Chocolate Malt Cake

In general people should be modest about their accomplishments.  Modesty will not be a character trait of mine today because this is one of the best looking cakes I have ever made!  It was also pretty great in the flavor department.  I didn’t find this cake to be too overwhelming in malt flavor despite the use of a good amount of malt powder and chopped Whoppers.



The cake wasn’t too chocolately, but had a subtle chocolate flavor and wasn’t too sweet.  It had a good texture on its own, but with the frosting it was perfect.  I love this frosting.  This is a recipe I will keep in the “Favorites” folder.  I will definitely make it again and try pairing with other cakes.  I got the recipe from cookiemadness who got it from Chowhound.  One day people will be getting recipes from my blog…one day.

 

I took the advice of cookiemadness and used the Chocolate Malt Frosting recipe she’d posted from Dorie Greenspan.  The ingredients seem normal enough, but the way the frosting comes together is interesting but it works incredibly well.  The brown sugar adds a depth of flavor that compliments the cake.  You can find the cake recipe on Chowhound (linked above) and here is the frosting.

 

Malted Chocolate Frosting (adapted from a Dorie Greenspan recipe)

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup malted milk powder (such as Carnation, Ovaltine or Horlick’s)
1 tablespoon unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted, butter, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar

Melt chocolate and half of the brown sugar together in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water or in top of a double boiler. Let cool slightly.

Stir remaining brown sugar, malted milk powder, cocoa powder and boiling water together in a small bowl or glass measuring cup.

Beat butter in bowl of a standing mixer. When creamy, beat in melted chocolate, followed by malted milk powder mixture. Beat in vanilla. Stir in the powdered sugar; beat until it is well mixed.

Chill mixture for 30 minute to hour or until it is good and cold. Return bowl to stand mixer and beat chilled icing until it becomes light and fluffy.

Daring Bakers- Lavash Crackers and Almond Spread

This is my first month with the Daring Bakers and I am a day late in posting…hopefully I will not be kicked out (fingers crossed)!  I have to admit that I wasn’t too thrilled that my inaugural challenge would be vegan crackers.  Anyway, I warmed up to the cracker idea since it would be something I had never done before.  I have never had good luck with bread dough and all the kneading involved, so I was nervous about this part of the cracker.  I chose to be a little lazy and let Kitchen Aid’s dough hook do the kneading for me.  Then I let it rise.  

Rolling out the dough to a paper thin sheet wasn’t easy.  The second half of the dough rolled much easier as it had some time to rest.  Sarah rolled her dough out much better and they really crisped well.

I made the mistake of not reading the part about spraying the dough with a little water before sprinkling salt and spices.  As a result all the fennel and caraway seeds came tumbling onto the baking sheet instead of sticking to the cracker.  Sad day.

 

    

The Tahitian Almond dipping sauce sounded really interesting so I decided to give it a try.  Almond butter, pine nuts, garlic, cilantro, orange juice and honey.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find almond butter at my small town grocery, AND I forgot to get orange juice.  Carrie the problem solver to the rescue!!  Well, kind of.  I figured that almond butter was nothing more than ground almonds, so I decided to make my own almond butter in the food processor…not so easy.

It kinda came to a butter-ish consistency so I continued on using water instead of orange juice…hmmm.  Maybe I should have been better prepared and used a little more common sense.  Lesson learned.

 

 

After all was said and done my sister Sarah and my husband Ben said they thought it was a success.  I may not make my own crackers again.  I am just fine to go to the store and settle for a box of water crackers.  I am glad that I was, in a way, forced to try them.  I will probably try to make the spread again with the ingredients the recipe calls for.  Maybe then it won’t look quite so much like green sludge.