It was my fathers birthday last week and so I decided I wanted to bake a special cake for him. I found this awesome recipe for a giant ding dong cake and I knew I had to make it. It turned out absolutely delicious and the cake tasted just like the official Hostess Ding Dongs. Seriously it was so good, I was sad we didn't have much leftover.
Happy Birthday Dad!
Cake:
2 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate
1 cup hot brewed coffee
2 cups sugar
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1 1/3 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 300°F and grease 2 round 9 inch cake pans.
2. Finely chop chocolate and place in a bowl, add hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
3. Sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, set aside.
5. Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour.
6. Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.
Marshmallow Frosting:
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 Tbsp water
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1. Combine egg whites, corn syrup, sugar & a pinch of salt in a metal bowl large enough to sit on top of the saucepan. Whisk constantly in bowl over water until sugar is dissolved & eggs have reached 160 degrees, about 3-5 minutes (do not overcook, as the eggs could scramble).
Ganache Frosting
1/2 pound fine-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp light corn syrup
1/4 stick (2 Tbsp) unsalted butter
1. In a 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth. Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable.
2. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Chilling the cake will harden the chocolate coating.
Cake Assembly:
1. Bake two cake layers as directed. Halve one layer horizontally into two thin layers, place the first one on a cake plate, set the other one aside. Take the second cake and cut a large hole out of the center, about 6-inches across — you won’t be using this. As carefully as possible, place this on top of the halved cake layer on the stand (I used some frosting in between the layers). Fill the entire cut-out area with frosting, leaving a half cup aside if you wish to pipe the signature Hostess loops or a message across the top.
The edge around the bottom of the finished cake looks very messy. This smearing of the granache all around the plate could have been eliminated simply by placing pieces of paper just under the edge of the first layer (this protects the plate from having granache all over it). Then smear the granache onto the sides, not worrying about the mess on the paper. Once fully finished, just gently pull out the pieces of paper (printer paper works just fine) and the plate will be clean and the cake will look professional.
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