Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Chocolate Rolo Cake

If you’re looking for an indulgent chocolate cake – rich, extravagant, impressive yet easy – you’ve found it. I was asked to create a chocolate Rolo Cake for the Good Food Channel and this is it. I’ve made it a few times since it’s original incarnation and it has definitely become something of a request cake! The cake feeds a large crowd, so it’s perfect for a fundraiser, or a coffee morning or perhaps a birthday celebration or a family gathering. Two layers of chocolate cake filled with caramel sauce, covered in a chocolate fudge frosting and topped with a cascade of Rolo caramels and even more caramel sauce. It’s certainly not for anyone observing a Lenten fast or diet! But I can promise you, it is good!

Easy Rolo Cake

Here’s the recipe

This recipe first appeared here on the Good Food Channel.

Easy-Rolo-Cake

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Chocolate Rolo Cake

Prep

Cook

Total

Yield 12

An indulgent chocolate cake - perfect for a special occasion! This recipe first appeared on the Good Food Channel's website.

Ingredients

  • For the chocolate sponge:
  • A little butter, for greasing
  • 225g/ one cup soft brown sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 250ml/ one cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 175g/ 1 & 3/4 cups self-raising flour
  • 75g/ 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 3 tbsp buttermilk
  • A can of dulce de leche or Carnation caramel
  • For the fudge icing:
  • 100g/ 2/3 cup good quality dark chocolate
  • 150g/ 2/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 450g/ 2 & 1/4 cup icing sugar
  • 3 tbsp whole milk
  • 2 x 126g packet of rolos, to decorate

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease two 18cm sandwich tins and line the bases with greaseproof paper.
  2. Using an electric whisk or a stand mixer, beat the soft brown sugar and eggs and together for about four minutes until pale and creamy. Slowly add the vegetable oil and the vanilla bean paste and mix again.
  3. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and stir together well with a metal spoon. Add a pinch of salt and stir in the buttermilk, mix well.
  4. Divide the mixture equally into the prepared baking tins and bake for 30 minutes.
  5. Once cooked, take the sponges out of the oven. Leave to cool in the tins and then turn the sponges out onto a wire rack.
  6. For the fudge icing: Over a pan of gently simmering water in a heatproof bowl, melt the chocolate and set to one side.
  7. Whisk the butter until light and fluffy and gradually add the icing sugar. Add the melted chocolate and keep mixing until the mixture is smooth. Add the milk to loosen the icing slightly, if needed.
  8. Once the cakes have cooled, spread ¾ of the can of caramel sauce over the bottom layer of the cake, reserving the rest for the topping. Place the second cake on top and spread half of the fudge icing all over the cake. Smooth with a palette knife and then continue icing the cake until covered all over.
  9. Gently heat the remaining caramel sauce to make it easier to pour. Leave to cool slightly. Pile the Rolo’s onto the middle of the cake and drizzle over the caramel sauce with a spoon.

Easy Rolo Cake

Ren Behan is a freelance contributor to the Good Food Channel – Styling, photos and recipe author’s own. 

Let me know in the comments box below if you are brave enough to give this wonderful chocolate Rolo cake a go!

About Ren

Ren Behan is a British-born food writer of Polish descent. She is a mum to three young children (13, 10 and 5) and spends lots of time with them in the kitchen. Ren writes about seasonal, family-friendly food on her blog www.renbehan.com. She also contributes recipes and articles to online and print food publications, such as Food52.com, GreatBritishChefs.com, Huff Post Food and JamieOliver.com. She holds a Diploma in Food Journalism with Distinction and has completed a Food Styling course at Leiths School of Food and Wine.

Ren’s cookbook, Wild Honey and Rye: Modern Polish Recipes, draws upon her Polish heritage and regular travels to Poland.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. I made this cake for my brothers birthday and I was disappointed, it was dry and honestly lacking in flavor. I followed the recipe exactly. Sad.

    Reply

  3. Wish I saw this recipe before my birthday 🙂 But on the other hand, now I can surprise someone from my family 🙂 I hope I will make it at least similar to yours

    Reply

  7. This cake looks incredible! It has also reminded me that I have not had Rolos in ages…a problem that definitely needs to be rectified soon.

    Reply

    • Rolos, a big pile of smashed up Easter eggs, mini eggs – anything can go on top – it’s all good!

      Reply

  12. That’s quite a cake, Ren! My daughter loves Rolos, and her 18th birthday is coming up (am I really that old??) . This has gone to the top of my list for her birthday bake. I’ll go over to GFC and nab the recipe right now. (You know one of my own healthy-as efforts would not really be suitable on this occasion ;-))

    Reply

  17. Perfect for Easter, or any other time of indulgence! What’s it like trying to eat the topping? You would have to be careful not to end up with a mouthful of toffee!

    Reply

    • Some of the rolos roll off… the caramel sauce is more like dulce du leche so it’s soft caramel rather than hard toffee and if you leave it to get to room temperature it’s pretty soft!

      Reply

  19. Wow, look at those pictures. I love the idea of this cake, mouthfuls of smooth cake with oozy caramel after a crisp crunch…all indulgent, fun and a bit naughty. wonderful Ren! x

    Reply

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