Henri Turned 10 this month and the celebrating has been at a feverish pitch for weeks. It is a big year when your little baby hits double digits and becomes a tweenager. On his actual birthday we celebrated with our family. He wanted to rent the movie Grease (one of his babysitters was recently in the play at the high school), have sushi and eat chocolate cake! It sounded like a fantastic idea to me. After 20+ years I’d forgotten about some of the racy content in the movie, which they edited out of the high school play, Oooops! Luckily we were watching at home and could fast forward through the more “educational” scenes!
The chocolate cake he chose was amazing. I used my Devil’s Food Cake recipe and topped it with Dorie Greenspan’s Chocolate Malted Buttercream. A bunch of chocolate shavings made it look festive, but it was so simple to put together.
Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Malt Buttercream
Find the full recipe at the end of this post.
1/2 recipe of Devil’s Food Cake (baked in an 8 by 3-Inch cake pan for about 45 minutes or until tester comes out clean)
Chocolate Malt Buttercream by Dorie Greenspan in Baking: From My Home to Yours
Prepare and cool the Devil’s Food Cake
To Prepare the Buttercream:
In a double boiler melt the chocolate and 1/2 of the brown sugar.
Stir together the malted milk powder, cocoa and boiling water in a small bowl. Once the chocolate has melted add the malted milk mixture and whisk gently until smooth. Allow to cool to room temperature.
In a mixing bowl cream together the butter and remaining 1/2 of the brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the salt and vanilla. Turn the speed down and add the cooled chocolate mixture to the butter. Scrape down the bowl and continue mixing. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar and mix until smooth.
Cut the cake into 2 or 3 layers. Fill the layers with the malted buttercream and then cover the outside with more icing.
using a chefs knife you can make the chocolate shavings from a large block of chocolate. The backside of the chocolate is generally smooth and if you just scrape the blade against the chocolate it will curl up into shavings.
Cover the top with the shavings and serve at room temperature.
This cake actually got better after a day, the icing was smoother and the flavors popped out more, just cover and leave it at room temperature.
The next party was a sleepover with Henri’s buddies from school. They came over, we went to see Star Trek and then they came back to the house for cake, ice cream and a mostly sleepless night! Henri designed T-shirts to give to the kids and wanted me to make a cake to match. He and Charlie had so much fun designing the shirts they decided to start a T-shirt business, more to come on that! This cake was a marbled yellow cake inspired by Shirley O. Corriher’s Magnificent moist Golden Cake in BakeWise with his favorite cream cheese icing.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 recipe of Devil's Food Cake baked in an 8 by 3-Inch cake pan for about 45 minutes or until tester comes out clean
Chocolate Malt Buttercream
- 6 oz bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup Malted Milk Powder
- 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 8 oz 2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
- pinch salt
- 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar sifted
Instructions
- Prepare and cool a half recipe of Devil's Food Cake.
Frosting
- In a double boiler melt the chocolate and 1/2 of the brown sugar.
- Stir together the malted milk powder, cocoa and boiling water in a small bowl. Once the chocolate has melted add the malted milk mixture and whisk gently until smooth. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- In a mixing bowl cream together the butter and remaining 1/2 of the brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the salt and vanilla. Turn the speed down and add the cooled chocolate mixture to the butter. Scrape down the bowl and continue mixing. Slowly add the confectioner's sugar and mix until smooth.
- Cut the cake into 2 or 3 layers. Fill the layers with the malted buttercream and then cover the outside with more icing.
Chocolate Shavings
- Using a chef's knife you can make the chocolate shavings from a large block of chocolate. The backside of the chocolate is generally smooth and if you just scrape the blade against the chocolate it will curl up into shavings.
- Cover the top with the shavings and serve at room temperature. This cake actually got better after a day, the icing was smoother and the flavors popped out more, just cover and leave it at room temperature.
Hi Zoe,
What a fabulous site you have! So many scrumptious-looking yummies! I’d like to make this icing but simply as chocolate, i.e. minus the malt, as my sweetheart isn’t a big fan of it. Do I need to adjust for the missing malt, like add 1/4 cup more of the confectioner’s sugar, or should I just leave it out and not worry about it?
Thanks very much!
Liz
Hi Liz,
I think you can safely just leave it out, but if it is too soft, then add a touch more confectioners’ sugar.
Thanks and enjoy, Zoë
Thank you Zoe! I made it , it was a hit and indeed it only needed 35 min in the oven 🙂
Hi Zoe! I watch your videos on youtube all the time and you make things seem so easy 🙂 I am going to make this cake for my boyfriends bd tommorow , I only have a 9” spring cake pan , is that ok? seeing as it will be thinner should I bake it for less time?
Thanks!
Alex
Hi Alexandra,
Yes, you should check it a little sooner, but be careful in case it needs more time.
Thanks and enjoy! Zoë
Zoe,
Unsalted butter is hard to find in India. Is it advisable to use salted butter in the cake and buttercream?
Thanks,
Gauri
hey zoe! i ve made your outrageous mocha buttercream for a friend bday and it totally rocked…now im back to bake another one for valentines day and i thought id give this a shot..sure looks awesome!!! =) though in our neck of the foods its hard to come by malted powder…will horlicks do??
Zoe,
I love the cakes stand. Where could I find one that is similar and does it have a top? I am looking for a great chocolate cake for my husband. I have made 4 or 5 home made chocolate cakes in the last 2 years and he still likes a box cake better. Go figure…
Hi Honey!
What a beautiful recipe, thank you for sharing!
I love it so much I’ve included it the “Top 21 Chocolate Cake recipe posts on twitter”
Keep up the good work!
Love,
Bridge
I am in Chocolate Heavan Now! Thanks for sharing that recipe
Wow! That DOES look divine! Even my husband would eat that. (He doesn’t like cake or frosting–unless its chocolate decadent like this and not too much cake! YUM!
This is now my new favorite chocolate cake recipe!!!!! I’ve made it twice, first time for my son’s birthday (requested chocolate cake and chocolate frosting….and steak of course!) and then again for the big family b-day party (used it as the 2nd layer of a guitar cake). Both times this recipe turned out GREAT! LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! Thanks for sharing!