This Malted Chocolate Cake is what your dreams are made of!
So the name for this cake is not really Malted Chocolate Cake. The real name for this cake is Sugar and Brownie Cake, which was named after the newest additions to our family…our pet bunnies.
Our bunny story began on Christmas Day when Vika, our youngest, received a long awaited pet…a rabbit named Wabbit or Wabbie for short. He was black and white with soft, floppy ears.
We loved him from the moment we saw him. Sadly Wabbie was only with us for short 3 weeks until an evil fox snapped his little neck and caused an unbelievable pain to our children.
I bet you are surprised that London wildlife is that rich and diverse but hungry city foxes are the bane of our existence. The kids were inconsolable as they dealt with their first pet loss.
Their little hearts were broken, so being good parents that we are, we didn’t wait too long to replace their furry friend. In fact, we didn’t just buy one, we bought TWO!
Two little girl bunnies. Sugar and Brownie. They are both brown with adorable little cotton tails. They are the cutest and cheekiest little creatures you will ever meet. They mended our broken hearts.
This malted chocolate cake I am sharing today was Vika’s birthday cake and, as you can see, was inspired by the little cuties, who live in our garden.
As soon as the concept entered my head I couldn’t wait to make it a reality for Vika. I knew she’d go mental for it!!!
I also kept the decorating idea a secret until the big reveal. I just couldn’t wait to see the look of delight on her little face. I wasn’t disappointed!
I knew the cake itself had to be chocolate to support the brown bunny idea but the problem is that Vika is not a huge chocolate fan, she finds it too strong.
I know that is just crazy but I had to work with her taste, so I decided to make a chocolate cake with malted milk chocolate frosting, which is sweeter and less intense than dark chocolate. Just what my little girl loves!
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!
That frosting is easily made in a food processor and produces the creamiest texture I HAVE EVER SEEN!
Try and tell me you don’t want to dive right in! I dare you! If you are looking for a delicious chocolate cake with easy, no-fail steps, this cake is for you!!
The chocolate sponge is my stand-by and couldn’t be easier to make, and is virtually impossible to mess us. 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!
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 ¾ cups/220 g flour
- ¾ cup/90 g cocoa
- 2 cups/400 g granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs large
- 1 cup/ 250 ml whole milk
- ½ cup/ 125 ml vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla
For the malted chocolate frosting
- 2 ¼ cups 510 g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups 500 g confectioners' sugar
- ½ cup chocolate Ovaltine or malted milk powder of your choice
- ⅓ cup 80 ml double cream/whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ cup 60 ml creme fraiche or sour cream
- 9 ounces 265 g 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.
Saba says
Hi, the cake looks amazing! is this frosting firm enough to be piped?
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
Yes it is.
Charlotte says
I made it in a bundt tin because I couldn’t be bothered with layering. The taste is very good (although mine is a little under baked – most likely because I used the bundt tin and didn’t quite manage to adjust the baking time accordingly). I added Ovaltine powder to the cake so that it would actually be a malted chocolate cake, rather than a chocolate cake with malted frosting. I adjusted the oil, milk and baking powder to try and compensate for the extra dry ingredients going in. However, it occurred to me that you could probably just heat the milk a little and stir Ovaltine into it before adding it to the wet ingredients. Would this work? I think I’ll try it next time! The frosting is delicious – I made it I my stand mixer using a whisk attachment so it would be lighter and fluffier (although it’s paler and not as glossy as yours) and I dumped a load of whole and smashed Malteasers on the top.
Sarah says
Hey, any substitute for sour cream. I’m mostly unable to
Find sour cream..
Julia Frey (Vikalinka) says
You can use full fat yogurt, Sarah.
Dianne Edwards says
Can I use a stand mixer for the frosting instead of a food processor?
vikalinka says
Yes, you can, Dianne!
Hals says
Yum! I substituted the eggs with baking soda and apple cider vinegar (1 tsp baking soda & 1 tbsp vinegar for every egg), and it worked great! My only complaint is that it sank so much – I was hoping to get creative with decorating.
Bea says
Awww, I’m disappointed..I thought it was a Malted Chocolate Cake but it’s a chocolate cake with Malted Chocolate Frosting.. I guess I need to tweak it a little bit. The frosting is perfect though. Thank you
Kata says
Hello dear Vikalinka, what are my options if I have no chance of getting Ovaltine in this part of Europe + plan to bake it tomorrow, so no time for a substitute hunt, my fault, I totally overlooked. Is it OK to go without it and keep the rest of the recipe? Thank you sooo much. PS: Tried 2 of your cakes over the years, they were divine.
vikalinka says
Hi Kata, I am afraid the icing might be too loose without the malt powder. Maybe you can substitute it with cocoa powder? Let me know how it goes!
Best,
Julia
Sudip says
Hello, the cake looked awesome and I wanted to try it … the layers came out good but had some trouble making the frosting.though … I used a regular blender and process was slow but it was turing out creamy and delicious but suddenlt it lost some of the creaminess … did it curdle or can I refrigerate is for sometime? Can I skip the melted chocolate or can I find some instructions to do it best? Look forward to some tips
vikalinka says
Hi there, I think that using a blender might’ve done it as it has a narrow and tall container and doesn’t have enough room for mixing. Generally blenders are not suited for making a frosting. As I can’t see you final product, I am afraid I won’t be able to guide you through it. If you don’t add the melted chocolate, you won’t have the chocolate icing. Maybe starting over using a hand mixer would be a better idea.
Neil Divall says
Hi, What oil did you use please
Thanks Neil
vikalinka says
Vegetable oil works great here, Neil. I have added that to the recipe card. Thanks!
John K says
Thanks, Vikalinka for sharing the cake.
I have similar trouble with 9″ cake pans. Cake mix in the 3 pans looked like I was making pancakes.
I was very happy to see the cake rise and fill the pans 19 minutes later in the oven.
Trouble was as at 21 minutes all the cakes fell in the middles.
I took them out at 23 minutes as they passed the toothpick test
Nothing a BIG knife couldn’t fix, tasted good…
Sure would be nice to know how to prevent that for next time…
As for a food processor… I had word processors, microprocessors, floating point processors, computer processors, but never a food processor.
I made the frosting in a 600W Cuisinart Blender. It fulled the 1500 mL jar pretty much up to the rim and it turned out good.
I saw someone ask about 4 1/2 sticks of butter for the frosting… what are you going to do with 1/2 of a stick after all this work… Sorry, I’m not a cake guy, but the way I see it if 4 1/2 sticks are good 5 sticks is better… in my book anyway.
Nobody complained, and one less thing to put back into the refrigerator.
Thanks for sharing.
vikalinka says
Hi John, first of all thanks so much for such a detailed comment. I am sorry to hear that the cakes fell in the middle. The most common issue is incorrect oven temperature. I am sure you’d set your oven to the temp indicated in the recipe but the issue is in the oven itself as most home ovens are horribly inaccurate, even expensive ones. I recommend buying an internal oven thermometer to monitor temperature. What usually happens is cakes rise quickly but are not actually baked all the way through and then fall in the middle. Improper mixing could be another problem. Just remember that baking is more of a science rather than art and the recipe has to be followed rather diligently. I hope this helps!! I am so happy to hear that everyone still enjoyed the cake!! You must be very good. 🙂 Best, Julia
Alba says
Hello! What kind of flour did you use? Thanks! 🙂
vikalinka says
All purpose flour, Alba.
Karen G. says
Wow, I made this cake for my son’s birthday, and the icing is to die for! Super rich, as in rich even for me, and I love rich, chocolate icing. Totally decadent. I only had 2 – 9″ cake pans and my cakes fell in the middle, but still tasted good! Thanks for the recipe. I’m glad I found it.
vikalinka says
Glad to hear you loved the icing, Karen. You might want to cook your cakes 5-10 minutes longer next time since you converted an 3 X 8 inch cake recipe into 2 X 9 inch your ended up with more batter per pan, so they needed to spend longer in the oven. I am happy to hear they still tasted good!! 🙂
Pat says
Can I make this cake the night before an event? And should I store it room temperature or in the fridge?
vikalinka says
You absolutely can, Pat. I recommend refrigerating the cake and taking it out 30 minutes before serving.
Humera says
Hi, I have dutch processed cocoa powder, so is it okay if i use that or does it have to be natural unsweetened cocoa powder?
Thanks
vikalinka says
Hi Humera, dutch processed cocoa powder is fine in this recipe!
Sam Ad says
Hi, I don’t have a food processor. Could I use a nutribullet to make the frosting?
vikalinka says
Hi Sam, I don’t think nutribullet is big enough. Do you have a hand mixer? It would be a better tool for it.
Doodle says
Sorry, but I must have missed something. The ingredients for the frosting doesn’t say anything about melted chocolate yet the instructions call for it. Am I missing something? I REALLY want to try this recipe as I LOVE malt chocolate.
vikalinka says
Hi there, the last item in the ingredient list is 9 ounces of good quality milk chocolate. Maybe your ingredient list got cut off in the print? 🙂
Radia says
Can you tell me if the cream should be cold or hot?
And what whole milk. I am French. Thank you for answering
vikalinka says
Hi Radia, the cream should be cold and whole milk means full-fat milk usually at 3.25%. I hope this helps!
mariam says
Hi can you please tell me the measurements for a 2 layer cake?
Judy says
Looks delicious!! Can this cake be frozen?
vikalinka says
Thanks, Judy! I wouldn’t freeze a frosted cake but it’s absolutely fine to freeze individual layers wrapped in plastic wrap, then let it it defrost in the fridge before frosting.
Kristina says
4 1/2 sticks of butter for the frosting…can that be right?
vikalinka says
I don’t measure my butter in sticks but the measurements above are correct for a 3 layer cake.
Sian says
Hi looks amazing I’m going to try make this for my partners birthday, can I ask what flour you use Thankyou happy baking
vikalinka says
Hi Sian, I usually use Canadian flour for everything. It’s called all-purpose in Canada and very strong Canadian bread flour in the UK.
Tara says
Just finished the frosting and have to say, that I even though I don’t know what the cake tastes like (as it is for later and I am trying really hard not to cut into it!), the frosting is ABSOLUTELY to die for! I wasn’t sure as I am not one that gets malts, but rather shakes, but had some in the cupboard because the boyfriend likes it. I am so glad that I did. Thanks for the GREAT recipe!!!
vikalinka says
Thank you Tara! I hope the rest of the cake tastes just as great! Enjoy!!
Tara says
Update- The whole cake is DIVINE, thank you so much for sharing your recipe!!!
vikalinka says
Yes!!!! Thank you for letting me know, Tara!!
Pam says
That frosting looks amazing!
My food processor is broken 🙁 do you think it would work out using a stand mixer?
vikalinka says
Thank you, Pam! Sadly I haven’t tried the stand mixer option but I can’t see why it wouldn’t. Please do let me know how it goes if you try!
Louise | Cygnet Kitchen says
What a beautiful cake, Julia! I hope you didn’t make Vika wait too long to eat it! xx
Katya | Little Broken says
Such a sweet post and cake Julia! Your daughter is such a cutie. Hope she had a great birthday 🙂
Hannah Hossack-Lodge (Domestic Gothess) says
Wow! This looks seriously good Julia 🙂 Vika is very lucky! The frosting looks so creamy and fudgy it’s got my mouth watering, and the bunny decoration is very cute 🙂 x
Angela - Patisserie Makes Perfect says
Congrats on the new bunnies, I hope these ones live long and healthy lives!
The cake looks gorgeous Julia – well done!
vikalinka says
Thanks so much, Angela! The new bunnies are guarded like the most treasured possessions by our kids!
Kay says
This looks absolutely delicious!
vikalinka says
Thank you, Kay!
Jennifer @ Seasons and Suppers says
You make the most fabulous cakes and this is no exception! Love the chocolate/malt and so, so pretty. And the bunny theme is so cute.
vikalinka says
Thank you so much, Jennifer! I love our bunnies! 🙂