Chocolate Rolo Cake
Delight your kids with this delectable chocolate rolo cake. It’s a chocolate sponge with slightly chewy melted toffee bits in the middle and it’s covered with toffee infused chocolate frosting. Ideal for making birthdays extra special.
No so long ago, a friend’s daughter celebrated her 3rd birthday and I was asked to make the birthday cake. I was well chuffed, but also rather nervous. You don’t really want to mess up someone else’s birthday cake. Anyway, as soon as she asked me, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
Chocolate Rolo Cake
I first saw a rolo cake on Jac’s Tinned Tomatoes blog, over a year ago now. It made quite an impression on me but I was waiting for just the right opportunity to make it. Jac in turn got the recipe from The Caked Crusader and in the end it was this one I used.
Jac tends to use US measurements and I’m not a fan of cups. I did increase the measurements a bit anyway as I was using a larger cake mould than the one specified.
Whilst shopping for the rolos, I had a bit of an unexpected dilemma. Not being in the habit of buying them, I hadn’t realised they were made by Nestle. Oh dear! I haven’t knowingly bought anything from Nestle since I was old enough to form an opinion on such matters.
Okay, I thought I’ll do without the rolos and go for a large bar of Cadbury’s caramel chocolate instead. As I was picking the bar up, however, I realised how ridiculous the whole thing was.
Cadbury’s has recently been taken over by Kraft. Well, as far as I know, they are no more ethical than Nestle. For want of a better alternative, I’ve continued to buy Green & Black’s, despite the fact they are now owned by Kraft. Thus it was that I pulled a face and bought the rolos.
Luckily, I needn’t have worried; the cake proved to be a huge success and was enjoyed by adults and children alike. The birthday girl showed her appreciation in the usual way. Although I wasn’t there to witness the cutting of the cake, my friend very kindly saved me a slice. It was moist and tasty with slightly chewy melted toffee bits in the middle. I’d be happy to have this for my birthday cake whatever my age.
Chocolate Rolo Cake Frosting And Decorations
I made a chocolate buttercream icing to cover the cake. To tie in with the caramel rolo theme, I added some caramel syrup which gave it a note of toffee.
Decorating cakes is not my area of expertise. Once I’d made the icing and applied it to the top and bottom of the cake, I made an attempt to decorate it with rolos and white chocolate buttons. I made a ring of chocolate buttons around the side of the cake and an attempt at a smiley face on top. Can you spot it?
Other Chocolate Birthday Cakes You Might Like
- Chocolate fudge cake
- Malteser chocolate cake
- Orange & cardamom chocolate birthday cake
- Orange poppy seed cake with white chocolate buttercream
- Salted caramel chocolate birthday cake
- Vegan chocolate cake
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this chocolate rolo birthday cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for making birthday cakes?
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Choclette x
Chocolate Rolo Cake. PIN IT.
Chocolate Rolo Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 220 g unsalted butter softened
- 220 g golden caster sugar
- 4 large eggs (I used duck eggs)
- 170 g flour (I used half wholemeal spelt and half white)
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
- 20 rolos (2 packets) plus more for decoration, if liked
Buttercream
- 100 g unsalted butter softened
- 150 g icing sugar
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1-2 tbsp toffee or caramel syrup
Instructions
Cake
- Set the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
- Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.220 g unsalted butter, 220 g golden caster sugar
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time and stir in a spoonful of the flour between each egg if the mixture looks like curdling.4 large eggs
- Sift in the flour, cocoa and baking powder and gently stir until mixed.170 g flour, 50 g cocoa powder, 1½ tsp baking powder
- Stir in the yoghurt until just incorporated.2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
- Chop the rolos in half and stir those into the mix.20 rolos (2 packets)
- Spoon the batter into a 23cm round silicone cake mould or lined tin and bake for 40 minutes until the cake is well risen and firm to the touch.
- Turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
Buttercream
- Meanwhile, cream the butter together with the icing sugar and cocoa.100 g unsalted butter, 150 g icing sugar, 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- Add a spoonful of the syrup and beat until smooth and light. Add more if the mixture is too stiff.1-2 tbsp toffee or caramel syrup
- Spread this over the cold cake.
- Decorate with rolos and caramel / toffee sauce, if liked.
Lucy – thank you and glad it made you smile – that’s what I was hoping for.
This cake made me smile – the decoration is so happy! Love the idea of a rolo cake, especially with the rolos stirred through the cake – delicious 🙂
Oxslip – ethical shopping is a never ending dilemma. I do use co-op chocolate too, especially the orange and spice.
The 3-year old in me isn’t buried very deep – looks ace- though you’ve hit the nail on the head with the ethical choc dilemma. The only Fairtrade G&B has been Maya Gold for years and now even that seems less ethical, but I can recommend the CoOp own Fairtrade brand, esp the orange and spice one
Good analogy kate. It’s very annoying when you make something good and haven’t got a decent photo to reflect it.
Charming cake! Liked the moral dilemma – so many years and then…oops. Little bit like being a strict vegetarian and then wolfing down a bacon sarnie. I also made a children’s birthday cake this weekend – a hedgehog cake – will post it on my blog now although the picture’s not great quality
Anne – thank you. Had no idea Ikea sold anything other than Dime bars.
Have not eaten rolo’s in years, preferring the ones Ikea sell but I love the design on the cake, so cute! Looks delicious and chocolatey too!
LF – yes, it must be especially difficult if you have children.
Thanks Jill – I do remember an add that went along the lines of love is giving away your last rolo.
CityHippy – Cadbury’s was taken over about a year ago now. It may not have produced particularly good chocolate, but at least it was British.
Thanks Maria
Hazel – thank you
KitchenMaid – yes, all very sad. There are still UK chocolate makers, but they are more niche and therefore a lot more expensive. The only chocolate I remember in NZ was Cadbury’s, but that was a long time ago now.
Green and Black’s is owned by Kraft now? Crumbs, when did that happen?! Luckily here we can still buy excellent locally-owned AND produced chocolate – which makes it practically guilt-free (but no less easy to resist). Lovely cake!
I couldn’t think of a better cake for a young lady’s 3rd birthday, very cute!
Yummy!
Maria
x
I hadn’t heard that Cadbury’s had been taken over by Kraft. Not that I buy Cadbury’s but that’s not a good thing 🙁
What 3 year old wouldn’t be happy with that cake though!
Hehee. Haven’t heard of rolos in YEARS! Was there not an advert, who’s stolen my rolo, or something? One thing is for sure, it would be difficult not to steal this b’day cake. Looks just fabulous with the gungy caramely inside!
Oh, I know what you mean.. it is so hard to find ethical products on the shelves, everything is always owned by a big shot company. I try to avoid it as best I can, but sometimes hard to explain to kids and make them understand your reasons. Luckily, Master 10 has learned about Fair Trade at school and that was helpful.
Thanks Corina
How cute!
Hanna – shhhhhh!
Lovely cake! Rolos are my dirty secret and this cake sounds perfect!
Jac – always good to have a happy cake 🙂
C – thank you. Glad you liked the face – am never very sure about my decorating abilities.
Celia – what a question 😉
Michelle – the Ben & Jerry’s experience is repeated a lot. Small ethical business does well – bought out by big (and often unethical) business.
Brittany – Thank you. Surprised to hear there are no rolos in Australia.
Johanna – Thank you for your lovely words. I find it gets forever harder to shop ethically rather than easier.
CC – you are the inspiration for many a cake around the blogosphere 🙂
Xinmei – thank you. I’ve made my own raw chocolate, does that count? 😉
Dom – I’m pretty conscientious about what I buy most of the time, so I try not to give myself too hard a time – it’s not easy though.
MCB – I do like to squeeze a few healthy things into my baking where possible and I think spelt works really well in cakes.
SewHappy – it sounds as though I’m leading you astray.
Phil – I suppose your wife couldn’t be persuaded to pass that recipe on – just in case you understand?
Ananda – thank you.
Your cake and post made me smile and laugh! that is a darn adorable cake and so is the b’day little girl 🙂
Yum is all I can say. My wife used to make a gooey chocolate cake with mars bars in it but it’s now banned because of the impact on the waistline.
Will def have to have a go at making this one. As soon as sweeties are included in the recipe I am immediately sucked in. It does look wonderfully moist and scrummy.
I like the fact you’ve put some spelt flour in the cake too. She must have been one happy 3 year old!
it’s a tuff one choclette… like you, convenience would have led me to buy the rolos but time would have rendered me making my own caramel… but like you say, even G&B are owned by Kraft… there’s no escape!
At least you had the prinicple in the first place!
It does look like a stunner of a cake though, so it’s good how it turned out.
Haha, it’s true, every thing’s now owned by big multinational companies now! Maybe you can make you own chocolate…? :p
The cake looks amazing by the way, and I hope the birthday girl liked it, she’s adorable 🙂
I started reading this thinking “I’m sure I made something similar to that” and then saw that it was the same cake! Glad you loved it as much as we all did!
You can’t go wrong with chocolate and a little bit of fun amuses kids no end – love the little face on the cake and the little face lighting up at the sight of the cake. I have been through the same nestle – cadbury dilemma – because those are the only choc chips in my supermarket
Happy Birthday to her! No wonder it was thoroughly enjoyed…chocolate on chocolate is delicious! Although I’ve never heard of a Rolo. Some time on Google is needed I think.. 😀
That looks gorgeous and is just soooo cute!!! My biggest disappointment in life was finding out that Ben and Jerry’s ice cream was owned by Unilever 🙁 Lost my faith in ice creams for a while there!
An ethically challenging smiley face cake! So what did you do with the rest of the packet of Rolos? 😉
Lucky, happy, small girl! 🙂
It looks really moist and delicious! I love your smily face for the birthday girl!
ChocolagteGirl – that sounds like one hell of a cake – good as cupcakes too I expect.
Torview – thanks.
Suelle – thank you. Cake decoration is not really my thing (as you well know) but everyone seemed pleased with this.
Chele – and how many candles would you like? He he, no answer required.
Gloria – thank you. rather wishing I had a slice to hand now 😉
It does look gorgeous Choclette and gloriously soft and so happy too 🙂
look lovelky and delicious! gloria
What a lovely birthday cake!
I’d like to put on order in for my birthday please!! Looks wonderful.
beautiful rolo cake looks good
happy birthday
I’ve made a choccamocha caramel cake using green & blacks caramel choc stirred through the mixture: then melted ones with butter and icing sugar for the topping: only for special occasions due to massive sugar content!
your rolo cake looks deliciously soft ^_^