Making this Dong Dong Cake was a recreation of my favorite childhood treat! Rich chocolate cake, creamy filling and a heavenly chocolate coating on the outside. If you love cakes, be sure to check out my 50 Best Cake Recipes!
Ding Dong Cake
What is a Ding Dong? It is a treat that we were often given as kids. Basically a chocolate whoopie pie with a glorious cream filling. I have modified it to be a cake and it’s heavenly!
This cake is one of those cakes that works perfectly as one. The ganache on its own is a bit bitter (when using semi-sweet chocolate), the filling is light and wonderful but does not stand alone like a pudding or sweet frosting, and the cake is just chocolate perfection. But these three elements work together in perfect harmony to create a cake that you will never forget.
Ding Dong Cake Filling
Some of you experienced bakers recognized this filling immediately! It’s also known as an Ermine frosting. This frosting has a few extra steps compared to a traditional American buttercream, but the result is well worth it. Subtle and creamy, it is the PERFECT filling for this beyond rich cake.
This is a fantastic Ding Dong Cake and a lovely way to celebrate with friends and family!
Making this Dong Dong Cake was a recreation of my favorite childhood treat! Rich chocolate cake, creamy filling and a heavenly chocolate coating on the outside.
- 1 3/4 cup (210g) all-purpose flour
- 2 cup (400g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (90g) good unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 cup (240g) buttermilk, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (112g) vegetable oil
- 2 extra-large eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp. McCormick pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (237g) freshly brewed hot coffee
- 5 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 cup (2 sticks or 226g) butter
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 16 oz semi-sweet chocolate chopped fine (can use milk chocolate)
- 16 oz (2 cups) heavy cream room temperature
- Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl and mix until combined.
- In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Pour the batter into two 8-inch x 3-inch round prepared pans and bake for 30-40 minutes at 350°F, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out mostly clean (not wet).
- Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
- Pour cold milk into a small saucepan. Before turning on the heat, whisk in flour so no lumps remain.
- Turn heat on to medium-low and heat until mixture is thick, like a roux, stirring the whole time.
- Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and let cool completely.
- Cream together butter and sugar on medium-high speed, until fluffy, about 8 minutes.
- Add in the milk mixture and beat again until mixture resembles a whipped cream.
- Heat the heavy cream in a quart-sized, microwavable container and microwave for 3 to 4 minutes on high, or until it just begins to simmer. Be careful not to allow the cream to boil over. Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and let stand for at least 2 minutes so that it can thicken.
- (Ganache should be cool when pouring over cake)
- When ready to pour over chilled cake, whisk the ganache until smooth and then pour. You may have some ganache left over.
Recipe Video
The chocolate cake in this recipe is my Perfect Chocolate Cake. The batter is very runny and it is designed to be made in two 8-inch round cake pans. A few of you have commented that when you made this Ding Dong Cake the batter spilled over, and I have never been able to replicate that in my kitchen. If you prefer you can use 9-inch round cake pans but the layers will not be as thick as you see in my pictures.
I just want you to know that I absolutely read comments and try to address all concerns! The majority has had no issues with the recipe and therefore I am not making any changes to it at this time.
Like this cake? Check out my Peanut Butter Ding Dong Cake!
I love this filling. If I want to reduce the sugar, it won’t effect the structure. I dislike American buttercream because it soooo sweet, but if you decrease the sugar, it will be too sloppy, not stiff enough.
Great recipe.
This cake is amazing and a show stopper. Because of the richness, I get more than 12 pieces. I also make the ganache first because it takes awhile to get to the frosting consistency. I do serve it with ice cream to compliment the rich chocolate flavor. I must do cake when you want to impress the chocolate lovers. Thanks for sharing😋
Yum yum. Wonderful
Looks delicious
Made this cake for a co-workers birthday. This cake was gone in less than 5 minutes. They could not stop raving about it and many said it was the best cake they have ever had.
What kind of chocolate did you use? My ganache came out extremely thing – what stuck to the cake looks like a crumb coat. It’s just for me and it will taste delicious regardless, but I wondered for when I make this again.
I may just call it a Suzy-Q though and skip the ganache…it hardly needs it. Delicious! and pretty easy when you get the hang of it.
Made ding dong cake exactly, only problem is that the chocolate ran over. Too thin. What did I do wrong?
i want to try this–but don’t like coffee. How much does the cake taste like coffee?
Do you need to refrigerate the ding dong cake
Hello,
What a wonderful receipt. Unfirtually I can not find a 8×3 round pan . Not in Walmart, ac Moore , bed bath and behind . Can I go to 2”? Or will it spill out? Thank you
Love this cake!!! It was a hit the first time I made it. Making it today for daughters birthday. The only issue I’m having both times now is the filling looks grainy. Am I not cooling the roux mix enough or not mixing the butter and sugar well enough?? It still tastes amazing, but just curious what I’m doing wrong. Any tips would be appreciated!
I made this cake today for my daughters 16th birthday. I used 9 in. pans and baked it for 25 min. This was my first time making ganache and ermine frosting , they turned out perfect. I refrigerated the ganache beforehand for a thicker coating. Everyone loved the it! Thank you!!!
It was amazing. Omg.
Ding Dong Cake
Made the cake in a 9X13 pan and used a cake slicer to cut into 2 layers. For this size pan 1/2-3/4 filling is more than enough. This size and shape is perfect for serving a large crowd
Great to know, thanks Mark!
This is DELICIOUS and DOES NOT taste like coffee for those who were concerned! The coffee just makes it moist! I need a little more practice on the ganache so it’s not quite so runny, but other than that, it was fantastic and a big hit (and not that difficult).
Does adding the coffee make it taste like coffee?
Can you use chocolate chips?
Do you store the cake in the refrigerator.
Hoping to make this for my husband tomorrow.
I have made Ermine Icing many many times. I would highly recommend using superfine sugar to speed up the process of whipping the butter and dissolving sugar. I use Hersey’s Deep Dark Chocolate cake recipe for this.
Divine! I made this yesterday for my birthday and it was wonderful. I did not have the round pans so I used a 9×13 and baked it for 40 minutes. I cut the cake in half so my finished size was 9×6.5. Everyone was amazed at my baking skills, but, I attribute the success to your recipe – even an amateur can pull this off! Thanks again for making my like more delicious!