This cake is not a strong hit you in the face malted flavor, but rather the wonderful crunch of the whoppers in the filling along with the really flavorful malty vanilla buttercream give it a nice change to your average traditional chocolate cake. If you really love whoppers you could go all out and even crush some on top of the cake. I just love the simple crown of whoppers adorning the cake. I made this for a dear friend of mine who happens to be a wonderful neighbor as well. She’s part of my squad if you will. There are six of us; 3 couples (my Husband and I), and the 2 other couples who are all neighbors and we get together at least once a week to hang out, swim in the pool, drink or just relax and have a great time. There’s always laughs and good food, and I always bring the cake if it’s a special occasion.

Chocolate Malt Cake

1 3/4 Cup Flour

2 Cups Sugar

3/4 Cup” Hershey’s Special Dark” cocoa powder, sieved (you can used original Hershey’s cocoa powder also)

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 Cup milk

5 Tbsp. malted milk powder

2 eggs, room temperature

1/2 Cup vegetable oil

1 Cup very hot coffee

2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch cakes pans. Heat the milk in the microwave until very hot and whisk in the malted milk powder; set aside. In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt. Whisk in the milk mixture until combined, then stir in eggs along with the oil and whisk vigorously until combined. Using the same whisk stir in the hot coffee and vanilla until batter is smooth. The batter will be very thin. Divide batter into equal parts into the 3 pans. Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 26 mins or until a skewer inserted reveals a few moist crumbs. Depending on your oven; you may want to rotate your pans half way through for even baking. Do NOT overbake or cake will be dry. Allow cakes to cook in their pans over a wire rack until cooled.

Malted Milk Vanilla Buttercream

2 1/2 Tablespoons hot milk whisked with 5Tablespoons malted milk powder (I used Carnation brand)

5 oz. pasteurized liquid egg whites by weight (141 g)

1 lb, plus 4 oz. by weight confectioners sugar, sifted (567 g)

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1 lb and 1/4 unsalted butter (2 1/2 C) , softened but slightly cool

2 tsp. vanilla

Whisk together the hot milk and malted milk powder as above and set aside to cool.

*You will need whopper candies and some additional dark bittersweet chocolate in bar form. I like the Trader Joes Belgium dark chocolate brand. See below for details.

In a bowl of a stand mixer whisk together by hand first (to avoid a mess) the egg whites ,salt and confectioners sugar just to combine, then using the whisk attachment whisk on high for approximately 6 minutes until thickened and combined; stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. With the mixer on med high, start adding in the butter a tablespoon at a time until fully incorporated; stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the vanilla until combined. Mix in malted milk mixture until combined, then switch to the paddle attachment and whip for a couple minutes; this helps to ensure the buttercream is really smooth.

• Crush a couple handfuls of whoppers to break up so you have both small pieces and larger pieces.

• Approx. 3 oz. bittersweet chocolate divided. Melt 1.75 oz -2 oz (in this case I used one small bar of Trader Joes 1.75 oz bar) of bittersweet chocolate and allow to cool; to use for decorating; the remainder will be used to grate over the filled layers to add in some chocolate flavor.

To assemble the cake; Fill the first and second layers with 2 1/2 ice cream scoop size of buttercream and top with a generous grating of shaved chocolate using a large hole rasp, then top with some crushed whopper pieces. Top with the third cake layer and do a thin crumb coating of buttercream. Chill the cake for at least 30 minutes before finishing with the rest of your buttercream. Frost the top and sides first with the malted buttercream. To achieve the ombre effect; save one cup to 1 1/2 cup of buttercream, and in a small bowl combine with some of the melted chocolate to achieve a darker shade of buttercream, spread this along the bottom 2/3rds of the cake and using a bench scraper smooth. Dot the rest of the melted chocolate along the bottom of the of the cake about an inch worth and continue to smooth and scrape and add in any random spots of melted chocolate to you reach the desired effect. Top the cake along the border with whole whopper pieces. Chill until ready to serve and let the cake come to room temperature to serve.

You can drag a little of the melted chocolate along the top of the cake for a marbled effect