Chocolate HoHo Snack Cake

by foodlikecake

Do you remember Ho Ho’s? The small chocolate creme filled cakes? Well, I loved those and decided to recreate it in snack cake form. I define snack cake as any cake which either doesn’t have frosting or looks like this cake. A moist and fluffy chocolate cake, topped with a copy-cat Ho Ho creme filling, and covered with chocolate ganache. This cake is delicious. You will not be able to stop eating it, I can promise you that.

Ingredients: Cake

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, room temperature

1 and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup boiling water

Creme Filling

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon water

1 and 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Ganache Frosting (from here)

8 ounces chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

Recipe: Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9×13 pan.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Add the egg, vanilla, buttermilk, and butter. Beat on medium-high speed until combined well, about three minutes.

Stir in boiling water, the batter will be pretty thin- don’t worry about it.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Creme Filling

Beat sugar, shortening, vanilla, milk, salt and water for about 7 minutes. It should be white and smooth.

Add powdered sugar and beat for 5 more minutes until creamy and smooth.

Ganache Frosting

Place the chopped chocolate into the bowl of a food processor.

Heat the heavy cream in a quart-sized, microwavable container and microwave for 3 to 4 minutes on high, or until it just begins to simmer; be careful not to allow cream to boil over.

Pour the cream over the chocolate and let stand for 2 minutes. Process by pulsing several times until chocolate mixture is smooth. Pour over cake and refrigerate until set or overnight.

Enjoy!