Chocolate Cake with Toasted Marshmallow Filling

I somehow convinced my coworker (and friend!) who hates marshmallows to let me make this cake for her for her birthday. I was admittedly nervous she would hate the cake because she hates the texture of marshmallows and the filling calls for bits of toasted marshmallow mixed with marshmallow fluff. I was sure she would notice the puffy texture in the filling. But recently I’ve been obsessed with marshmallows and s’mores so I thought if I could work around her texture displeasure, I could get her to like this cake.

This recipe is floating around the internet and Pinterest and I’m not sure who originated it but I grabbed the recipe off Brown Eyed Baker’s website. I used my own chocolate cake recipe for Chocolate Coca Cola cake because my coworkers have had it and loved it, so really I only borrowed the filling/frosting recipes. Brown Eyed Baker’s cake sounded good and looked good in her pictures though. So I wouldn’t necessarily recommend switching out her cake recipe for another one.

chocolate coca-cola cake ingredients.

Note: Multiply this recipe by 1 1/2 to get a six-layer cake

1 c. butter
¾ c. mini-marshmallows
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 c. coca-cola (not diet)
2 1/3 c. flour
¾ c. cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 c. sugar
½ c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs
¾ c. buttermilk

chocolate coca cola cake directions.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
To prepare cake, melt butter in saucepan. Add marshmallows, stir until melted. Add chocolate. Stir over low heat until melted. Add Coca-Cola. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Place sugar, oil and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium speed. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add cooled chocolate mixture and beat on low until combined. Add half the flour mixture, then the buttermilk, then the remaining flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
Scrape into two 8 or 9-inch cake pans. Bake 40 to 45 minutes until the cake springs back when touched lightly. Let cool. When cool, cut each cake layer in half horizontally to make four layers.

toasted marshmallow filling ingredients.

16 large marshmallows (I used 13 mini-marshmallows for every large marshmallow called for in the recipe)
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. butter, at room temperature
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 (7 ½-oz) jar Marshmallow Fluff

malted chocolate frosting ingredients.

2 c. butter, at room temperature
4 c. powdered sugar
1 ½ c. Ovaltine Classic
1 T. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
8 oz semisweet or dark chocolate, melted and cooled
½ c. heavy cream (I used regular whipping cream because that’s what I had in my fridge)

toasted marshmallow filling directions.

Place the marshmallows on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Place on the lowest rack of oven, and broil marshmallows until nice and brown on top, keeping an eye on them the entire time so they don’t burn.
Beat the butter and powdered sugar on low-speed until blended together, about one minute. Add the vanilla extract and increase the speed to medium-high; beat for three minutes. Stop the mixer, add the Marshmallow Fluff and toasted marshmallows, and mix on the medium-high speed until thoroughly combined.

malted chocolate frosting directions.

Beat the butter and powdered sugar on low-speed until blended together, about one minute.
Add the Ovaltine, vanilla and salt, and continue to beat on low until well combined, about one to two minutes.
Add the melted chocolate and beat on medium speed until smooth, about two minutes. Add the cream and beat on medium-high speed for another minute.

cake assembly.

Slice each cake layer in half horizontally so you have six cake layers. Place your first layer face-up on a cake plate and cover with one-third of the Toasted Marshmallow Frosting. Place another cake layer face-up and cover with about ¾ to 1 cup of Malted Chocolate Frosting.
Repeat, alternating marshmallow and chocolate filling layers, until you come to your cake final layer, which you will place face-down. Frost the entire outside of cake with the remaining Malted Chocolate Frosting.

So here’s what I changed and what I would have changed:

I used mini-marshmallows instead of regular-sized ones. This was in an effort to mitigate the squishy texture of the marshmallow within the filling. The effect it had was to create bits of crystallized marshmallow. It was kind of crunchy which would normally turn me off, but somehow in this filling it worked really well. So well, in fact,that I wish that the marshmallow filling had been in between each layer. So that’s what I would change if I ever made this cake again. You would need to double the recipe to do so.

Recipe rating: 