Thursday, April 21, 2011

R.....is for Restaurant

and family type restaurants are my favorites. When I was working, I would meet my friends after work and we'd sit and chat over coffee. It was so much fun and I have great memories associated with all those times.

My closest friends have moved away.....one way or another and so I don't go to restaurants much anymore. Its also getting pretty expensive to do so. Most of the time when we just don't feel like cooking, we get a bucket of chicken or pizza and bring it home to eat. I do enjoy having breakfast out though and we try and do that every 2 or 3 months. Even with our small family, that outing can make quick work out of $35. when you include the tip. I've noticed that within the last two weeks, groceries have gone up dramatically in price. The last time we bought our lunch at work, the prices had jumped so much that we decided it would be far cheaper to just bring our own from home.

But R can also stand for RECIPE and I have a wonderful one for you. Its my mother's recipe for Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake. It is so moist and delicious, you will want to make it again and again. Its a scratch cake, but don't let that scare you.....its as easy as a box cake.

CHOCOLATE MAYONNAISE CAKE

3 cups flour

1 ½ cups sugar

1/3 cup cocoa (unsweetened)

2 ¼ tsp. Baking powder

1 ½ tsp. Baking soda

1 ½ cups Hellmann’s Mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip)

1 ½ cups water

2 ½ tsp. Vanilla

Dash salt


Mix dry ingredients into large bowl. Stir in mayo. Gradually stir in water and vanilla until smooth. Beat 5 minutes.

Bake 9x13 pan, 350 for 30 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

When cool, frost with your choice of frosting. This is very good with Chocolate frosting.

10 comments:

Jamie said...

I would love to meet you in a restaurant for coffee or dinner or breakfast, and I will even buy. Soon, I swear.

Chocolate cake is what I dream of. And for that reason, I will never make your cake - although if you made it for me, I would love it. That way, I have one serving, and leave. Cake in my home is a dangerous thing..

Hugs. Lots of hugs. :)

Cheryl said...

Your cake sounds delicious. I'll try it :)

Food is so expensive! I really shop the sales. My daughter just asked why I have 6 boxes of cereal in the pantry. They were on sale! I'm the one at work that always brings my lunch. My co-workers don't bother to ask me when they're ordering out. I do love pizza, though, and having Chinese with Rob every once and a while.

glnroz said...

that sounds good,, i may have to try that,, thanks, glenn

Joy Des Jardins said...

CHOCOLATE MAYONNAISE CAKE...oh my God that sounds good. You are a girl after my own heart. I may have to give this recipe to my daughter....the baker in the family.

I LOVE family restaurants too Val...and still go to them with my kids all the time. We have a few favorites that we frequent as much as possible. I wish we lived closer to one another...I'd love to sit and chat with you over lunch or dinner. I have a feeling we'd have a lot to say. ~Joy xo

happyone said...

I cooked so many meals when the kids were home that I enjoy eating out now that the kids are gone and we can afford it. : ) We eat out quite often.
Thanks for the cake recipe. I certainly will give it a try.

Sarah said...

That cake sounds incredibly yummy!!! We go to IHOP enough that the waitresses there know us. Granted, we're usually there to study but we eat too...lol. It is expensive though, crazily so.

JY69 said...

I'm hungry so all this restaurant talk is making me even MORE hungry!

Leann said...

I love made from scratch recipies. I used to make them all the time when my kids were little. I'll have to try this one, it sounds yummy!

dc said...

Haven't made this cake for many years. But I think I will make it soon. Thanks for sharing. Another very good chocolate cake is the one on the back of the "dark" cocoa can.

Hughes ap Williams said...

Chocolate mayonnaise cake! OMG!

Every year for my birthday this was the cake that I chose to have my mother make for me. I couldn't find her recipe in her things and the ones that I have found so far aren't quite the same.

I don't know if it's just half-century-old memories that make it different or if she had "doctored" a recipe.