Double Chocolate Malt Cake
#maltcake#oreo#maltesers
I have been baking this chocolate malt cake 3 times a year for the last 6 years as a request from all 3 children for their birthday cakes. It is that popular.
The original recipe was from a self-taught food writer , Felicity Cloake, printed in a Sainsbury's Magazine. I tore the page off and filed it in my recipe book years ago.
Recipe Tips
This is a dense and moist cake because of malted-milk powder. The cake tends to dip slightly in the middle. I have made a few that sank more in the middle. To minimise this -
Don't over mix. Mix all the dry ingredients separately until combined. When the wet ingredients are well whipped, light and fluffy, mix in the dry ingredients just enough to blend. Resist the urge to smoothen the better.
Do bake the cake in two 20cm sandwich tins. When I baked it in one thick cake tin and splited it in half, the cake sank even more in the middle. There was too much weight for the cake to bare once it rose up in the oven.
From Sainsbury's Magazine by Feliciy Cloake
Prep time 40 minutes
Total time 1 hr 10 mins, plus cooking.
Get ahead The sponge keep for 2 days in a container, or can be frozen for up to 1 month.
Once decorated, the cake keeps for 1 day.
Ingredients;
50g cook's Belgian dark chocolate
250g butter, softened
250g soft, light brown sugar
100g cocoa powder
150g malted milk powder ( I use Horlicks Original))
100g plain flour
3tsp baking powder
3 medium eggs, beaten
250ml milk
For the decoration
150g butter, softened
50g malted milk powder
200g icing sugar
4 tbsp milk
10 Oreo biscuits
a handful of Maltesers
Method
Heat the oven to 200c, fan 180c, gas 6 and grease and base-line 2*20 cm sandwich tins .Melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl set over , but not touching, a pan of simmering water .
Using an electric mixer or a handheld whisk , cream together the butter, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt until fluffy . In another bowl, sift the cocoa, malted milk powder, flour and baking powder together.
With the mixer still running, gradually add the eggs to the butter and sugar. Once well combined, fold in half the sifted dry ingredients, the melted chocolate, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Slowly add the milk until the misture drops easily from a spoon but doesn't run off.
Divide the mixture between the tines. ( I weight it out to make sure they are even) and smooth the tops. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until just firm in the middle . Cool for 10 minutes in the tines, then turn out onto a wire rack.
To make the icing, beat the butter until very soft and pale then add in the malted milk powder, icing sugar and a pinch of salt, followed by the milk, to loosen the mixture.
Once the cakes are completely cool, put the less flat one on a serving plate and spread with a third of icing, banking it up around the edge. Top with the other cake, and spread the remaining icing on top.
Crush the biscuites by putting theminto a clean food bag and whacking them with a rolling pin, then sprinkle on top. Finish wiht the Maltesers, lighly crushed.