Always Welcome Chocolate Malt Cake

Malted milk powder is a vintage flavor that tastes like every old soda fountain you’ve ever read about, and this cake puts it in two layers: a quarter cup in the chocolate batter, and six tablespoons in the whipped cream frosting. The result tastes like a chocolate malted milkshake somehow got translated into cake.

The batter follows classic layer cake construction: cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla, alternate flour mixture with water. The malt and cocoa join the dry ingredients so they distribute evenly. Two 8-inch layers, 35 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

The whipped cream frosting is the move that keeps this cake from going too heavy. Most chocolate cakes use buttercream or ganache. Whipped cream stays light, and the malt powder dissolves cleanly into it for that distinctive malt-shop flavor.

Malted milk powder is sold in the same aisle as the chocolate milk mixes. Carnation and Horlicks are the most common brands, and both work fine here. The ‘plain’ or ‘original’ version is what you want, not the chocolate malt mix.

Chef Tips

• Use room-temperature butter and eggs. Cold ingredients don’t cream properly and leave streaks in the batter.
• Don’t overmix once the flour is added. Overmixed cake batter goes tough and dense.
• Chill the bowl and beaters before whipping the cream. Cold equipment whips faster and to better volume.
• Add the powdered sugar and malt powder gradually to the whipped cream. Dumping them in deflates the foam.

Variations

• Crumble malted milk balls (Whoppers) over the frosted cake for a thematic finish.
• Add a quarter cup of sour cream to the batter for an extra-moist crumb.
• Layer in chocolate ganache between the cake layers along with the whipped cream for a richer cake.