SMS: Chocolate Malted Layer Cake

 
Thanks to Nicole over at Sweet Tooth (who has the recipe on her blog) for picking today's Sweet Melissa Sunday's recipe....Chocolate Malted Layer Cake. And considering I was nibbling on the chocolate malted balls I picked up at the store while walking home and carrying several heavy grocery bags, there was the promise of many yummy things to come. My only hesitancy was in the strong coffee called for in the cake since I don't much care for coffee and trying to melt chocolate in my temporary rigged double boilers since that can periodically give me give me the culinary fits when it doesn't work. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the coffee once it was in the recipe...I couldn't taste it at all. The double boiler was still a bit of a pain but it turned out okay.

I knew from the get go that I was going to have to make modifications to this. Having a double layer cake in the house is dangerous for me since I can rationalize a slice of cake as just a bite if I can find a way to balance it on a fork. So, I chose to go with using a mini bundt cake pan for waistline damage control.

My biggest mistake was forgetting that I was melting unsweetened chocolate for the cake when I decided to lick the spoon. But after everything came together I had one tiny (okay, 2 or 3 tastes...just to make sure it was still okay you know) and thought, wow. It was a deep, rich chocolate that just made you want to close your eyes and forget about all your woes. With that kind of chocolate, a little goes a very long way. I was slightly worried about how thin the batter was, even though Melissa said that it was going to be like that, as I've had some past woes with forgetting to put ingredients in recipes and starting going through this recipe again just to make sure.

In the end I had difficulty getting the cake out of the bundt pan so I'd be hesitant to try this kind of cake in a pan like that again. I was able to salvage a couple in fairly decent shape, but they're a bit rough around the edges. I'd liked the taste and would be open to trying this again but maybe in a square mini cake pan to see if that would help. I did like the taste of them but this reminded me a lot more of a brownie than a cake...same fudgy texture and taste. Which hey, works well for me too. I tried a glaze at first but didn't like how it looked very much so in the end, I went with simplicity by combining powdered sugar with the malt sugar and just lightly sprinkling the cakes with that before topping them with malted milk balls.

 I did like the cake overall. Maybe it's just the fact that my chocolate tooth has mellowed over the years, but for me the frosting would have made this too chocolately (I know, a few years earlier I would have scoffed at the idea). I'm not sure that I would make this again unless I had guests to eat it,  but if I did, I think I would go with a raspberry glaze to offset all the sweetness with a bit of tartness.

Cake Slice: Burnt Sugar Cake

There are three words that up until today have never been uttered by me.

"Too Much Sugar."

I have a massive sweet tooth so when this recipe came up at "The Cake Slice" I was all for it. And in the cakes defense, I really liked the cake portion of it. The frosting, however, was way too much for me.

This is greatly upsetting to a sugar/frosting junkie like myself. Back in the day, I could happily eat frosting out of the can and skip the cake altogether. So maybe this is just a cake of my taste buds growing up and leaving the rest of me behind.

I did modify the recipe slightly as I was not up for having that much cake lying around the house waiting to attack me so I made only a single layer cake. Also, I should confess that the bottom layer didn't cook properly and caved in the center before falling apart when I tried to pop it out of the pan after cooling.

I might make the cake again using a different frosting considering the extra steps it would have to be for a special occasion. It's good but very very sweet.

November’s Cake: Burnt Sugar Cake

(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

For the Cake
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1¾ cups sugar
4 eggs
½ cup Burnt Sugar Syrup (below)

For the Burnt Sugar Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup boiling water

For the Burnt Sugar Frosting
3¾ cups confectioners sugar
½ cup Burnt Sugar Syrup (above)
¼ cup (½ stick) butter
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 – 3 tbsp evaporated milk or normal milk

Method – Burnt Sugar Syrup

Heat the sugar in a cast iron skillet or another heavy bottomed pan with high sides. Heat over a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar melts into a clear brown caramel syrup. It should be the colour of tea. Gradually add the boiling water, pouring it down the sides of the pan so that if the syrup foams and bubbles up, you should be protected.

Continue cooking, stirring often, until the water combines with the syrup and turns a handsome brown syrup. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Store the cooled syrup in a sealed jar if not using straight away.

Method - Cake

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and stir with a fork to mix well. Stir the vanilla into the milk.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer at high speed for 2 – 3 minutes, until they are well combined. Stop now and then to scrape the bowl down. Add the eggs, one by one, beating well each time. Pour in half a cup of the burnt sugar syrup and beat well. Add a third of the flour mixture and about half of the milk, beating at a low speed, until just incorporated. Mix in another third of the flour and the rest of the milk. Finally, add the remaining flour.

Divide the batter between the cake pans and bake at 350F for 20 to 25 minutes until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched gently in the centre and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the cakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for15 minutes. Turn out the cakes into the wire rack to cool completely.

Method – Burnt Sugar Frosting
In a large bowl, combine the confectioners sugar, the burnt sugar syrup, butter and vanilla. Beat with a mixer at medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl now and then to bring the ingredients together. Add 2 tablespoons of the milk and continue beating until the frosting is thick, soft, smooth and easy to spread. Add a little more sugar if it is thin, and a little more milk if it is too thick.

To Assemble
Place one layer, top side down, on a cake stand or serving plate. Scoop about ¾ cup of the frosting onto the cake. Spread to the edges and place the second cake layer over it, top side down. Frost the sides of the cake, and then the top until it is evenly covered.