Malty Chocolaty Showstopper Layer Cake

Malted Chocolate and Honeycomb Cake

Today I would like to talk about a bake I'm pretty darned proud of! My first attempt at an iced layer cake!! And it didn't collapse!!!!

One of my very best friends and her husband welcomed their first baby into the world this year. An absolute cutie pie who steals your heart from the first time he looks at you. This wonderful couple took on parenthood like champions and I am in awe of them every day. Last month my dear friend celebrated her birthday and so, to mark this very special first birthday as a Mammy, I thought I'd go the extra mile for her and create something spectacular (hopefully!!).

The recipe for this show - stopping colossus came from the BBC Good Food Magazine Celebrate With Cake: Special 300th issue collection that came with the July 2017 issue. The correct title of the cake is 'Malted Chocolate Drizzle & Honeycomb Cake' but as you will see, the drizzle end of things didn't quite go to plan so some quick improvisation was necessary, creating a somewhat different but nonetheless charming effect...in my opinion anyway!

So, what are the elements involved in the construction of this extravaganza of flour and sugar?? Well, we have;

2 x Malt sponges

2 x Chocolate sponges

Honeycomb

Icing

Chocolate drizzle

Sponges

The sponges are pretty straightforward and very similar, just changing a couple of ingredients. Start by preheating the oven to 180C/160C (fan) and greasing two 20cm loose bottomed cake tins and lining the bottoms with baking paper. My tins were slightly bigger which meant the sponges came out a little thinner than if I had used a smaller tin but I don't think it mattered too much to the overall look and structure.

For the Malt sponges cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, add three eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Sieve in flour, malt powder (I used Ovaltine - I've never tasted Ovaltine or anything like it but it smells nice), baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt and fold together. Next add in natural yogurt and vanilla extract and mix together - It'll be a fairly wet batter. Divide between the two cake tins and bake for 25-30 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 mins before removing and allowing to cool completely. Wash off the tins and prepare for the chocolate sponges.

The chocolate sponge method is pretty much the same, just replace the malt powder with cocoa powder and add half the amount of yogurt plus 200g melted dark chocolate and 100ml boiling water. This batter is super wet but baked fine in the same amount of time as the malted one, surprisingly enough.

Decoration

Next comes the honeycomb. It seems like it should be super straight forward but it's actually a bit of a pain in the face and doesn't really work if you don't have a sugar thermometer. Luckily, as of my last birthday, I do! It's made with golden caster sugar, golden syrup and bicarbonate of soda, by melting the sugar and syrup in a large saucepan and allowing to bubble over a medium heat until it reaches EXACTLY 150C. As soon as it does, remove from the heat and pour in the bicarb. It will immediately foam up - whisk until it starts to calm down but before the bubbles subside pour it into a greased tin (using butter or flavourless oil to grease) and allow to cool completely for at least 30 mins. Try not to move it around too much or shake the tin after you've poured it in as it disturbs the bubbles and I think it can make it go flat.

I am delighted to say that this was my best honeycomb yet!! It was thick and crunchy and cracked into really good shards! Happiness is... the perfect honeycomb crunch!

While the honeycomb was setting I moved onto the icing, combining lightly salted butter, icing sugar, powdered malt drink, vanilla extract and full-fat cream cheese, this is a colossus when it comes to the calories but sure, who's counting?!

Make sure the butter is softened and beat it together with half the icing sugar, the powdered malt drink and vanilla until smooth. Add the remaining icing sugar and cream cheese and beat again until combined but don't over mix or it'll go runny. That's it! Now you're ready to put it together.

Assembly

Delighted to be able to pretend to be a bit professional with this, I had kept the cake base from the incredible cake my students presented to me as a surprise bridal shower on the last day of term before the summer holidays...don't worry, it was well cleaned after it's first use.

Time to stack the sponges!! Put a little dollop of icing on the base before placing the first sponge in the centre to stop it slipping. Using 1/4 of the icing, stack the sponges on top of each other, alternating between chocolate and malt with the top sponge being placed flat side up.

Next, using a palette knife if possible, cover the entire sponge in a thin layer of icing. This is called a crumb coat and ensures the top layer is crumb free and even. Fill in the gaps between the sponges to make the surface smooth for the final coat but don't worry about covering the whole cake completely. Pop in the fridge... if you can find a space big enough... and leave to chill for 30 mins.

When it has chilled, take it out and cover completely with the remaining icing. Just dollop the whole lot on top and smooth over the top and sides. It can be as smooth as you like. I went for the more informal look (thanks Mary Berry) and left it a bit rough. This then goes back in the fridge for another 30 mins to set.

Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate ganache by heating some double cream until it's steaming. Pour over the broken up dark chocolate and whisk until smooth. Leave to cool slightly until it is a little bit set but still can drizzle over the cake to make drips down the sides. This was my downfall!! I possibly left it a little too long and it was too thick to drip anywhere. Having poured it onto the top of the cake I tried to coax it down the side in elegant drizzles, but it wasn't having any of it and just looked ridiculous. Making a snap decision, I decided to smooth it around into a sort of gradual transition from light malt to dark chocolate and I think it worked fairly well.

And so, it's time to add the finishing touches. Chuck a load of Maltesers into a zip lock bag and give them a bit of a bash, leaving you with a mixture of whole, half and little bitty Malteser chunks. Ideally, before the chocolate dries, sprinkle them over the top in a nonchalant, devil-may-care sort of fashion, so they stick wherever they land. Finally, quite soon before serving, break the honeycomb into shards and pile on top with the option of scattering some around the edges. After a little while, the honeycomb will start to melt in contact with the chocolate and so it's best to leave it to the last minute. Et voila!! A malty chocolaty stack of yumminess, now the only question is, where to find a box big enough to carry it in!!