Layered Ho Ho Cake

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6 layers of homemade chocolate cake, fluffy white frosting and thick chocolate ganache make up this grown up ho ho cake. Dessert never tasted so good!

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Layered Ho Ho Cake Recpie

My dad had a work party at our house last week, and I was excited to be in charge of making a few desserts for it. Well, a couple of desserts turned into about 3 dozen cookies and 2 colossal cakes. I was baking all morning getting things in the oven, icing cakes, and rolling cookies into balls and then in sugar. Whew! Talk about a long morning!

One of my favorite parts, though, was to make this beautiful Layered Ho Ho Cake. It’s pretty simple for a 3 layer cake. The hardest part, I thought, was trying to pour 1 recipe of cake batter into 3 pans. Which isn’t that hard, but the perfectionist in me wanted the cake layers perfectly even.

I didn’t succeed in getting them perfectly even, so one layer is thicker than the other two. But in the end,when this beauty is iced and your mouth is drooling from all of that chocolate, no one notices.

I don’t know any kid that doesn’t like Ho Ho’s. And maybe even any adult, for that matter.  Right now I’m being homeschooled, but as soon as I saw these chocolate rolls, it took me back to my school lunchroom days.  They were one of my favorite desserts for my mom to pack for me. I love homemade cookies and all, but you have to admit, a Swiss Cake Roll once and a while isn’t that bad.

Actually, it’s amazingly good.

 

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For the chocolate cake in this recipe, I used the same recipe that I used for my Reese’s Peanut Butter Cake. This time, though, I used a cooked frosting recipe  that will taste just like the ho ho filling that you love.

And what goes on top? A thick layer of chocolate ganache, which is simply melted chocolate chips and heavy whipping cream.

Store this cake in the fridge if you are not eating it right away.  I removed the ho ho cake from the fridge about an hour before we were going to eat it.  We all actually liked the cake better on the second day. The layers seemed to settle together.

On the second day, though, I didn’t put it back in the fridge and, because the cake was cut, it all ended up sliding apart.  The ho ho cake was a mess, but let me tell you…it was one goooood mess.

If you’ve got leftovers, store them in the fridge in order to keep it neat and tidy.

6 layers of homemade chocolate cake, fluffy white frosting and thick chocolate ganache make up this grown up ho ho cake. It's a grown-up version of your favorite lunch-room snack.
6 layers of homemade chocolate cake, fluffy white frosting and thick chocolate ganache make up this grown up ho ho cake. It's a grown-up version of your favorite lunch-room snack.

Ho Ho Layer Cake

4.58 from 21 votes
6 layers of homemade chocolate cake, fluffy white frosting and thick chocolate ganache make up this grown up ho ho cake. It's a grown-up version of your favorite lunchroom snack.
Servings 12
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

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Ingredients
 

Chocolate Layer Cake:

Creme Filling:

Chocolate Ganache

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 round 9-inch cake pans.
  • For the cake, put flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mix well.
  • In a stand mixer, mix the buttermilk, oil, eggs, vanilla together. Slowly add in the mix of dry ingredients while the mixer is on low. Add the coffee and make sure everything is combined. Batter will be very thin.
  • Divide the batter evenly into the three prepared pans and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  • Turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack. While the cakes are cooling, make your filling.
  • For the creme filling,combine the milk and flour in a saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. It should get to be the consistency of runny pudding, which will take about 10-15 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat. It will continue to thicken as it cools. Press plastic wrap down on top of the flour mixture while it is cooling so it does not form a "crust" on top. Cool to room temperature.
  • While this is cooling, cream together the rest of the filling ingredients: the sugar, butter and shortening, on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the cooled flour & milk mixture and beat on high for 7 minutes.
  • Spread this filling between the cooled three layers of cake. Now it is time to add your chocolate ganache! Put your chocolate chips in a bowl. Set aside. Heat heavy cream in a saucepan on medium/high until it comes to a boil. Watch it closely and stir often so it does not scald. Once it is very hot and near boiling, remove it from the heat and immediately pour it over the chocolate chips. Cover the bowl with a lid or plate and let the it sit for 3 minutes. Then, stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Allow it to sit for about 20 minutes until the ganache thickens a bit.
  • Once your ganache is ready, pour it over the top of your layer cake. Use a spoon to spread it out towards the sides of your cake so it runs down a bit on the sides.
  • Decorate the top with Swiss Cake Rolls, if desired!
  • Store this cake in the refrigerator.

Video

Notes

The calories shown are based on the cake being cut into 12 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of cake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate.

Nutrition

Calories: 759kcal | Carbohydrates: 89g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 25g | Cholesterol: 90mg | Sodium: 530mg | Potassium: 265mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 67g | Vitamin A: 760IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 163mg | Iron: 2.3mg
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Calories 759
About JulieJulie Clark

About Julie Clark

I'm Julie Clark, CEO and recipe developer of Tastes of Lizzy T. With my B.A. in Education and over 30 years of cooking and baking, I want to teach YOU the best of our family recipes.

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Leonard Jay Pennington
1 year ago

Use toothpicks pressed down through the layers to keep it in place…4 should suffice. Just press them under the top surface a half inch.

Aisha
1 year ago

Hi , I would like to know what is the vegetable shortening and what’s it substitute??
Thanks alot … I really love all your recipes.

Joan Allison
2 years ago

5 stars
This has been a very popular recipie. If it hasnt been said before. Use top quality chocolate chips or the ganache will not work…i use ghirardelli

AMY K PENNEL
2 years ago

5 stars
Love this recipe

MalinaMorin
4 years ago

Having family and friends over for dinner Saturday! Going to try my best to do this. One of our local restaurants serves HoHoCake and I always order a piece of the lovely indulgence. I’ve looked at many recipes called HoHoCake recipes and this is one of the only that doesn’t have raw egg in the ganache frosting layer. Ok, I admit I do eat raw eggs on occasion but I wouldn’t serve them to a guest. What if they got sick and it was because of what I served? The horror. I was also going to cheat and use a… Read more »

Lori
4 years ago

Can I make the center cream the day before and put it together the next day?

Nancy
5 years ago

Hi,

I was just wondering if, when making the filling for this cake, if I could use
Half & Half in place of the milk?

jbird
5 years ago

Hi! what is your thought about substituting the heavy cream in the ganache with light cream? I happen to have a quart of light cream on hand, thought I’d give this a try. Goodness that is a gorgeous cake!

Lisa
6 years ago

5 stars
Thanks for this recipe, my children (including husband) enjoyed it. I can not have dairy or gluten so I was wondering if there is a way to make it that way?

Tiffany
6 years ago

Hello, I cannot view the recipe for some reason. Is there anyway I could have it sent to my email? Thank you!

nicole @ I am a Honey Bee
8 years ago

I don’t think I’ve ever had a ho-ho, but I need this cake. I’ll have to actually try them one day.

Stephanie
8 years ago

This is seriously STUNNING!!

Ashley @ Wishes and Dishes
8 years ago

This is so brilliant! My niece would love this!!

lindsay Cotter
8 years ago

OMG I grew up on those things! sinful but truth. haha. Yours looks way better! <3

Susan
8 years ago

5 stars
I made this for my son’s 9th birthday and it was a HUGE HIT. One comment was, “Dad, our dream has come true!” from a family that buys Ho Ho’s and to see a giant one was out of this world. It is kind of sweet but so good. That same family took a doggie bag home of the leftover pieces people left on their plates, that is how well they liked it. I made it in a 9×13 pan and then cut it crosswise for the cream filling.