A rich and moist high altitude chocolate malted milk cake, frosted with malted milk chocolate buttercream and covered in crushed chocolate malted milk balls.
You might also love this vanilla malted milk Easter cake, no churn malted vanilla ice cream with mini Cadbury eggs, and no churn strawberry swirl malted milk ice cream.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Rich Malt Flavor. If you Google recipes for chocolate malted milk cake, many of the recipes call for malted milk powder in the cake itself. But in order for the flavor not to be overwhelmed by the chocolate, you have to add a LOT of the powder, which can get quite expensive. So I chose not to add any malt powder to my chocolate malted milk cake. Instead, all of the malt flavor comes from a bit of malt powder in the buttercream, as well as lots of crushed malt balls pressed onto the cake. It’s truly a wonderful combination of flavors and textures.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Chocolate Cake + Chocolate Buttercream. For the cake, I used my popular and always delicious high altitude chocolate cake recipe. It’s moist, rich, fluffy, and bakes perfectly at high altitude.
- Malted Milk Powder. The malted milk powder adds another layer of flavor to the fluffy chocolate buttercream.
- Malted Milk Balls. Chocolate covered malted milk balls, also known as Whoppers, are crushed and pressed all over the frosting for the most wonderful crunch to contrast the soft cake.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Make the chocolate cake as instructed, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- Make the chocolate buttercream as instructed, adding the malted milk powder with the powdered sugar.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. Place one cake layer on a cake board, and frost with a layer of buttercream. Repeat stacking and filling the cake layers, then frost all over with a thin “crumb coat” of buttercream. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set the crumb coat. Keep the bowl of remaining buttercream covered. Frost all over with a final layer of buttercream.
- Put the malt balls in a bag and use a rolling pin to lightly crush them into small pieces. Press the crushed malt balls over the buttercream.
- If you have any buttercream left, fit a piping bag with tip 1M, and fill with the buttercream. Pipe swirls on top of the cake, and decorate with additional malt balls.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container or cake carrier for 3 days. Note that the crushed malt balls will not be as crunchy after the first 24 hours.
If your grocery store carries malted milk powder, you’ll find it on the baking aisle, near the regular powdered milk, evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. You can also buy malted milk powder on Amazon.
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Please check out my Amazon Shop for a curated collection of some of my favorite cake pans from trusted brands, baking tools, ingredients, pretty things and fashion finds. I recommend products that I buy and use every day!
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High Altitude Chocolate Malted Milk Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 recipe Chocolate Cake
Buttercream
- 1 recipe Chocolate Buttercream
- ⅓ cup malted milk powder
- 1 box (5 oz) chocolate covered malted milk balls (Whoppers)
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Make the chocolate cake as instructed, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- Make the chocolate buttercream as instructed, adding the malted milk powder with the powdered sugar.
- Remove the cooled cakes from the pans. Place one cake layer on a cake board, and frost with a layer of buttercream. Repeat stacking and filling the cake layers, then frost all over with a thin "crumb coat" of buttercream. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set the crumb coat. Keep the bowl of remaining buttercream covered. Frost all over with a final layer of buttercream.
- Put the malt balls in a bag and use a rolling pin to lightly crush them into small pieces. Press the crushed malt balls over the buttercream.
- If you have any buttercream left, fit a piping bag with tip 1M, and fill with the buttercream. Pipe swirls on top of the cake, and decorate with additional malt balls.
What if I make this in a 13×9. Adjustable?
Yes, you can get the baking time in this post for my chocolate sheet cake, which is a similar recipe: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/high-altitude-chocolate-sour-cream-sheet-cake/