Malted Milk Cake: A Speckled Robin’s Egg Blue Celebration of Spring and New Beginnings

Malted Milk Cake: Celebrate Prince William’s New Baby Sister in Three Weeks!

Malted Milk Cake! YUP! Spring has Sprung, the grass has riz and Gramsy’s going into the cake-baking biz!

I am bursting with joy! Princess Eleanor arriving May 16 (or so) and as I am so far away from these little precious loves, I have baked my joy, anticipation, love and celebratory impatience into this pretty little ditty.

This cake idea has been around the block, but never around my block. When I saw an image of it a few weeks ago, it went on my calendar, and Ragan and I have been putting it together ever since.

Malt powder. I have actually made it from scratch for my German Brown Bread Recipe, but bought it this time to compare the malted flavours and I was very surprised to find the boughten one a little sweeter, but both in the same family. Mine is likely best for breads but could be used, as the flavour is just more intense.

I was charmed by the idea of a malted milk cake. Why not? I love how the cake turned out, but think it is more suited to a more rustic presentation. However, it is perfect for welcoming Eleanor to our world!

Chirp! Chirp! William is having a baby sister! Around Christmas when you would ask him “What’s in mommy’s tummy?” He would say, “Baby Jesus!’

Lauren and AA are decorating Eleanor’s room in a soft robin’s egg blue. William loves to sneak into his sister’s room and play. He called it “Baby Jesus’s room.” until just a couple of week’s ago. Now, he’s ready. It’s “Baby sister Eleanor’s room!”

“Where’s baby sister, William?” He looks up and grins: “She’s in my belly!”

Malted Milk Cake: Making the Cake

Seriously, being a cyber Gramsy is the most difficult thing I have ever done. Some days, I just sit and cry. Not for long, but I have to get out that terrible missing him pain. Now there will be two! Such joy! Mis en place, above. Swan’s down cake flour is essential to any great white cake, in my humble opinion. The malt powder will be the only other “hard to find” item for the cake. I bought mine at Barb’s Kitchen Centre.

Dry ingredients in a bowl, stirred to combine.

Cake pans prepped: buttered and floured.

Eggs and Sugar into large bowl of Kitchen Aid mixing machine. Remaining wet ingredients, set aside. (Butter not in above image)

Whip yolks and sugar until thick, voluminous and velvety. Add softened butter. Whip until thick.

Gently whisk in remaining wet ingredients.

Sift combined dry ingredients into wet.

Fold dry ingredients gently into wet ingredients. Beat egg whites. Fold gently into batter.

Yup. We tasted the batter! Mmmm. Malted shake-like! Really! Batter into pan.

Pan into oven to bake. We are excited!

Malted Milk Cake: Making the Cake in the Thermomix

While the first two cakes bake, I make the next two cakes in the Thermomix machine. I am making two batches on this day. I want a three layer cake and I will bake 4 layers.

Whisk eggs and sugar until thick and frothy. Instructions in recipe.

Add remaining wet ingredients. Sift dry ingredients into wet and gently fold inside TM5 bowl, by hand with spatula.

Remove to bowl. Fold in whites (whisked in TM bowl before or after batter).

Gorgeous moist dense, yet light malt or ecru coloured cake. Malt flavoured? Not really. Not obviously malt flavoured as in the batter, but there is a  little “je ne sais quois” that is appealing.

The texture is lovely.

Malted Milk Cake: Making the Malted Cream Filling

This little addition takes the Malted Milk Cake to an entirely different level. It clearly reads as “Malted Milk Cake” when filled with this Malted Cream. Such earthy pleasure.

Prepare pans as this recipe will set each filling into a disc that can be placed on top of each cake layer.

Simmer-heat a portion of the cream, stirring constantly, to combine the malted powder. Once warmed through, add gelatin powder, still until completely dissolved and place into another container.

Above left, is the gelatin mixture: chill for 30 minutes. Just before ready to come out of fridge, whisk remaining cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form. Yes. I over whisked. But, add the gelatin mixture anyway. The filling will be more dense, but as delicious. Try not to do that!

Whisk to combine the gelatin mixture and divide equally into prepared cake pans. Chill for at least an hour, or until set.

Remove from fridge. Place one layer of cake on top of one layer of gelatin.

Invert on cake decorating turntable. Remove plastic wrap.

First cake layer with malted cream layer on top of it, above, left. Above right, repeating the process. Second cake layer on top of second malted cream layer.

Invert on top of first cake layer. Remove plastic wrap.

Place third cake on top of second malted cream layer. If not decorating immediately, wrap well and chill or freeze until frosting the cake.

Malted Milk Cake: Frosting the Cake

Make one batch of Coconut Butter Cream frosting tinted blue (recipe below). Cover chilled or frozen cake completely with a crumb coat using about 1/2 frosting. Chill cake for 30 minutes.

Frost chilled cake with remaining frosting.

Place small amount of brown food colouring in a bowl. Practice “speckling” first on paper and outside. Then, speckle cake.

So simple. Such fun. So purdy!

Malted Milk Cake: Decorating the Cake

We had made the little nests in advance and were so excited to plop them onto the cake and in position. Simply charming! I think I hear tiny toes on the floor running around Easter morning hunting for Easter Eggs! Next Easter, Eleanor with be with us! Imagine!

So many new beginnings. So much magic. So many stories to tell and memories to make!

So much cake to eat!

… and surprises to plan….

Just look at this little fancy schmancy homemade celebration waiting to happen….

Oh my! Peep! Peep! Hello!!!

Spring is my favourite time of year! I cannot wait to feel you in your mommy’s tummy, Eleanor. I cannot wait to hug you and kiss you and smell your lovely sweet little childskin smell, Prince William. Who does Gramsy Love? You know who!

Malted Milk Cake: Serving and Storing the Cake

I’ll replace the above photo with a ‘non-frozen” piece after Easter. For now, I “snuck” a piece out of our holiday cake to share just with you and slid it back. Hope no one notices! Happy Easter, with love! Oh, I am bursting with love right now. Does it show? Gramsy is coming, soon!

CAVEAT: Do not freeze this cake. It is one of the few cakes where the structure and texture changes dramatically after being frozen. From light and moist to dense and heavy. I found the cake very unpleasant after freezing it, yet light and moist with a full and lively body, when fresh.

5 from 1 vote

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Speckled Robin's Egg Blue Malted Milk Cake

The idea was definitely inspired by Betty Crocker, but this recipe is completely my own for the malted cake. It is light, moist, delicious and I am very proud of this cake: and ACF original recipe. The malted cream filling is also completely original. Some will like it, some will not. but there is no mistaking this as a malted milk cake!

Course Cake

Cuisine Canadian

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Author Valerie Lugonja

Ingredients

• Flour and butter , for preparing cake pans
• 2 ¼ cups or 9 ounces or 270 grams cake flour
• 4 teaspoons or 20 grams baking powder
• ¼ cup or 35 grams malted milk powder
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 6 large egg whites , at room temperature
• 1 cup or 220 grams unsalted butter , room temperature
• 1 cup or 250 grams half-and-half , at room temperature
• 1 cup or 210 grams granulated sugar (¼ cup more, optional)
• 1 teaspoon or 5 grams pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of 5 grams pure coconut extract
• 6 large egg yolks

Ingredients for Frosting the Cake:

• 4 cups powdered icing sugar
• 1 cup butter , room temperature
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons coconut extract
• Turquoise food colouring , a few drops (little at a time)

Ingredients for Malted Cream Layers:

• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2 packages gelatin powder
• 1 tablespoon malt powder
• ¼ cup and 2 tablespoons sugar

Ingredients for Speckling the Cake:

• Brown Food Colouring
• Pastry brush

Ingredients for Decorating the Cake:

• Phyllo Pastry Baskets and Malted Eggs
• Little chicks

Instructions

1. Set oven rack in middle position; preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans; line bottoms with parchment paper rounds, buttered on top
3. In large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, malt powder, and salt
4. In medium bowl, using an electric mixer, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form (2 minutes); set aside
5. In another medium bowl, using an electric mixer, whisk sugar and egg yolks until thick and frothy (about 5 min)
6. Add butter to yolks; whisk until fully incorporated (2-3 min)
7. Add remaining wet ingredients to yolk mixture: ½ and ½, and extracts; whisk to combine
8. Fold dry ingredients gently into wet by hand with spatula until just until incorporated: lumps and some floury bits may still be apparent
9. Gently fold set aside whites into batter with spatula, until just combined
10. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans; bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (25 minutes: if in doubt - don't take it out! 2-3 more minutes)
11. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes; invert onto racks to cool completely

Instructions for Making the Cake Batter in the Thermomix

1. Set oven rack in middle position; reheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper rounds, buttered on top
3. Place egg whites into TM bowl with spatula inserted: whisk until stiff peaks for 20 seconds at speed 4; set aside in large bowl
4. Rinse and dry TM bowl
5. Weigh flour, baking powder, malt powder, and salt into TM bowl; combine for 5 seconds at speed 5 and set aside in another bowl
6. Without washing TM bowl, weigh in sugar and egg yolks; cream together for 30 seconds at speed 5
7. Weigh butter into TM bowl with yolk mixture; cream for 30 seconds at speed 5 (scrape down sides of bowl with spatula midpoint)
8. Weigh half and half, vanilla and coconut extract into wet ingredients in TM bowl; whisk until fully incorporated for 30 seconds at speed 5 (scrape down sides of bowl with spatula midpoint)
9. Remove TM bowl from base, add dry ingredients; fold together by hand with spatula until barely incorporated (lumps and some floury bits may still be apparent)
10. Add TM ingredients to egg whites set aside in large bowl; fold together by hand with spatula until just incorporated (small lumps may still be apparent)
11. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans; bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (25 minutes: if in doubt - don't take it out! 2-3 more minutes)
12. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes; invert onto racks to cool completely

Instructions for Freezing the Cakes:

1. Wrap each cake well with plastic wrap; label and date
2. Freeze overnight on flat surface; package again in zip lock freezer bag until ready to frost (will keep well up to 2 weeks)

Instructions for the Malted Milk Cream Layers:

1. Prepare 2 cake pans by covering completely with plastic wrap
2. Heat 1/2 cup heavy cream with malted powder to medium simmer; remove from heat
3. Add gelatin powder immediately; stir to dissolve completely and chill for 30 minutes
4. Whip remaining cream until soft peaks form; add sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks just begin to form
5. Add refrigerated malted gelatin cream to whipped cream; whisk together
6. Divide mixture equally into 2 prepared cake pans; smooth surface and chill for one hour, until set
7. Remove from fridge; unwrap frozen cake layers
8. Place one cake layer over one cake pan with malted cream filling; invert onto serving platter
9. Remove plastic wrap from filling; repeat with second cake and filling
10. Place third layer on top of other two layers of cake; malted cream will be between each layer
11. Cover completely with plastic wrap; freeze or chill until ready to frost

Instructions for Frosting the Cake:

1. Cover cake decorating turntable with parchment cut in half for easy removal; place cake on turntable and remove all plastic wrap
2. Place all ingredients for Coconut Butter Cream Frosting into large mixing bowl' beat until completely creamy and frothy (about 10 minutes)
3. In small bowl, place small dollop brown food coloring; dip tip of pastry brush into colour and practice splattering on paper,as follows, first
4. Hold brush 6 to 8 inches from cake; gently flick onto iced cake (avoid flinging)
5. Repeat for desired effect

Instructions for Decorating Cake:

1. Place Kataifi (shredded phyllo) nests around and on cake; nestle malted Easter Eggs into nests and around base of cake

Instructions for Storing Cake:

1. Store in fridge or freezer; thaw or set to room temperature prior to slicing and serving

Recipe Notes

Sugar
I actually added 1 1/2 cups first time and found it too sweet. I cup is not sweet at all, but with icing and filling, I like it. Opinions varied. A regular cake would have 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cup sugar.