Mayo cake whips up like a miracle

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, October 7, 2004

A good, reliable recipe, one that’s tried and true, for a quick-fix, stir-it-up cake doesn’t grow on trees, you know. But here’s one, and it comes to us courtesy of longtime Forum helper-outer Anita Dosie of Marysville.

Her cake is good as is – but, since I freely admit to being a frosting hog, I don’t think a good dose of chocolate glaze would go amiss. Or, for another idea, top the slices with a blob of vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce. Now we’re talking …

And so is Dosie, who tells us, “I’ve been going to write to you for months, but plants and grass seemed to always need some water. So that’s what I was doing all summer. I never really worry about the housework, but those flowers, vegetables, trees and grass just had to be taken care of …

“I haven’t forgotten all of you, and I see you every day, since I’ve got the Forum in the cupboard, in my drawer (where all my cookbooks are) and even on a door in the cupboard.

“I try the different recipes you have in your Forum all the time. A great one was the Minnie Christensen gumdrop cake. It was terrific, and I’m going to make it again. We shared it with other people, and they liked it, too. I baked mine in a bundt pan, and it worked out OK. The potato pancakes were great, too, but I don’t now know how long I’ve had that particular recipe. Made that rhubarb cobbler of Phyllis Henshaw’s, and it was very tasty. I’ll make it again.”

Dosie continues, “We eat lots of coleslaw or just plain slaw, as we call it, mixed with many different vegetables and fruit. Boy, do we go through the mayonnaise. I also make a mayonnaise cake we really like. It’s from a church cookbook from 1951 and, back then, it was called Miracle Whip cake, but I’ve always used mayonnaise as I don’t like Miracle Whip.”

Well, Dosie isn’t the only one who doesn’t like Miracle Whip. I could write a book on this very subject because, at family suppers at our house, we have some, uh, interesting conversations about that very thing. But that’s another story for another column, and we need to get right to:

Miracle Whip (or mayonnaise) cake

5tablespoons cocoa

2teaspoons baking soda

2cups sifted flour

1cup granulated sugar

1cup Miracle Whip (or mayonnaise)

1cup lukewarm water

1teaspoon vanilla

In mixing bowl, mix together the cocoa, baking soda and flour; set aside. In another mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, Miracle Whip or mayonnaise, water and vanilla. Add flour mixture and mix well. Turn batter into greased bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

The next Forum will appear in Monday’s Time Out section.