This Malted Chocolate Cake is what your dreams are made of! Moist, packed with amazing chocolatey flavour and topped with creamy frosting. What more could anyone want?
How about pairing this cake with Pistachio Ice Cream?
Looking for a decadent cake to make for a birthday or other celebration? Look no further than this rich, moist cake with intense chocolate flavours!
Try and tell me you don’t want to dive right in! If you are looking for a delicious chocolate cake with easy, no-fail steps, this cake is for you!!
This chocolate sponge is a legend, and doesn’t take a lot of technique to get right. And the icing is made in a food processor in a matter of 5 minutes! Even a beginner can successfully make this cake and wow everyone! Enjoy!
Chocolate sponge
The chocolate sponge is my stand-by and couldn’t be easier to make, and is virtually impossible to mess up. It’s both light and moist, with a luxurious chocolate flavour.
Because it is so simple and versatile, it’s a recipe I come back to often.
The method to making this sponge is quite simple. Mix up the dry and wet ingredients separately, then bring them together with the help of an electric mixer.
Malted milk chocolate frosting
When choosing the frosting for this cake, I had my kids in mind. They don’t love chocolate flavour to be too strong.
I know that’s crazy, but it led me to decide to make the cake with malted milk chocolate frosting. This version is sweeter and less intense than dark chocolate. Just what my kids love!
I searched the internet for a while for the best frosting and ended up using Sweetapolita’s recipe because when it comes to cakes, she is the queen!
The icing uses malted milk powder to give it a distinctive taste and consistency. Malted milk is made from wheat flour, malted barley and evaporated milk. It’s a very useful ingredient for adding sweetness and lightness to things like frosting.
That frosting is easily made in a food processor and produces the creamiest texture I HAVE EVER SEEN!
Recipe tips and tricks
- Let the butter come to room temperature before using. This ensures that it incorporates fully into the batter and allows for a more even bake.
- Let the sponge cool completely before assembling and decorating the cake. Cake sponge can be fragile and letting it cool before assembly makes it less likely that cracks will form or too many crumbs develop when adding frosting.
- The decorations I used are for a birthday, but this cake is really suitable for any occasion including, Christmas and Easter.
Malted Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 ¾ cups /220g all purpose flour
- ¾ cup /90g cocoa
- 2 cups /400g granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs large
- 1 cup / 250ml whole milk
- ½ cup / 125ml vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla
For the malted chocolate frosting
- 2 ¼ cups / 510g unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 cups / 500g confectioners' sugar
- ½ cup chocolate Ovaltine or malted milk powder of your choice
- ⅓ cup / 80ml double cream/whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ cup / 60ml creme fraiche or sour cream
- 9 oz / 265g good quality milk chocolate
For the decoration
- 2 chocolate bunnies
- lemon thyme leaves
- bunting
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat your oven to 350 F/180 C, butter and line 3 8″/20cm cake pans with parchment paper.
- Mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl until combined. In a separate bowl mix eggs, milk, oil and vanilla essence. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and beat with an electric mixer until well incorporated.
- Divide evenly among 3 pans and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. I baked 2 layers together and then the third one later.
- Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove cakes from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.
For the malted chocolate icing
- Combine all ingredients except melted chocolate in a food processor and pulse until well combined. Take the lid off and check to make sure the ingredients on the bottom are well incorporated, use a spatula to mix them in if necessary.
- Add melted chocolate and pulse a few more times until the frosting is creamy and spreadable. Use immediately to fill the layers and cover the cake.
- Decorate with a sprinkling of lemon thyme leaves for the “grass” and “ivy” on a side and place chocolate bunnies on top.
