Tuesday, 22 May 2018

Recipe - Malted Chocolate Cake with Malteser (Malt Ball) Edging


Malted Chocolate Cake with Malteser (Malt Ball) Edging

This makes a very large cake that will easily serve 12-14 people, depending on their stamina for chocolate. It is also very easy to decorate and make look pretty without any great skill, because I am not good at icing cakes. This is definitely a celebration cake and the malt icing gives a lovely break from the rich chocolate. I've made this cake three times in 2 months :). (Forgot to add - it's based off of this recipe, but, as usual, I've played with it and this is not the pinata version).

Equipment

  • 2 20cm cake tins
  • grease proof/parchment paper
  • mixer
  • bowls
  • cake cutter or knife
  • pallet knife or spatula
  • measuring equipment
  • cake board

Ingredients

For the cake
  • 400g/14oz/1 3.4cups/3.5 sticks butter/cooking spread (room temp)
  • 400g/10oz/2 cups caster (super-fine) sugar
  • 8 medium eggs (7 large)
  • 300g/11oz/2 cups self-raising flour
  • 50g/2oz/~1/2 cup malt-flavoured drinking powder (e.g. Horlicks)
  • 60g/2.25oz/~1/2 cup cocoa powder
For the icing and decoration
  • 100g/3.5oz milk chocolate
  • 100g/3.5oz dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
  • 1 large bag (93g) Maltesers or malt balls + extra for decorating
  • 365g/1.7 cups butter (room temp and soft)
  • 700g/5.6 cups icing sugar
  • 3 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 2.5 tbsp milk
  • 2.5 tbsp malt-flavoured drinking powder (e.g. Horlicks)
  • any sprinkles that take your fancy

Instructions

For the cake
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F)/160C (320F) fan/Gas mark 6
  2. Line the base of the cake tins with grease proof paper and grease the sides with butter.
  3. Cream together the caster sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
  4. Beat the eggs in a jug or bowl and add to the butter and sugar a little at a time. If the mixture curdled (looks lumpy) add a spoonful or two of the flour to bring it back.
  5. Mix in the flour, cocoa and malt powder until smooth and completely combined.
  6. Spoon half the mixture into each cake tin.
  7. Bake in the oven for 45-50mins - they should be just firm to the touch and a skewer should come out clean when they are done.
  8. Leave to cool a little, then turn out onto a wire wrack to cool completely.
  9. Divide each cake in half with the cake cutter to make four layers in all and if there is a slight mound on the top of the cake which will be on the bottom, flatten this off with cake cutter as well.
For the icing
  1. Place the icing sugar and butter into the mixer or in a large bowl if using a hand mixer and beat together until light and fluffy. (Place a cloth round the top of the bowl when first mixing to prevent icing sugar going everywhere :)).
  2. Divide the mixture in half.
  3. Melt the chocolate in a bowl, either over a pan of simmering water, or in 30s intervals in the microwave. Allow to cool a little.
  4. Beat the chocolate and 1tbsp of milk into half of the icing. Add a little more milk if the icing is thick and grainy and beat until it is smooth.
  5. To the other half of the icing beat in the malt powder and the other tbsp of milk. If the icing is too thick add a little more milk until the icing is of a consistency to spread.
To assemble the cake (the amounts of icing are only approximate)
  1. Take the first layer of cake and cement it to the cake board with a little splodge of icing.
  2. Spread 1/4 of the malt icing over the surface.
  3. Place the second layer of cake on top.
  4. Spread 1/3 chocolate icing over the surface.
  5. Place the 3rd layer of cake on top.
  6. Spread with 1/4 of the malt icing.
  7. Place the 4th layer of cake on top.
  8. Crush the Maltesers in a bowl (easiest way is using the end of a rolling pin)
  9. Cover the sides of the cake in the other half of the malt icing.
  10. Using a hand, coat the malt icing with a layer the crushed Maltesers.
  11. Spread the rest of the chocolate icing on the top of the cake and decorate with a few whole Maltesers and sprinkles.
Version of the cake I made for Easter 2019

6 comments:

  1. Sounds yummy, though perhaps a little sweeter than I like. 400 g of caster sugar is VERY sweet! Mind you, that’s just me. I once used a r cite give; to me by a home eco teacher to make upside down cake for morning tea at work and found it way too sweet for my taste while everyone else loved it. (Sweet because you have to caramelise the sugar to keep the topping on)

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    Replies
    1. The cocoa is a good balance for the sugar, although it is a rich cake - small slices only :).

      That's also why I changed the chocolate icing from the original recipe - it was all milk choc along with the cocoa, and I switched it out to half milk and half dark to make it less sweet.

      I'm sure it's possible to reduce the sugar - not sure how it would be done though, because baking is a science and I have no idea what the science of doing that would be :).

      Looked it up - apparently you can usually reduced the amount of sugar by 1/4 without an issue, but any less than that changes the texture of the cake.

      Delete
  2. I reduce the sugar content of cakes by a third with no problems. Cakes still work. And then you can eat more because they have less sugar...

    Not sure why I've never thought of adding malt to the icing. Definitely doing that next time I bake (have to make wheat free cakes thanks to an allergy, but I use almond meal instead so will use one of my recipes as a base).

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    Replies
    1. Good to know thanks - the blog I was reading about it only did 1/4 and 1/2 and 3/4.

      I wish you luck with your version - if it turns out do you think you might post the recipe? I'd love to link to it since I have a couple of friends who have an issue with gluten too.

      Delete
  3. Happy to post (let's hope it works!)

    ReplyDelete

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