hot chocolate layer cake
32.
I’m a pair of years deep into my thirties, and I can tell you this with more certainty than I can say most other things: I do not miss my 20s. The 20s are overrated. They’re hormonal, transitional, insecure, riff with challenge that the 20-some year old brain is not really ready to handle, frontal lobe or not. We do handle it, but it’s not pretty.
My 30th birthday was my worst in memory. I cried disproportionately, I didn’t know where I fit in my life, didn’t know if I could depend on myself to make the right choices. I largely didn’t that year. I was caught in a web of confusion, thrown about by people I should not have let throw me about; I forgot who and what was important to me.
Year 30 was a haze. And then something major happened that forced me to step back and reconnect.
Come August, I started to find the road again after winding in the woods, hitchhikers pricking my ankles. I signed up for races and focused again on improving my running. I tossed myself back into FMG and consistently recipe developing. I made a new friend, one I cherish even though we see one another three times a year and often drop off the face of the earth in the middle of a conversation (mostly me, sorry, man). My sister and I tried to consistently call one another. I visited mom frequently. I started crafting.
Year 31 I anchored myself more fiercely to whom and what really filled my soul. I continued running purposefully, set PRs in the 5k, 10k, and half marathon, and am in the midst of training for my first 26.2 in 4 years. It’s going well. I cut myself off from a leech and slowly patched the wounds I caused both in others and myself. I’m still stitching, still working, but it’s getting better. I’ve stuck with therapy and am trying to lift myself above my mental disorientations.
In my 20s I probably would’ve succumbed to these frights and accepted that perhaps I was meant for no more than mediocrity. But something about the third decade offers perspective. I think working around a slew of folks in their early and mid-20s gives me a fresh view: that I am absolutely not the person I was at those ages, and I hope those who are realize that permanence is not a human condition. Change happens. If you want it, at least. The things that stay the same are just as important, the hobbies and interests that calm the soul, hand over some purpose.
My life is most certainly not how I envisioned, but honestly? It’s all good. I am content. Not always: sometimes I feel a failure, a wasted talent, a mass of space that floats around in the background and no one notices in a meaningful way. I’m learning, though, that meaningful can translate to small-scale, it needn’t be a widespread universal sense of attention. I touch people’s lives in the simplest ways, and thats more, more than enough.
For year 32, I baked a Hot Chocolate Layer Cake. Cocoa is my current fixation, I drink it at least three times a week, and will never tire of a mug. Two layers of dark cocoa cake, a thick smear of marshmallow buttercream, and a robe of hot chocolate buttercream. Crowned with mini marshmallows. Sweet in aesthetic and spirit, it’s peppy, cozy, and pretty simple all things considered.
Wouldn’t mind living year 32 with those words in my repertoire, really.
Drop It Like It’s Hot
Don’t drop it. Honestly, I’d cry, and I don’t want to cry on my birthday.
Our rich chocolate layers start like most of my other chocolate cakes. Whip together vegetable oil, brown sugar, and sugar until combined, then add in three eggs, one at a time, vanilla, and whole milk Greek yogurt. Sour cream is good, too.
Add your flour, cocoa powder, black cocoa powder (ass a deeper chocolatey flavor, but you can use more regular cocoa if needed!), baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer running, slowly stream in the buttermilk. The batter will be pretty thick, and some lumps are okay.
Pour the batter evenly into 2 greased 9-inch cake pans, each lined at the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until you poke the cakes with a toothpick and the sticks emerge with a few crumbs, but nothing more.
Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to loosen and flip each layer onto a wire rack. Peel off the parchment, and cool until at room temperature. Here, I like to seal up the layers in a ziptop bag and refrigerate overnight to help them set up for easier frosting.
It’s a Marshmallow World
We’re making two buttercreams for this cake: a small batch of marshmallow, and a big batch of hot cocoa. If you have two separate mixing bowls, great. If you don’t, just clean them in between, you lazy nutballs.
For the marshmallow buttercream, whip together some butter, marshmallow fluff, and vanilla, then throw in powdered sugar and a touch of heavy cream. Beat until light and fluffy. You may need a bit more sugar or cream to get the texture right: it should be easily spreadable, but not nearly as volatile as whipped cream.
If needed, level your cake layers with a serrated knife to even out the tops. I had to do this, but minimally. Place one layer on a cake stand or flat plate, plop the frosting on top, and spread from corner to corner. Round shit doesn’t have corners, but whatever, you know what I mean.
Next: hot cocoa buttercream. Beat together butter, hot chocolate mix (I used homemade, but two packets of store bought should do the trick if that’s what you’ve got!), cocoa powder, vanilla, then your powdered sugar and heavy cream. Again, the frosting should be soft, but not super soft like sheep’s wool or something.
Set your second cake layer on top of the first. Frost top to bottom, round and around, with the cocoa buttercream until fully coated. Lick the spatula. Lick the bowl. Lick the cake, I don’t care, but maybe don’t do that if you’re sharing.
For decoration, I simply arranged a crown of mini marshmallows on top. Easy easy. I’m not huge on fancy adornments and this maintained the theme with minimal effort.
Birthdays get weirded and plainer the older I get, but the cakes don’t have to. I think this is my fifth year baking my own birthday treat, and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon. It’s my favorite tradition, one that feeds my sweet tooth and my heart. Find that for yourself this coming year.
Be well, friends.
Tried this recipe out? Leave a rating and comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
2026 goal: more cake.
hot chocolate layer cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt, at room temperature
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup black cocoa powder (or more cocoa powder)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 1/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- mini marshmallows, for decorating
marshmallow buttercream
- 4 tbsp butter, softened
- 1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 – 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 tbsp heavy cream
hot chocolate buttercream
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1/2 cup hot chocolate mix, homemade or store bought (about 2 packets)
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4-1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 9 inch cake pans with butter or oil.
- In a large bowl, whip the oil, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Whip in the vanilla and Greek yogurt. Add the flour, cocoa powder, black cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer running, slowly stream in the buttermilk. Do not overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake 30-35 minutes until the center is set and an inserted toothpick emerges with just a few moist crumbs. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to release the layers and flip onto a wire rack. Cool completely.
- When the cakes are cooled, make the frostings. For the marshmallow buttercream: In a bowl, whip the butter, marshmallow fluff, and vanilla on low speed until combined. Add in 2 cups of powdered sugar and 2 tbsp cream and mix to combine, then increase the speed to medium high and whip until very light and fluffy. If needed, pour in more sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until the frosting is soft and spreadable. For the hot chocolate buttercream: In a clean bowl, whip the butter, hot cocoa mix, cocoa powder, and vanilla on low speed until combined. Add 4 cups of powdered sugar and 1/4 cup of heavy cream ad mix to combine, then increase the speed to medium high and whip until very light and fluffy. If needed, add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until the frosting is soft and spreadable and you get tired of reading this behemoth direction series.
- Place a cake stand or flat plate atop a flat surface. Set one cake layer on the stand. Frost the top with the marshmallow buttercream. Add the second layer. Frost all the way around the cake with the hot cocoa buttercream until completely covered. Arrange mini marshmallows in a crown on top of the cake.
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