Ho Ho Cake — The Chocolate We Come Back to Every Year

The cookbook launches in three weeks. The publicity team has been booking events — Mama and Cody and I are doing the Sapulpa launch dinner at the cafe on the second of November (a sold-out twenty-four-seat dinner with Cody cooking through six recipes from the cookbook for paying ticketed guests). The Nashville event is at Parnassus Books on the fourth of November. The Memphis event is at Burke’s on the sixth.

The launch tour is going to be a three-city run with Mama flying out for the Sapulpa event (which is at home so trivial) and the Nashville event. Cody and Mama will be at the Sapulpa dinner. Dustin’s parents will be at the Memphis event. The agent will fly in for the Nashville event.

Sunday I made Ho Ho cake because the dish was a Carol-tradition I’d been wanting to make for the cookbook’s desserts chapter and the launch was the right occasion to test the recipe one final time before the cookbook went to print last summer. (The cookbook has been in print since August; the “final test” here is for me, not for the publisher.) Ho Ho cake is the chocolate-cream-roll cake that mimics the packaged Hostess Ho Ho snack cake at scale — a chocolate sheet cake rolled around a whipped-cream filling, topped with a ganache.

The technique: a chocolate sponge cake. In a stand mixer, beat four large eggs with three-quarters cup of sugar for five full minutes until pale and tripled in volume (the long-whip is critical for sponge; under-whipped eggs make a dense sponge that cracks during rolling). Add a teaspoon of vanilla.

The dry: a half-cup of all-purpose flour, a third of a cup of cocoa powder, a half-teaspoon of baking powder, a pinch of salt. Sifted three times. Folded into the egg mixture in three additions.

Spread onto a parchment-lined half-sheet pan. Bake at three-fifty for twelve minutes. Cool five minutes, then invert onto a kitchen towel dusted with cocoa powder. Peel off parchment. Roll in the towel jelly-roll-style and let cool completely (the towel-roll while warm prevents cracking when filled).

The whipped cream filling: two cups of heavy cream whipped with a quarter-cup of powdered sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla to stiff peaks.

The assembly: unroll the cooled sponge. Spread the whipped cream generously across the surface. Re-roll without the towel.

The chocolate ganache: in a saucepan, a cup of heavy cream warmed with eight ounces of chocolate chopped and a tablespoon of butter, stirred until smooth. Cool slightly. Spread across the rolled cake.

Refrigerate at least two hours before slicing.

The dish is one of those mid-century-American family-cake traditions that lives in the cookbook of every grandmother who came up in the 1950s-1970s. Carol made this every Christmas. Mama made it every Christmas after Carol died. I’ve made it every Christmas since my own kids arrived. The cookbook’s “sweets that travel through families” chapter introduction is partly built around this cake. The chocolate we come back to every year.

Cody and I have been on the phone almost daily this past week working through the launch-tour logistics. The cafe is hosting the Sapulpa launch dinner Saturday before next, the staff has been preparing the menu items in dry-runs all this week, the cafe is closing for a private-event the entire evening which is the first time the cafe has done a closed-private event in its operating history. Cody has been nervous in a way he hasn’t been since the cafe’s soft-launch in 2022. The nervousness is the right kind — the high-care-about-a-thing-that-matters kind — not the imposter-syndrome kind he’d been through earlier in the cafe’s life.

The Ho Ho cake reminds me of the Christmas Eve in 2018 when Cody had been home from the unit for five weeks and Mama and I had served the cake at the family table. Carol’s tradition had carried through the bad years. Carol’s tradition is now in print as a recipe in the cookbook’s desserts chapter. Carol’s recipe-card is photographed on page one hundred and forty-three of the cookbook with my photograph and Mama’s handwriting credit. The cookbook is going to outlast every one of us. The cake is going to be made by readers who never met Carol.

Long-whip the eggs. Roll in cocoa-dusted towel while warm. Whipped cream filling, ganache top, two-hour chill. Here’s the build.

Ho Ho Cake

Prep Time: 30 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 16

Ingredients

• Cake
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Cream Filling
• 5 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Chocolate Frosting
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9x13-inch baking pans, or one large sheet pan if you plan to layer horizontally.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until evenly combined.
3. Add the wet ingredients. Add eggs, buttermilk, cooled coffee, vegetable oil, and vanilla to the dry ingredients. Beat with a hand mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes until the batter is smooth and slightly thin — this is normal.
4. Bake the cake layers. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake 25–30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pans on wire racks before proceeding.
5. Make the cream filling. In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk flour into milk and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to a pudding-like consistency, about 5–7 minutes. Remove from heat, press plastic wrap directly onto the surface, and cool completely. In a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on high for 4 minutes until very light and fluffy. Add the cooled milk mixture and vanilla; beat another 3–4 minutes until the filling is smooth, white, and whipped.
6. Assemble the layers. Place one cooled cake layer on a serving board or platter. Spread the cream filling evenly to the edges. Place the second cake layer on top and press gently to level.
7. Make the chocolate frosting. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir in cocoa powder until smooth. Remove from heat and alternately whisk in powdered sugar and milk, a little at a time, until frosting is thick and glossy. Stir in vanilla.
8. Frost and set. Pour warm chocolate frosting over the top of the assembled cake and spread with an offset spatula, letting it drip slightly over the sides. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before slicing so the layers hold cleanly.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 480 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 22g | Carbs: 68g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 320mg