The cake is a classic French Biscuit au Beurre made with “Dutched” cocoa powder, drizzling in the clarified butter at the end for a unique delicious flavor. The filling used in the commercial version of this is probably made with whipped shortening rather than butter but I just can’t bring myself to write a recipe with that ingredient as a filling. I did eat these for a year straight when I was about 12 and hung out at my friend Jenny Marshall’s house. Her mom bought them but mine didn’t. So I had to get my fill while playing at her house.
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 3 hr 25 min |
| Prep: | 1 hr |
| Inactive: | 2 hr |
| Cook: | 25 min |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 3 hr 25 min |
| Prep: | 1 hr |
| Inactive: | 2 hr |
| Cook: | 25 min |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 5 eggs
- 2 yolks
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup clarified butter, warm
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 2 ounces cocoa butter or 1/4 cup vegetable oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- To make the Cake: Butter the jelly roll pan and line it with parchment paper; then butter the paper to assure release.
- Bring a saucepan of water to a simmer.
- In the bowl from a standing mixer, combine the eggs, yolks, sugar, vanilla in a bowl and whisk briefly. Set the bowl over the simmering water and stir until warm and the sugar looks dissolved. Attach the bowl to the standing mixer fitted with a whisk, and whip until light and fluffy, about 6 minutes.
- Meanwhile, sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking powder 3 times.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer and, while folding the egg mixture, sift in the flour mixture, little by little, until incorporated. Drizzle in the clarified butter, while folding the batter.
- Immediately pour the batter into the prepared pans dividing equally and smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake until lightly browned and it starts to pull away from the edges of the pan, about 14 to 16 minutes.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and let sit in the pan for 1 minute. Run a knife along the edge to release the cake then flip it out onto parchment paper. Brush the paper (the one you lined the pan with) with water and let soak for 2 minutes. Peel it off the cake. Trim dry edges from the cake. Let cool covered with plastic wrap.
- To make the Filling: In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the sugar and butter and mix on low speed until well blended; then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes. Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream for spreading consistency, if needed.
- Spread the sponge cakes with a thin layer of the filling, leaving a 1/4-inch space at the far edge. Roll the cake tightly on the long side until you have rolled a 1 1/2-inch thick log. Cut the log off from the remaining sheet of cake and place seam side-down. Repeat with remaining cake. Chill the logs for 30 minutes; then cut into 2 1/2-inch sections.
- To make the Glaze: Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water, stirring occasionally. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. One at a time, gently drop the cake rolls into the hot chocolate. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. Place on the cookie sheet and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 571 |
| Total Fat | 36 g |
| Saturated Fat | 19 g |
| Carbohydrates | 65 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Sugar | 54 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 121 mg |
| Sodium | 43 mg |
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 571 |
| Total Fat | 36 g |
| Saturated Fat | 19 g |
| Carbohydrates | 65 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Sugar | 54 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 121 mg |
| Sodium | 43 mg |
Reviews
I agree with many, the cake is tasteless. I prefer the suggestion I found elsewhere of baking a pan of brownies and rolling out the warm brownies for the cake part. No, it’s not as light as go-to cake but it is yummy. I use an Italian buttercream for the filling after cutting the amount of butter in half. Now as to the complaint of the coating being flavorless…..how can you blame the recipe? Obviously when all you’re doing is melting a product, the product is to blame, I would suggest trying different brands of chocolate. For a reasonably priced bar I like Merckens
My fourteen year old daughter made these to fullfill a scout badge. She closely followed the recipe and they turned out beautiful and were very yummy. The size of the cake pan is very important. The only slight problem she encountered was the cake sticking to the fresh piece of parchment paper after removing it from the cake pan during the rolling phase. My daughter received many compliments. She made ten ho hos from this recipe – the cost of each was $1.50. My daughter used the cocoa butter which ran $2.50/ounce which really added to the cost. Since Hostess Ho Hos no longer exists…. a box of Little Debbie Swiss Rolls cost a $1.79 for twelve. Although good – it really isn’t worth the time or effort.
I thought I’d try a new roulade recipe; what a mistake. OMG. flavorless cake, baking time way too long. Waste of time and ingred. Not really worth one star!
This recipe was awful. The cream had no flavor & the cake fell apart. The whole thing ended up in the trash. Disappointing.
A waste of time and ingredients. The cake was too dry and cracked. It also did not have a good taste. The filling was much too sweet. Sorry I wasted my time!
the are good
If I was a baker maybe this would have been easy. I over cooked my jelly rolls because the instructions said to cook them for 14 – 16 minutes. I think they meant 4 – 6 minutes. I found another recipe on line that said to cook them for 6 minutes. I only cooked the rolls for 10 minutes and that was too long. If interested in this other recipe here is the link http://starchefs.com/features/super_bowl/2005/html/retro_ho-hos_s_mccown.shtml Probably a cross between the two and they will be perfect. Oh, and definitely too much sugar in the filling. My suggestion – add sugar to taste.
The filling was runny and nasty looking. The chocolate had no taste. This was the most digusting recipe I have ever tasted. I was so embarrassed when I threw my party.
The cake was hard to get thin enough to have the same size as a normal ho-ho. This made them a little hard to eat.
waste of ingredients and time.. The cake cracks, the icing was very sweet, did not taste like a real ho ho…go buy a box at the store