Nutella Ding Dong Cake

A Ding Dong Cake - now doesn't that name just fire up the imagination? When I was assigned the blog Sweet Flours for this month's Secret Recipe Club, I found out that the blog author Allison and I have one thing in common - a big sweet tooth. Her blog features plenty of baked goodies which makes it a dream site for me. She actually baked this cake for her great grandmother's 91st birthday, and another time once before for her 89th birthday. I took my cue from great grandma, that lady sounds like she has quite a discerning taste in her choice of birthday cakes :).

At first I hadn't a clue why the cake was named so, but after a bit of googling discovered that Ding Dong cakes are those little chocolate-covered cakes with with a white creamy filling sold by Hostess Brand. The ones I so obviously had never eaten while growing up. While Allison had made a regular cake-sized version of Ding Dongs, I decided to make the original puck-sized ones because sometimes eating minicakes makes things a bit easier on the conscience. And a lot easier for me to fit into my skinny Levi's too, not that they're not already made of stretch denim, but still...

The recipe for this cake originally came from Smitten Kitchen, but the adapted recipe can be found here on Sweet Flours. The process of making the minicakes was slightly fiddly, but nothing that I hadn't already done in my kitchen many times. The coffee-chocolate cake batter was straightforward enough, however the marshmallow filling needed a fair amount of whisking in a bowl placed over a pan of simmering water, a bit like making swiss meringue buttercream frosting but without the butter. 

In an original Ding Dong (I just love saying that!), the entire chocolate cake is coated with a thin layer of chocolate glaze but Allison had coated her birthday cake with chocolate ganache, all glistening on the top and sides. I was a bit short for time on this occasion so my topping was simply warmed up Nutella (30 seconds in the microwave) that I spread with a knife and let drizzle a bit down the sides. Did I just say simply Nutella? Of course, that wasn't the case at all because you and I know that Nutella is King and in actual fact stole the show!

    

This will be my last participation in the Secret Recipe Club. It has been really fun discovering many new blogs and cooking from my assigned ones, however I feel it's time to get back to doing my "own thing". Creating recipes that come from my own heart and imagination and make me truly fulfilled, you know. I'm on a quest to get my old ding dong back! :-)