cup

Vanilla extract 1 teaspoon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Grease and line bottom of 9" round cake pan.

Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and soda. Using the paddle attachment of kitchenaid mixer, combine mayonnaise, cold water and vanilla to dry ingredients. Beat until smooth (around 4 minutes). Pour into prepared pan and bake 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cut cake into 2 layers. On first layer, put chocolate covered mints and return to oven for 4 minutes until chocolate is melted, spread evenly with a spatula and cover with second cake layer. Cool completely.

FUDGE FROSTING

Cocoa Powder 6 tablespoons

White sugar 2 cups

Milk 2/3 cup

Butter 1/2 cup

Salt 1/4 teaspoon

Combine ingredients in saucepan over medium-high heat. Stirring constantly, bring mixture to a boil and reduce heat allowing mixture to boil gently 3 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and cool before beating in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat with paddle attachment on kitchenaid mixer until thick enough to spread without running off the cake. Spread over top and sides of cooled cake