Dark Chocolate Malt Snack Cake

This dark chocolate malt snack cake is perfect for just about any occasion! Make it for a birthday, celebration, or just a random Saturday night. It's a bowl and whisk kind of recipe that bakes up into a super moist & ultra chocolatey snack cake. The malted milk powder in both the cake and the frosting helps to keep the cake soft and gives this dessert that nostalgic malt flavor that brings you back to eating whoppers and drinking malted milkshakes as a kid. This cake is seriously a must bake! Plus, as a snacking cake, it's completely acceptable to eat it at any time of day!

Ingredients

• Cocoa Powder: This recipe calls for a combination of dutch process and black cocoa powder, however if you do not have black cocoa powder, you can use just 42g of dutch process. 
• Chocolate: Since this is a dark chocolate cake, I recommend using dark chocolate, but you can use semi-sweet, bittersweet, or milk chocolate is you would like.
• Coffee: You'll need freshly brewed coffee to bloom the chocolate and cocoa powders, but alternatively you can use boiling water.
• All-Purpose Flour: You'll need slightly more than one cup of flour.
• Malted Milk Powder: I used Carnation malted milk powder for both the cake and frosting.  
• Sugars: You'll need both granulated sugar and brown sugar.
• Espresso Powder: This helps to optimize the chocolate flavor, but you can omit it.
• Baking Powder: You'll add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to help the cake rise. 
• Neutral Oil: Use vegetable, canola, or light-tasting extra virgin olive oil.
• Whole Milk: Whole milk provides the best flavor in baked goods.
• Yogurt: The best yogurt to bake with is whole milk greek yogurt.
• Eggs: You'll need two eggs at room temperature for the cake and 3 egg yolks for the frosting.
• Unsalted Butter: You'll need one stick of butter at room temperature, but on the cooler side, for the frosting. 

FAQ

Other chocolate recipes you'll love  

• Chocolate & Vanilla Swirled Macarons
• Chocolate Espresso Linzer Cookies
• Mini Chocolate Soufflé For One
• Fudgy Mocha Brownie Cookies

A few extra baking tips

• If you do not have black cocoa powder, you can use just 42g of dutch process cocoa powder.
• The frosting is my favorite french buttercream recipe with malted milk powder mixed in. You can leave out the milk powder if you'd rather have a thicker frosting that you can create swoops with.
• Store this cake in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Happy baking! x

📖 Recipe

Dark Chocolate Malt Snack Cake

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

• Author: Sloane
• Prep Time: 1 hour
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
• Yield: 16 servings 1x
• Category: cake, dessert, chocolate

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Description

This dark chocolate malt snack cake is a bowl and whisk kind of recipe that bakes up super moist & ultra chocolatey. The malted milk powder in both the cake and the frosting helps to keep the cake soft and gives this dessert that nostalgic malt flavor that brings you back to eating whoppers and drinking malted milkshakes as a kid. 

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the snack cake:

• 30g dutch process cocoa powder
• 12g black cocoa powder
• 100g dark chocolate
• 100g freshly brewed hot coffee
• 140g all-purpose flour
• 100g malted milk powder
• 100g granulated sugar
• 45g brown sugar
• 1 ½ tsp espresso powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 65g neutral oil
• 60g whole milk (room temp)
• 60g whole milk greek yogurt (room temp)
• 2 eggs (room temp)
• 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract 

For the frosting:

• 3 egg yolks
• 50g granulated sugar
• 1 ½ tbsp water
• 113g unsalted butter (room temp)
• 113g (40z) dark chocolate
• 50g malted milk powder 
• ¼ tsp salt

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Instructions

For the snack cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9x9 inch square pan with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa powders, chocolate, and hot coffee together. If the chocolate does not fully melt, heat in the microwave in 20 second intervals until fully melted. 
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, malted milk powder, sugars, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt. 
4. To the dry ingredients, add the oil, milk, yogurt, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until fully combined.
5. Add in the chocolate mixture and whisk until fully combined.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Allow cake to cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. 

For the frosting:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add the egg yolks and whisk on medium-high speed until thick and foamy.
2. Meanwhile, heat the sugar and water in a small frying pan over low heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium and bring to a boil, or until it reaches 240 degrees F. Do not let it get any hotter. 
3. While the egg yolks are still whisking on low speed, slowly drizzle the hot sugar syrup into the bowl. Turn the speed up to high and continue mixing until it has cooled down below 85 degrees F.
4. Add the butter to the mixture one cube at a time, allowing each piece to fully incorporate before adding another.
5. Add the melted chocolate, malted milk powder, and salt, and mix until fully combined. 
6. Spread the frosting over the cooled snack cake, cut into 16 squares, and enjoy!

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Notes

• If you do not have black cocoa powder, you can use just 42g of dutch process cocoa powder.
• The frosting is my favorite french buttercream recipe with malted milk powder mixed in. You can leave out the milk powder if you'd rather have a thicker frosting that you can create swoops with.
• Store this cake in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 piece
• Calories: 309
• Sugar: 18.2 g
• Sodium: 157.7 mg
• Fat: 18.3 g
• Carbohydrates: 30 g
• Protein: 8.3 g
• Cholesterol: 76.3 mg

Keywords: snack cake, dark chocolate malt cake, french buttercream, chocolate malt frosting