My Mother's Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

CHOCOLATE MAYONNAISE CAKE

3 c. flour, unsifted
1 1/2 c. sugar
2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 c. mayonnaise
1 1/2 c. water
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Grease two 9 x 1 1/2 inch layer pans; line bottoms with waxed paper. Sift together dry ingredients into large bowl. Stir in mayonnaise. Gradually stir in water and vanilla until smooth and blended. Pour into prepared pans. Bake in 350 degree oven about 30 minutes or until cake springs back when touched. Cool completely. Remove from pans. Makes 2 layers.

One cold night, after the cake had cooled, Mom went to frost the remainders, but found out that she didn't have enough milk or sugar after making the cake.

But she did have ice cream!

Basic recipe:

* 1/4 cup soft or melted margarine
* Good dash salt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 tablespoons milk
* 2 cups powdered sugar

In a medium sized bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Mix and mix until all is smooth. Spread upon a 9 by 13-inch cake and serve.

What she did, clever lady that she was, was replace the milk and half of the sugar (she had a cup) with a cup and a half of vanilla ice cream. It not only worked, but was so good that that became her signature way of making frosting.

This turned out to not just be a decent substitute, but a discovery for a better tasting frosting.

You can play with the amount of ice cream, add a little and keep adding until you have what you want.

Oh, and you can use any flavor of ice cream. Chocolate, strawberry, coffee, what ever you like!

You can add chopped nuts, raisins, chopped fruit...let your imagination go. Here is Mom's chocolate mayo cake with ice cream frosting.