I've not made a mayonnaise cake but have eaten it many times because I think it must have been Mom's favorite cake. She sure made it often.

Her recipe is a little different. I made a copy of it a long time ago and have kept it in my files. I think the reason that I've never made it is because of how often Mom made it. Need to give it a try as I goofed and have a couple of jars in the pantry. Sometimes DH does the grocery shopping and I don't remember having bought something and end up duplicating something that was on the list when he did the shopping.

Mayonnaise cake tastes too much like a WW II cake made because butter and shortening was rationed but not mayo. I don't like it.
I make a chicken salad for sandwiches that uses a lot of mayo, and a broccoli salad with bacon and raisins that also uses a lot of mayo and potato salad....as well as my famous Blue Cheese dressing which is mayo based....and a cup of mayo will make enough dressing for about 6 big salads, and I'll bet the salads will be gone long before the cake is....which also uses a cup of mayo.
There are lots of ways of using up mayonnaise besides making a cake.

I use mayo to make scalloped potatoes. Sauté onions, add a cup or so mayo and milk, pepper and salt as desired, add thinly sliced potatoes and adjust if seems necessary (potatoes seem to soak up a fair amount of liquid) and bake at 350 for an hour (usuallyncover for first half hour at least).

Grandma also made a mayonnaise cake, although I haven't had it since I was a child. I liked it then, but heck, it was cake, what's not to like when you're a kid. Cake wasn't a very common thing in our house, so any cake was a big treat for me.

LindaC, you might go through that much salad, but we certainly would not. My favorite salad dressing is made from yogurt/mustard/honey, and I don't like lettuce much at all. With only Elery and I, a big bowl of broccoli salad or something similar is eventually going to become chicken food, so we might as well just throw out the mayo and not waste any more food. Right now we still have potato salad in the refrigerator that I made almost a week ago.

I do have a recipe for biscuits with mayonnaise, but I haven't tried them. It takes a cup of self rising flour, 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup of milk. Mix and drop onto pans and bake in muffin cups at 375F.

I also put it into a hot spinach and artichoke dip, but that only takes 1/4 cup too, and I have a spinach quiche recipe that calls for 1/2 cup of light mayo, but regular would probably work. Amanda used to like a recipe by Pioneer Woman for garlic cheese bread and that took 1/2 cup of mayo along with cheese and butter. Heck, it was practically health food. (grin)

Annie

Thank you all.

ci lantro - I'm very encouraged by what you wrote :)

LindaC - I'm very discouraged by what you wrote :)

H B and Annie - thank you for the scalloped potatoes and biscuit recipes. any baking recipe - sweet or savory - that uses mayo is useful.

I think I'll start with the Hellman's cake. The people I'm baking for were born so long after WW II they wouldn't know a WW II cake if it hit them in the face.

Look up the Hellman's Midnight Madness and Lemon Afternoon Delight pies. Wonderful! Any recipe with Hellman's has to be delicious!

Hopefully this is far enough away from salad dressing to not annoy you. Off the top of my head the most mayo I use at a time is for the arugula spread that accompanies Giada’s turkey meatloaf. Great recipe IMO; haven’t made it in a long while and my wife’s asked for it a few times lately.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/pancetta-and-turkey-meatloaf-sandwiches-recipe2-1946442

Foodonastump - Thank you! It looks awesome!

Lovemrmewey - I really like Midnight Madness . Many thanks!

I used to make a delicious, if fattening, nacho dip using mayo, American cheese and salsa. Can't recall the exact proportions but it used a lot of mayo. I didn't have a recipe, just cut or break cheese slices into small pieces, blended w/ mayo and melted over low heat until blended, the stir in drained salsa - OMG it was so good! Maybe 1/2 pkg cheese slices (6?) to about 1 cup mayo - or more - and 1/4 -1/3 cup salsa. Too much salsa makes it curdle.

Really yummy way to pack on the pounds = J

This just made me think of that layered salad that was so popular years ago, but I can't quite remember what all was in it. I know there were peas, cheese, bacon and a lot of mayo. I think there was some lettuce too. I guess it must have lost popularity around here with all the mayo, haven't seen it in years.

Yeah,....layered salad....lettuce in the bottom,sliced red onion, sliced celery frozen peas, shredded cheese,1 cup mayo mixed with 1 T sugar....cover all, the mayo should seal at the edges, refrigerate 4 hours, top with crumbled bacon and toss and serve....or let people serve themselves and toss on their plate.
Love that!

I have had different mayonnaise based cakes and generally speaking, they are delicious! I think they work best with a strong flavor like chocolate, lemon or spice, though. I often add some mayonnaise to meatloaf as I'm mixing it, especially if the meat itself is on the lean side. You can use it instead of butter on the outside of bread when making grilled cheese sandwiches (or any grilled sandwich) - this doesn't use up a lot of it, but if you eat a lot of sandwiches anyway you can whittle away at it!

Do you eat vegetables or chips with dips? I use half sour cream half mayo for any creamy dip, but you could go even heavier on mayo to get through it. My mother's hot artichoke dip is also mayo heavy - a cup of mayo, one can of artichoke hearts, one cup grated parmesan and some Tabasco sauce. You can add a package of cream cheese to it as well if you prefer a little more body and a creamier texture, but I love it with just mayo.

Also, to piggyback on what 2ManyDiversions posted, mayo makes a great coating for any type of poultry or fish before roasting. I often use it instead of egg wash when I want a sticky layer to coat something in bread crumbs before baking or sauteing, too.

I learned a recipe in a microwave cooking class a long time ago and still use--made it just last week.

One head of cauliflower, left whole and placed on a Pyrex pie plate.

Add a couple of tablespoons of water to the bottom of the dish.

Cover cauliflower loosely with plastic wrap.

Cook at full power until the cauliflower starts to get soft. (4-6 minutes, usually)

Remove from oven, remove plastic wrap.

Mix mayo (around 1/2 cup?), some finely diced onion (2 T. or less), a squirt of prepared mustard, Worcestershire. Spread over top of cauliflower & top with shredded Cheddar. Return to MW for a minute or so, or until the cheese melts.

***If you don't want to use plastic wrap in the MW, you could try inverting a MW safe bowl over the cauliflower. I've never tried it but it should work.

Hot artichoke dip uses a lot of mayo as well. Maybe that's where I got the idea for the nacho dip...

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/hot-artichoke-dip-52359.aspx

I've made the mayo cake as did my mother! It's good.

Carol - it's incredible the many uses of mayo I wasn't aware of. I never thought you could melt cheese and mayo together. Thank you!

2ManyDiversions - wonderful recipe! I'll do it with chicken. Thanks! This is just great!

Biondanomina - thanks for the coating tip. Again, it would never have occurred to me. I'm happy to hear another good opinion about using mayo in cakes.

Ci lantro - thank you for the recipe. I roast cauliflower a lot, so next time I'll use your recipe.

Martha Smith - thank you! I'm glad to hear the cake was good from someone who bakes so many wonderful cakes.

Nancy, I still make that layered salad a couple of times a year, my daughters love it. Mine doesn't have onions, but it does have lettuce/celery/peas/hardboiled egg/cheese and bacon. Layer those ingredients, holding back some bacon and cheese for garnish. Add mayo to the top, spread out so it covers everything, sprinkle the remaining bacon and cheese on top. I use a trifle type bowl, so that the layers are visible. We always call it "7 layer salad" because, well, it has seven layers. Actually, my recipe says "Woodie's 7 layer salad" because I'd never made it until Woodie noted it here. I promptly utilized that recipe along with her Creme Brulee fresh toast casserole. (grin)

As LindaC noted, everyone just adds a portion to their plate and mixes it up that way.

Annie