Chocolate Velvet

Don’t let the mayonnaise in the ingredient list throw you. Mayo is just emulsified eggs and oil, which means it brings exactly what a chocolate cake wants: fat for richness, moisture for tenderness, and a subtle tang that makes the chocolate flavor read deeper. There’s no mayonnaise taste in the finished cake, just a velvety, dense crumb that holds up for days without drying out.

The broiled coconut-walnut topping is what pushes this from a good cake into a great one. It’s essentially German chocolate cake’s frosting (brown sugar, butter, milk, coconut, walnuts) but cooked on the stovetop and finished under the broiler. Three minutes of high heat caramelizes the brown sugar and toasts the coconut into golden, almost crackling shards.

Watch the broiler like a hawk. The line between gorgeous golden coconut and burnt black mess is about thirty seconds. Pull the cake the moment the edges start showing brown.

Pro Tips

• Use full-fat real mayonnaise (Hellmann’s or Duke’s), light or fat-free versions throw off the moisture and texture
• Melt the unsweetened chocolate over a double boiler or in 30-second microwave bursts, scorched chocolate ruins the cake
• The batter is thinner than a standard cake batter, this is correct. The water is what gives the cake its velvety crumb
• Let the cake cool completely in the pan before adding the topping, a warm cake means melting topping that runs off the sides
• Broil with the oven door cracked and stay glued to the kitchen, three minutes max under the broiler

Variations

• Skip the coconut topping and dust with powdered sugar for a simpler chocolate snacking cake
• Swap walnuts for pecans in the topping for a German-chocolate-style flavor
• Stir 1 cup of mini chocolate chips into the batter for double-chocolate intensity