“The rockiest roads lead to the highest peaks.”
Now you know the secret behind the homemade marshmallows ! They were made for this out-of-this-world cake!
My version of the Rocky road cake has dense and dark layers of my favourite chocolate cake, with some smooth and luscious chocolate buttercream , homemade marshmallows , toasted almonds and some dark chocolate drizzle to top it all off!
Yes , this is not something you can whip up in an jiffy. This is an out and out celebration cake , over the top and best reserved for special occasions! Unless of course you are a food blogger or have a baking OCD (guilty as charged!) , in which case your co workers get to eat four layered cakes on any random Tuesday! Sometimes , not happily !
But if you do want to make this cake on a tuesday or any other day , here’s how you do it ! Just make one layer of the cake, half of the buttercream , or opt out of the buttercream and make some ganache , use store bought marshmallows. Easy peasy and still downright delicious!
For the sake of this post not reading like the Constitution of a small country somewhere , I ll just share the step by step pictures of the assembly of the cake. The recipes for the individual components are in the printable format below and the links will lead you to the detailed picture tutorials of each!
Lets get started :
If you are making marshmallows , make them the previous day or earlier on and cut into squares.
Bake your chocolate cakes , wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator atleast for 2-3 hours . Slice each horizontally into two halves using a long serrated or bread knife.
Toast the almonds at 350 F/ 180 C for 8-10 minutes or on the stovetop. Cool and coarsely chop.
Prepare your chocolate buttercream . Fill about a 1/4 cup of it into a piping bag.
Prepare your ganache when you are ready to assemble the cake. Fill in a piping bag and cut off the corner to make a small opening.
Place the best cake slice that you have and place on your cake board or plate cut surface upwards. If you want to use sugar syrup you can , but this is already a moist cake , so I didn’t use it here.
Spread about quarter cup or less of the buttercream on the cake.
Pipe a round of the buttercream just inside the edge of the cake . This is your frosting “dam” and will prevent your nuts and marshmallows from getting into your outside frosting.
Sprinkle some nuts and marshmallows . This cake has three layers of the filling, so I kept the filling sparse! Drizzle some ganache using the piping bag.
Place the next layer on top and repeat with all layers. Reserve the second best cake slice for top with cut surface down.
Spread 1/4 to 1/2 cup of buttercream on top and spread using a spatula. Smoothen the buttercream on the sides to crumb coat the cake. It doesn’t need to be perfect but should keep the crumbs in. Chill in the freezer for 20 minutes . Then decorate as you wish. I smoothened the buttercream and did a ganache drip and loaded the top with the leftover nuts and marshmallows !
Also :
- Keep refrigerated and get to room temperature for about half hour before serving.
- The amount of buttercream was just enough to cover the cake. If you want to do fancy piping, you can double or make one and half times the amount.
- Simplify the cake : 1. Bake half recipe of cake , pour ganache on top, sprinkle nuts and marshmallows , sprinkle some more ganache. 2. Use store bought marshmallows. 3. Use either chocolate buttercream or ganache , not both. 4. Use whipped cream instead of the buttercream and ganache.
This cake is fabulously extravagant with its super moist chocolate layers , two types of chocolate frosting , the crunch of the toasted nuts and the unexpected bits of chewy marshmallows ! Would it be too cliche to tell you that it is easier than it looks! But it really is ! It does have a downside though .
You spend all that time making it and it will be gone in a few minutes after the first slice is cut!
Hi,
Can you please suggest how to whip a perfect whip cream for rose or shell or to decorate the cake
Hi Arshdeep… Non dairy whipped cream whips better than dairy buttercream . 15 minutes before you want to whip the cream, place the required amount of cream in a metal bowl. Place the beaters of your mixer in this and freeze. when you ready to whip,add sugar / vanilla etc and start whipping at low / medium speed. Shift to higher speed after couple of minutes. Whip until you get stiff peaks. if you turn the bowl upside down, the cream shouldnt move. Use immediately or refrigerate. fill small amounts in piping bag to pipe because if you fill the whole bag in one go, the heat from your hand might make the cream loose shape. if using dairy cream, to make it more stable , you can add gelatin soaked in cold water during soft peak stage and keep whipping… hope this helps !
Can i use this rcp for making blackforest cake?
You can ! But do check the black forest cake recipe on the blog. That works well ☺
Not at all ! I had a pack of hershey’s chocolate chips that someone picked up from me abroad. But otherwise I use chocolate chips ordered online from CCDS or Arife Lamoulde(via their fb page). The Dutch processed cocoa is from Cocoa Craft ( a kerala based company) . I swear by their baking chocolates and cocoa. They can be found in Godrej Nature’s Basket in Bangalore or I have ordered online also. Their website is http://cocoacraft.in .
Thanks so much Ambika…! I hope it works for you and your family !
Hi Akshata, thank you so much for posting this recipe…really appreciate it…will try it soon and give you the feedback ( going by past experience I’m sure it will be awesome !!)
Thanks so much Ambika…! I hope it works for you and your family !
Hi Akshata, thank you so much for posting this recipe…really appreciate it…will try it soon and give you the feedback ( going by past experience I’m sure it will be awesome !!)
Just wanted to check which dutch processed cocoa do you recommend ?
Another quick question- which chocolate chips do you use..I’m having it hard to find good quality chocolate chips here in India for muffins etc. sorry for bothering u with so many questions !!
Not at all ! I had a pack of hershey’s chocolate chips that someone picked up from me abroad. But otherwise I use chocolate chips ordered online from CCDS or Arife Lamoulde(via their fb page). The Dutch processed cocoa is from Cocoa Craft ( a kerala based company) . I swear by their baking chocolates and cocoa. They can be found in Godrej Nature’s Basket in Bangalore or I have ordered online also. Their website is http://cocoacraft.in .
Just wanted to check which dutch processed cocoa do you recommend ?
Another quick question- which chocolate chips do you use..I’m having it hard to find good quality chocolate chips here in India for muffins etc. sorry for bothering u with so many questions !!
Hey thanks so much for posting the recipe…. really appreciate it….looks really decadent-will try it and get back to u asap !!
Hey thanks so much for posting the recipe…. really appreciate it….looks really decadent-will try it and get back to u asap !!