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Mayonnaise is key
to this spice cake

IT'S been about 30 years since Richard and Mildred Boner have enjoyed one of their favorite desserts, a spice cake made with mayonnaise.

The recipe was lost long ago.

Mayo cakes are an old, old, old-time favorite in which mayonnaise takes the place of butter and eggs. The most common type is a chocolate cake.

I did find a spice cake, though, posted on several Internet recipe sites. The recipes are all the same, credited to the Old Farmer's Almanac of 1976. It's adapted here after testing.

Mayonnaise Spice Cake

1 cup raisins
1 cup hot water
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Soak raisins in hot water 10 minutes. Drain and reserve liquid.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan.

Blend mayonnaise and sugar, then add vanilla.

Place flour in large mixing bowl. Add cloves, cinnamon and baking soda. Fold mayonnaise mixture into flour alternately with water from raisin mixture. Fold in raisins and nuts.

Spread batter in pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes, until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Here's a variation, a lighter mayo cake flavored with chocolate and cinnamon.

Mayonnaise Date Cake

"Favorite Island Cookery, Book II" Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin (1975)

1 cup chopped dates
1-1/4 cups boiling water
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sugar
1 square unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
Whipped cream, for topping

Soak dates in water 10 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 8-inch square pans or 9-inch round pans.

Cream mayonnaise and sugar. Add chocolate and vanilla.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add to mayonnaise mixture alternately with reserved liquid from dates. Fold in dates and nuts. Pour batter into pans and bake 35 minutes.

Cool, then spread with whipped cream. Refrigerate.

Nutritional information unavailable.