This Hot Chocolate Cake is a moist chocolate cake with hot chocolate buttercream frosting and marshmallow filling! The combination is wonderfully decadent and addicting!
Looking for more chocolate cake recipes? I love this easy chocolate cake recipe.
HOT CHOCOLATE CAKE
So this Hot Chocolate Cake has been on my mind for some time. It was on my calendar for the holidays and just kept getting bumped back until I finally got around to it after the holidays passed. Hot chocolate just feels very holiday-y to me, but it’s obviously perfect for any cold weather.
And I’m a big hot chocolate fan. Have you ever tried it with Baileys in it? It’s amazing. And the more marshmallows the better. As I was saying to the twins yesterday (and getting some fabulous laughs with), “mmmm mmmm mmmm mmmm mmmm”. If only you could actually hear me say that. It’s apparently hilarious. 🙂
HOW TO MAKE A HOT CHOCOLATE CAKE
As for the approach to this making this cake, I went back and forth a bit. I initially started out making the cake using some hot chocolate in the actual cake. Since hot chocolate isn’t going to be strong enough on it’s own to give a cake a full on chocolate flavor, the cake has to use both cocoa powder and hot chocolate. Otherwise you’d have a vanilla cake with a smidge of chocolate flavor. Not what we want.
BUT. If we are going to go through the trouble of using hot chocolate (and waste a perfectly good packet of it), then you should taste it, you know? And I simply couldn’t use enough hot chocolate to even start to taste the hot chocolate over the flavor of the cocoa. So I decided to roll with my favorite Moist Chocolate Cake and then use hot chocolate for the buttercream frosting.
Best. Idea. Ever.
Not only is the chocolate make amazing (if you haven’t tried it yet, you have to), but the frosting is SO good! It’s made with four whole packets of hot chocolate (assuming you use the individual packets for a cup of hot chocolate), but it’s dissolved in a small amount of milk, so you get loads of hot chocolate flavor without thinning out your buttercream. Sweet!
HOW TO MAKE FLUFFY MARSHMALLOW FROSTING
The only thing that could make this cake better is a wonderful marshmallow filling. I used a marshmallow frosting made with just three ingredients – butter, powdered sugar and marshmallow cream. And since more marshmallows are better, I used almost a full container and a half of cream. I also made sure that this cake had three layers of filling. Not one, not two, but three. MORE MARSHMALLOW! Get in my belly!
The trick with this cake is layering everything. The marshmallow filling is on the softer side when at room temperature, so you will want to refrigerate the cake for about an hour after you torte and fill it – prior to frosting the full cake and decorating it. You might be able to get by without that step, but you’ll have to be really careful, since the layers slip around a bit. So do yourself a favor, and refrigerate it – it’ll be much easier to work with and it won’t budge again.
Once the cake is frosted, I added a white chocolate drip and a ring of marshmallows on top. I was torn between a white chocolate and regular chocolate drip. Both would have been so fun. But ultimately, since hot chocolate is covered with white marshmallows, I went white. Such a fun look and the hubs quite enjoyed stealing my marshmallows while I decorated.
To help give yourself full coverage with the marshmallows, it’s helpful to have both mini marshmallows and marshmallow bits, which can fill in gaps and small spaces really well. It also gives a little size variety, which looks a little more interesting.
THE BEST HOT CHOCOLATE CAKE
The final result of this Hot Chocolate Cake is one amazing dessert! The combination of moist chocolate cake, smooth hot chocolate frosting and fluffy marshmallow filling is to die for. My mom about died over it herself when she tasted it and I tried to give it away as fast as possibly so that I didn’t hoard it all to myself. SO yummy and such a fun cake!
Hot Chocolate Cake
- Prep Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 slices
- Category: Cake
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Hot Chocolate Cake is a moist chocolate cake, hot chocolate buttercream frosting and marshmallow filling! The combination is wonderfully decadent and addicting!
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
2 cups (260g) flour
2 cups (414g) sugar
3/4 cup (85g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup (240ml) milk
1 cup (240ml) vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup (240ml) hot water
Hot Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
4 tbsp (60ml) hot water/milk
2.92 oz hot chocolate powder mix*
1 1/2 cups (336g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup (237g) shortening
10 cups (1150g) powdered sugar
2 tbsp (14g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1–2 tbsp water or milk
Marshmallow Filling
1/2 cup (112g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (115g) powdered sugar
10 oz marshmallow creme
White chocolate Ganache
6 oz (1 cup) white chocolate chips
3 tbsp (45ml) heavy whipping cream
Mini marshmallows
Marshmallow bits
Vanilla Buttercream, optional
1/2 cup (112g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups (230g) powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1–2 tbsp water/milk
Instructions
1. Prepare two 8 inch cake pans (see note below) with parchment paper circles in the bottom, and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 300°F (148°C).
2. To make the chocolate cake, add the dry ingredients to a large bowl and whisk together.
3. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
4. Add the hot water and mix until well combined.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the cakes pans and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
6. Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.
7. To make the hot chocolate frosting, dissolve the hot chocolate powder into the hot water or milk. It’ll be fairly thick. Set aside.
8. Add the butter and shortening to a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth.
9. Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.
10. Add the hot chocolate mixture and cocoa powder and mix until well combined and smooth.
11. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth.
12. Add additional water or milk as needed to get the right consistency.
13. To make the marshmallow filling, add the butter to a mixer bowl and beat until smooth.
14. Add the powdered sugar and beat until well combined and smooth. It’ll take a bit for it all to fully incorporate, so scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and keep mixing.
15. Stir in the marshmallow cream. Set filling aside.
16. When you are ready to build the cake, remove cake domes from top with a large serrated knife, if needed. Divide each cake into two layers, so you have four total layers.
17. Place the first layer of cake on cake plate or cardboard cake circle. Add half a cup of hot chocolate frosting and spread into an even layer.
18. Pipe a dam around the outer edge of the cake, then fill it with about 3/4 cup of marshmallow filling. Spread into an even layer.
19. Place the second layer of cake on top and add another layer of hot chocolate frosting and marshmallow filling.
20. Repeat with the third layer of cake and filling, then top the cake with the final layer.
21. Spread a light crumb coat around the sides of the cake, then refrigerate for about an hour to let the filling firm up a bit. The layers will slip around a bit if you skip this step.
22. After refrigerating, frost the outside of the cake. Feel free to use my tutorial for frosting a smooth cake with buttercream.
23. To make the white chocolate ganache, add the white chocolate chips to a medium sized bowl. Heat the cream just until it begins to boil, then pour over the white chocolate.
24. Whisk the chocolate mixture so that it begins to melt. Heat for another 10 seconds and whisk to continue melting. If needed heat another 10 seconds.
25. Drizzle the white chocolate around the top edge of the cake. I like to use a squeeze bottle, but you can also use a spoon or any other method.
26. Fill in the top of the cake with the ganache and spread evenly.
27. To create the ring of marshmallows, make the vanilla buttercream. Add the butter to a mixer bowl and beat until smooth.
28. Add half of the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
29. Add a tablespoon of water or milk and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
30. Add the remaining powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add additional water or milk, if needed for the right consistency.
31. Pipe a ring of the vanilla buttercream around the top edge of the cake, then add mini marshmallows and marshmallow bits.
32. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Cake is best served after letting it sit out for a few hours to come closer to room temperature. Cake is best when stored well covered for 2-3 days.
Notes
1. For the hot chocolate powder mix, I used four 0.73 individual packets of hot chocolate powder. If you have one large container of hot chocolate powder, it would be about 20 tablespoons.
2. These two cakes are fairly tall once baked, so they will completely fill an 8×2 inch cake pan. If you have 8×3 inch pans, those would be ideal.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 1022
- Sugar: 113.9 g
- Sodium: 373.9 mg
- Fat: 56.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 131.2 g
- Protein: 6.5 g
- Cholesterol: 82.2 mg
Keywords: hot chocolate cake, easy chocolate cake, marshmallow frosting, hot chocolate dessert, best chocolate dessert ideas
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Enjoy!
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Can you make this two layers instead of four?
You could, I just prefer having more of the marshmallow filling.
Are your conversions correct? A cup of flour weighs 120 g…
Not sure if I should use your cup requirements or your weights…
The weight measurements are correct. One cup of flour is 130g – at least on my site. I know it varies from site to site.
Hi, Lindsey! Step 21 – spread a light crumb coat, what exactly does that mean?
A crumb coat is a thin layer of frosting added to the outside of the cake prior to adding the final layer. It’s meant to hold in the crumbs so that crumbs don’t get into the outer layer of frosting.
Thank you!
Hi Lindsay, what a great recipe! My husband and I have random Baking Championships and this recipe is the one I’ve chosen for our Christmas Baking Championship! I’m planning on doing lots of decorating on the outside, but I need a white canvas to work with. I plan on doing your Hot Chocolate Buttercream Frosting as the crumb coat and then using your Vanilla Buttercream as the final coat. Since one of our rules is that we can’t practice or experiment with a recipe beforehand, I wanted to see your opinion on the matter. Do you think it would be enough/not too much to halve the Hot Choco frosting recipe and double the Vanilla Buttercream recipe? Thanks so much for your hard work and I’ll let you know how it turns it!
★★★★★
How fun! I’d probably cut the hot chocolate buttercream in half and then triple the vanilla frosting. I personally prefer to have a little extra rather than not enough.
Hi Jackie! I’m a very amateur cake baker ( so take this with a very small grain of salt🤪) but Swiss miss has a new white chocolate powder hot chocolate. It’s delicious and it’s white in color. I wonder if that would help? Lindsay what are your thoughts on that?
Hi Lindsay! Could you substitute the dark cocoa powder for this cake or is it better to use the lighter powder? We love the cake base for your coconut chocolate cake and cookies and cream cakes, but don’t want to mess this up! Thank you!
It’s the same chocolate cake, so either way should be fine. Hershey’s did change their dark cocoa though and I find that the results aren’t quite the same.
Hello Lindsay,
I am making this cake for my friends daughter. I’m delivering the cake on Thursday, but her party isn’t until Friday night. How do I keep the marshmallows on top from drying out?
I’m a little late to respond, but the marshmallows should be fine if you store the cake well covered. The moisture from the cake should keep everything moist.
I love your recipes. If I make this in a 9inch pan, how does it change in baking time?
Thank you – glad to hear it! I’m not sure entirely, but I’m guessing you’d reducing the baking time by 5-10 minutes or so.
Hello.. this cake sound amazing!! Just wondering what the marshmallow cream is?? Can I just melt marshmallow with some golden syrup??
Thank you
I’m not really sure how to describe it but it’s like soft marshmallows in spread form. I don’t know if your suggestion would work. I’ve never done that.
Hi Lindsay, I want to make this for my son’s 4th birthday next week, since he requested a “marshmallow cake”! One question: in step 18, when you say to pipe a dam around the outside, do you mean with the chocolate buttercream or marshmallow? I’m a novice at cake decorating and so want to be sure and understand. Thanks! Catherine
It’s with the chocolate buttercream. I hope you enjoy it!
Hi Lindsay I wanna make this cake it looks so good but I have Swiss Miss hot cocoa would that be okay?
As long as it’s a powder it should be fine.
Hi Lindsay,
I love your cake recipe book and just want to say all your recipes are so delightfully delicious! I would like to try this recipe but I am wondering if I could turn the cake into cupcakes instead? Thanks so much!
Thanks Trish! I’m so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed the book and recipes! You could certainly make this cake as cupcakes. It should make about 24 cupcakes. You just might need a little more of the filling and less frosting.