Malted Milk Cake with Chocolate Malt Frosting
You will certainly want a BIG glass of MILK to go with this yummy cake.
It’s kind of funny how when I think of chocolate I think of milk,
and when I think of milk,
well you know there is just going to be something delicious going on…
I’m bringing you this post in collaboration with California Dairy Association.
One look at this cake and for me, well…
I know what’s in those chocolate balls,
MALT.
Malt is hard to describe, but oh so delicious.
A chocolate malt I find is irresistible!
Yesterday I shared the recipe for the Chocolate Malt Frosting and today,
well it’s all about the cake!
SO break out your baking pans and let’s get baking!
I baked this cake in 3 6″ cake pans, I just love this size cake.
It’s tall and makes a very great presentation.
This cake if full of Malted Milk,
oh the flavor is so wonderful and topped with the Chocolate Malt Frosting….
yep, this one is a winner.
To frost the cake and have it stay still and not crumb up too much, I wrap the cooled cakes in plastic wrap and pop them in the freezer anywhere from a couple hours to overnight.
They get firm and then are easy to work with. It keeps the cake moist and delicious.
When I am ready to use them, I simply remove them from the freezer and unwrap them while I get everything ready.
I use a Lazy Susan to frost the cake, so I can spin it around as I’m frosting it. I have a wood Lazy Susan, and yes they do sell them just for cakes, but any type will most likely do.
Once the final coat of frosting is put on this cake I used a CAKE COMB to make the groves in the sides of the cake. The cake comb makes it easy to decorate the sides of the cake with not a lot of fussing.
Now the malted milk balls, well I bought the kind that you find in the bulk section. They are much bigger than the kind you find in a box, they are really big, and well….
bigger is better when you have a three layer cake!
there seems to be come comments that when people pour the batter into their chosen cake pan size the pans are near full. Only fill your cake pans 2/3 full, so the cake shave room to rise abs no spillover.
if you have remaining batter, you can slays make a few cupcakes.
as far as the baking temperature you have to know you oven. My oven holds its temperature really well, and my cake s baked beautifully at 325 degrees. If your oven doesn’t hold an even temperature then maybe 350 would be better for you but as I mentioned I bake three cake sat 325.
happy baking!
Malted Milk Cake with Chocolate Malt Frosting
Ingredients
- 3 cups sugar
- 6 eggs
- 3 3/4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups California Dairy Whole Milk
- 1/2 cup dry malted milk powder
- 3/4 cup butter
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Beat sugar with eggs until smooth
- Add in flour, milk, malt, butter, oil, baking powder and vanilla and mix until creamy.
- Spray 3 6" baking pans with baking spray and line bottoms with parchment paper
- Bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. (do not over bake, or cake will be dry) start testing cake at 25 minutes if you are unsure how you oven will bake the cakes. And test every two minutes.
- Let cakes cool before removing them from pan.
Notes
Place first cake onto plate or cake round and apply about 1/2 cup or so of frosting, spread it smooth. Then add the second layer and repeat. Then add the third layer, give the outside of the cake a thin coating of frosting and place it in the refrigerator to firm the frosting.
Once the frosting is set, apple another coat of frosting and smooth sides of cake with a cake comb, (with teeth) this will create the groves for easy decorating.
Make the top smooth with an offset spatula.
Place the remaining frosting in a piping bag fit with a 2D tip and pipe small swirls on top and add large chocolate covered malt balls to the swirls and around the base.
Pour yourself a glass of milk, and slice off a piece of cake and enjoy!
If you love chocolate as much as I do and are looking for another great recipe, take a look at this Chocolate Bread Pudding and in that post, you can read more about California Milk and see really cute cows too.
*Disclosure, I am an ambassador for California Dairy Association and received compensation on this project, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Created by Diane and it’s sponsors.
Must add to my shopping list: 6 inch cake pans! This is one spectacular cake!!
This cake is over the top amazing! My kids would go crazy for a cake like this.
It’s official – this is my dream cake!!
This is the cutest little cake. I never thought to make mini cakes, but it’s definitely next up on my list!
This cake is amazing! I love that it is sky-high and chocolate malt flavored!
This cake made me swoon, quite literally!
This cake is gorgeous. I love malt. You’re right, chocolate and milk go hand in hand. Pinned.
I love baking with malt. This looks fantastic!
Yum! I love all things malted milk…this looks insanely good.
WOW!!! The next time I make a cake it’s going to be this one! I just know it will be delicious and it is so stunning! Thanks for sharing. My late husband’s favorite flavor was malted!
Hi Diane, I went out and bought 6″ cake pans today and made your cake. It is in the oven as I write this and there is a steady stream of the batter baking out. My cake pans were 2″ high. Should I have bought a higher pan or what did I do wrong?
My pans are 6×2. I’m not sure what went wrong. Over mixing or over filling the pans will have them over flow and not bake evenly. There are a lot of variables as to what exactly could have gone wrong. My cakes baked right up to the rim on each cake and not over the rim (no need to trim) I wish I could offer you more support but without any other details that would be difficult. I bake lots of cakes and can say the only time I ever had them over flow was when I over filled the pans-there always has to be enough room for the cake to rise inside the rim. Since I wasn’t in your kitchen when you mixed the cake that is the other variable. If the cake is over mixed the batter will often rise quickly and then fall when it’s reaching the proper cooking time. I will mention if ever I have extra cake batter after I know the pans have their appropriate amount of batter, I don’t over fill them. Using that size pan may have been different for you and maybe you over filled them. Here is the chart I use https://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-serving-guide.cfm
oh my goodness everything on your blog looks amazing
Please note the butter should be softened. Also, I used my 8 inch pans and they were almost too full. Can’t imagine how full 6 inch pans would be. 325 degrees seems too low. Still in the oven, but really feel 325 is too low. Hope icing is good.
I’ve run into the same issue as others. My pans were filled to the top, which I assumed was ok as has happened with other recipes and the cake is just dense. Mine are overflowing all over my oven, agree 325 is probably too low as they don’t look close to done with only 5 min remaining
Always fill cake pans 2/3 full, for room for the cakes to rise properly. If you have extra batter you can make a a cupcake or two out of it, do not over fill cake pans, if cake pans are over fill they will not bake evenly as the center will take at least 15 minutes longer to bake which is why maybe you felt the oven temperature was too low in fact it was just the cake pan being too full abs the cake cannot cake evenly. In filling the three 6” pans I did not have extra batter but hear people who used 8” pans has a little extra batter.
This sounded so amazing but there must be something wrong with the recipe or at least the pan size. I have baked a lot of cakes and have never had a result like this. There is WAY too much batter for three six inch pans. I did not use the extra batter and filled the pans 2/3 full – they still overflowed. And all of them sunk in the middle. The one that was towards the front of the oven turned sort of cake like. The two further back never really set up and turned into a sloppy greasy mess. I had such high hopes! I love malt and wanted to take this to a get together tomorrow. I feel a need to figure out what needs to change in this recipe. Have any of the reviewers actually made it? My oven is running through a clean cycle now…
I’m sorry you had such trouble with the recipe. When a cake rises a lot and sinks as it cools, that cause is over mixing. My pans are 6″ and the cakes baked right to the top (which is 2″ high). I wish I had more info to give you, but there are so many variables when it comes to baking cakes. Oven temperatures, and being sure the oven holds the temperature (I use an extra thermometer in my oven to ensure the oven is running the proper temperature and preheated for at least 20 minutes, I don’t rely on it just coming to temperature as when you open the oven door a lot of heat escapes, the pans themselves (I use aluminum cake pans, not dark coated pans). I double-checked the recipe and wanted to add that I use large eggs and if by chance extra-large eggs are there could be a problem with the cake rising more than mine did. I’ve made different flavor cakes using this recipe as well as cupcakes without issue. I hope some of these tips help, let me know if you have any more questions.
Diane, thank you so much for the suggestions. The only other time I had this happen was when I mistakenly used baking mix instead of cake flour in a recipe!! Wow, that was a mess. Not sure how I could have done that. I may try your recipe again one of these days and be extra careful about beating, temp, etc. For tonight I went with a boxed cake and added malt powder. I did make your frosting and it is FABULOUS!!!! I split all three layers to make it like a torte and still have plenty of frosting left over. Can’t wait to see what my friends think tonight. I couldn’t find the larger malt balls so am making do with the smaller Whoppers. 🙂
Oh, your cake sounds delicious and I’m happy you could a work-a-round and like the frosting. I’m sure everyone will enjoy it! I can usually find the larger malted milk balls at specialty stores or Costco 🙂