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A Two Layer Chocolate Malt Sponge, with Malteser Spread Filling, Malt Buttercream Frosting, Malteser Bunnies, Maltesers, and Sprinkles! Perfect Malteser Cake for Easter.
So, I have had what feels like an INSANE amount of requests for this recipe. Like, I have genuinely lost count! I have always said so far to multiply up my Malteser Cupcakes recipe, which would also work, but I wanted to make this a whole new level of delicious.
I based this on my Chocolate Fudge Cake and some ideas from my Honeycomb Crunchie Cake as well. All in all, its definitely one of my new favourite recipes. It’s just basically insane. Every mouthful is delicious!
My No-Bake Chocolate Malteser Cheesecake and Cornflake & Malteser Rocky Road recipes have always been popular, but this is only my fourth malteser recipe. I feel like I have neglected them slightly, but as Easter is around the corner, and Malteser Bunnies are everywhere, I knew this was the right time for this delicious cake.
I altered the Chocolate Fudge Cake to be slightly more fudgey, less coffee like, and put in some Malt powder. Some people say they can taste the malt powder, some can’t, so if you watched my baking vlog about this, you will see I only put in 50g of Malt Powder.
However, I decided to bump it up to 75g to increase the flavour! Either way, it helps it create a nice sponge, and along with the spread and buttercream, you don’t need the sponge to be oh-so-malty.
In my mind, this cake was so much better with the Malteser spread in the middle because it gave it more flavour, more sweetness, and another element of Malteser Heaven but it is of course optional. I wouldn’t blame anyone if it all accidentally fell into their mouth and none made it to the cake because you know, I mightve had to have bought another jar as this happened to me… anyway.
The Malt Buttercream is lovely and malty, making it less sweet than normal buttercream frosting, so it combats the other sweetness making it the perfect amount. The cake is quite dense, but it makes it SO FUDGEY and delicious. My Taste Testers were super happy with this cake, and already want it again. I had my slice after photographing it, and now I wish I hadn’t give the rest of the cake away because I am craving more! Enjoy!

Malteser Cake!
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 225 g Dark Chocolate
- 225 g Unsalted Butter
- 2 tsp Coffee Granules
- 75 g Malt Powder (horlicks/ovaltine for milk)
- 175 g Plain Flour
- 25 g Cocoa Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 200 g Golden Caster Sugar
- 200 g Light Brown Sugar
- 4 Medium Eggs
- 75 ml Buttermilk
Buttercream Ingredients
- 250 g Unsalted Butter (room temp)
- 500 g Icing Sugar
- 50 g Malt Powder
- 2-4 tbsp Boiling Water
Decorations
- 200 g Malteser Spread
- 12 Mini Malteser Bunnies
- 200 g Maltesers
- Sprinkles
Instructions
For the Cake!
- Preheat your oven to 160C/140CFan and grease & line two 8″/20cm Cake tins – leave to the side.
- In a heatproof bowl, microwave the Dark Chocolate & Butter till melted – mine takes two minutes! Add the Coffee Granules and Horlicks Powder into a bowl, and add 125ml Boiling Water and mix – add the coffee/malt mix to the Chocolate/Butter mix and stir well till smooth!
- In a separate large bowl add the Plain Flour, Cocoa Powder, Baking Powder, Bicarbonate of Soda, Golden Caster Sugar, and Light Brown Sugar and mix well so the ingredients are all mixed with each other well!
- Mix the Eggs with the Buttermilk – Add the Chocolate Mix & the Egg Mix to the dry ingredients and stir together, try not to over mix it – it should be thick but runny when finished and no flour lumps!
- Pour the mixture into the two tins and bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes (can take a little longer in some ovens, can take less time, check at 40 minutes) A skewer should come out clean, and the cake should be silent (if not fully baked, it’ll make a bubbly/crackling noise). Leave for 10 minutes and cool fully on a wire rack.
For the Buttercream!
- With an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until its very smooth and supple (couple of minutes). Add the Icing Sugar in in two parts, and beat each time.
- With the second addition of Icing Sugar, add the Malt Powder as well! Beat till combined, add in a few tablespoons of boiling water to loosen and beat for a couple of minutes so its extra smooth & creamy.
- Once the cakes are cool, spread the tub of Malteser Spread onto the top of the bottom cake. Pipe on some buttercream, and add the second sponge. Pipe on the rest of the buttercream, and then decorate with some Easter Malteser Bunnies, Maltesers and some sprinkles!
Notes
- You can watch me make this HERE! And Save this recipe on Pinterest HERE!
- I used the Horlicks powder for my Malt Powder that mixes with Milk, but you can also use ovaltine, or any other malt powder.
- If you can’t access the Buttermilk, or you would prefer to use something else then you can use Double Cream in the cake – however it might not be as moist, but there shouldn’t be much of a difference at all!
- You can also bake this into 3 layers using 3 20cm tins – they will take 22-25 minutes in the oven, but will be very thin!
- This cake will last for 3 days in an airtight container!
- Inspired by BBCGoodFood and my Malteser Cupcakes.
ENJOY!
Find my other Cake Recipes on my Recipes Page!
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J x
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57 Comments
Stacey
December 15, 2020 at 9:45 amHi Jane, really looking forward to making this! My partner absolutely loves maltesers! I only have 2 x 6’’ tins though, can you please advise me on the measurements for the ingredients for this size Tin? 🙂 x
Jane's Patisserie
December 15, 2020 at 10:29 amHey! So I usually say a good aim is to use 2/3 of the recipe when baking a 6″ version! X
Stacey
December 16, 2020 at 8:20 pmFab! I’ll give it a go! Thank you Jane 🙂 x
Stacey
December 23, 2020 at 10:42 pmHi Jane, I’m sorry I forgot to ask you, if I’m making this slightly smaller (2×6’’ tins) will the baking times or temperature change at all ?
Xx
Jane's Patisserie
December 27, 2020 at 11:28 am6″ tins are about 1/3 smaller so quite a bit smaller. I would recommend reducing the recipe by 1/3, and then the baking time will reduce but I am not certain for how long as I haven’t made this recipe that size before x
Yasmin
October 12, 2020 at 1:02 pmAhhhhh my god, this is THE BEST cake you’ll ever make/eat in your life!! It’s super chocolately, rich, fudgey and the malted buttercream just tops everything off nicely. Thanks so much Jane x
Holly
October 8, 2020 at 5:50 pmI’m very excited to make this cake for a friends birthday tomorrow. I was wondering does it matter whether the malt powder is original horlicks or if horlicks instant would be ok to use too? X
Jane's Patisserie
October 9, 2020 at 8:57 amIt shouldn’t matter, but I find the “add milk” ones are better for baking x
Holly
July 27, 2020 at 9:08 amHello Jane, does it matter what coffee you use? Xx
Jane's Patisserie
July 27, 2020 at 12:47 pmI use a strong instant coffee, but the type doesn’t really matter! x
Beth
June 28, 2020 at 11:10 amHi, wanting to make this, but can’t get a hold of the malteser spread anywhere!!! What else would you recommend using instead please? Thanks!
Jane's Patisserie
June 28, 2020 at 5:10 pmI would just leave it out! You could use a different spread, but then it might take away from the Malteser flavour x
Elaina Gibney-Columb
June 8, 2020 at 8:47 amHiya, I had a bit of trouble with this recipe. The first time I was being lazy, didn’t want to prep another tin (mine were slightly too small) and I over filled them and it exploded in the oven (I enjoyed cleaning that up very much :/ ).
But the second time, they came out fine like normal cakes but all three of the sponges had kind of bubbled/ almost crystallized on top. I remember being told once this was a sign that I added too much sugar or didn’t mix the sugar in properly but I was as thorough as I could have possibly been when mixing the dry ingredients and all of the wet ingredients seemed perfectly incorporated too.
I was wondering if you could tell me what I did wrong or what I can change so it doesn’t happen again. The cake still has an amazing fudge texture otherwise and I can’t wait to devour it after dinner. Just for future reference, I’d like to know what I could have done differently. Thanks x
Jane's Patisserie
June 8, 2020 at 12:41 pmHey! So yes the smaller tins would definitely overflow haha! And the amount of sugar is correct for the cake – so it may be how it was mixed – you can also very much over mix a cake sponge mix which can cause this too! xx
Laura
May 5, 2020 at 4:01 pmWhat can I substitute the light brown sugar for as it is near impossible to find at the moment also is there an alternative to the buttermilk too? Thanks in advance x
Jane's Patisserie
May 5, 2020 at 4:55 pmCaster sugar or golden caster sugar are the best alternatives, and you can make your own buttermilk at home by using the same weight of whole milk (must be whole) and mixing in 2tbsp lemon juice and letting it sit for 5 minutes before using!
Sarah
April 28, 2020 at 9:05 pmHi, I don’t like coffee is there something else I could use?
Jane's Patisserie
April 28, 2020 at 10:44 pmAs mentioned in the post, the cake does not taste like coffee at all. It just enhances the chocolate flavour.
Rosie
March 10, 2020 at 4:07 pmHi Jane,
Would the quantities in this recipe be okay for me to use 3 6” tins instead of 2 8”. Thanks 🙂
Hannah
February 7, 2020 at 10:38 amI made this cake for my mum’s birthday last week and it was super tasty, and loved by all. Using the same recipe but making it into cupcakes would the oven time be halved?
Clare
January 23, 2020 at 8:14 pmHiya, I attempted this cake tonight but the mixture was so gooey that when I was removing them from the ti s they are fell apart. Where do you think I went wrong? Thanks x
Jane's Patisserie
January 24, 2020 at 10:32 amThe cake was gooey? That means it hasn’t finished baking!
Sarah
December 30, 2019 at 10:37 amI can’t find Malteser spread in my local supermarkets. Can I just use a different chocolate spread?
Jane's Patisserie
December 31, 2019 at 8:43 amYes!
Lily Gregory
June 4, 2019 at 8:13 pmHi Jane!
This cake looks amazing! I’m planning on making it for my boyfriends birthday, do you think chocolate malt buttercream would work for this as well or would it be too much?
Thanks!
Lily
Jane's Patisserie
June 5, 2019 at 10:06 amI personally find that if you add in chocolate as well, it doesn’t taste nearly as malt-y if that makes sense? So it’s up to you!
Emily
April 18, 2019 at 4:26 pmHi Jane, i made this cake the other week and it was delicious. I was wondering could i make it into cupcakes and what the quantities would be?
Jane's Patisserie
April 18, 2019 at 7:10 pmI would halve the recipe for 12!
Karin
March 28, 2019 at 6:32 pmHi Jane, I absolutely love this cake! I do have a question though… when I made it, my buttercream never came out as light in colour as yours… why do you think that is? I used normal Horlicks… thanks so much
Jane's Patisserie
March 29, 2019 at 10:33 amIt might be the butter you are using! The colour doesn’t matter so much though, as long as it tastes good! I just used Unsalted Butter from the supermarket (the type wrapped in foil) x
Karin
March 30, 2019 at 4:01 pmThanks Jane, yeah, that’s what I use as well, oh well, like you say, as long as it tastes good 😊 xx
Lisa howlett
March 24, 2019 at 10:16 pmWhat type of dark chocolate would you recommend and what size are your tins?
Jane's Patisserie
March 25, 2019 at 7:47 amAnything that is 70% or darker – supermarket own is absolutely fine! And the tins are mentioned in the first bit of the method.
Emily Gray
March 9, 2019 at 10:23 amHello!
Do i have to use the coffee powder? Can i just use 2 extra spoonfuls of Horlicks instead?
Emily
Jane's Patisserie
March 9, 2019 at 11:08 amI would advise using the coffee for the chocolate fudge taste – it doesn’t taste coffee like, it just really helps with the chocolate.
Emily Gray
March 12, 2019 at 1:02 pmOhhh okay got ya i was worried it would taste like coffee lol… I’ve only got granules is that okay? It’s not powdered?
Jane's Patisserie
March 12, 2019 at 3:23 pmAs long as its dissolved in the water, it’ll be fine x
Emily Gray
March 13, 2019 at 3:03 pmOh great thank you, its turned out SO well!!! Pics to follow ☺ also how do i store it?
Jane's Patisserie
March 13, 2019 at 3:21 pmJust room temperature is fine! I use a cake box/tin, as its tall enough, and leave on the side! x
Ava
February 19, 2019 at 5:01 pmWow, this looks amazing! I really want to try to make it, the bunnies make it look so cute.
Cassie Screen
November 16, 2018 at 8:18 pmBaked your malteser cake to celebrate the arrival of a new baby in the family! Was absolutely loved by all! The buttercream was especially loved!
carole heddle
September 10, 2018 at 11:12 pmhya wondered if i could use milk chocolate instead of dark ?
Jane's Patisserie
September 11, 2018 at 8:30 amFor the drip?
Emily Gray
March 9, 2019 at 10:35 amAlso i dont have an electric mixer with a paddle attachment like it states in the recipe, i only have an electric mixer/whisk? Will this be okay to use? Want it to be perfect lol!
Jane's Patisserie
March 9, 2019 at 11:08 amAnd for the buttercream that will be fine! You don’t need to use it for the actual cake.
Claire
June 3, 2018 at 9:07 amHi Jane
I love all of your recipes and have tried a few already!
I was planning on doing a giant cupcake cake in a moulded tin, and wondered whether this recipe would work for that? It’s normally a 6 egg recipe so if I amend the quantities and bake it for a bit longer do you think it would still come out Okay?
Thanks 🙂
Claire
Jane's Patisserie
June 4, 2018 at 6:37 pmI’m not too sure to be honest as the sponge in this one is quite delicate in a way, so might take toooo long to bake, but I’ve never tried it so im not sure. x
Madeline Reece
February 17, 2018 at 10:42 amhi i am making this cake on sunday for a birthday on monday, would you recommend doing the icing on monday or sunday. thanks xox
Madeline Reece
February 17, 2018 at 12:22 pmalso can i use normal milk instead of buttermilk
Jane's Patisserie
February 17, 2018 at 3:44 pmYou can make it on Sunday and easily decorate the same day or Monday, it doesn’t matter at all. And you really should use buttermilk, but a homemade version is the same quantity of whole milk (full fat) with 2tbsp lemon juice. It’s important to use it as it helps bake the cake correctly. x
Anifa
August 21, 2017 at 4:39 pmHi, what type of piping nozzle did you use for this cake?
Jane's Patisserie
August 21, 2017 at 9:07 pm2d closed star probably! x
Kris
April 11, 2017 at 4:42 pmHi! Super excited to (attempt to..) make this cake for Easter. I wandered whether it had to be unsalted butter or whether Stork could be used instead? Thanks! X
Jane's Patisserie
April 11, 2017 at 4:43 pmStork can be used in the sponge, but unsalted butter MUST be used in the Buttercream! Stork doesn’t work for Buttercream at all! Xx
Sarah
April 9, 2017 at 5:56 pmHi it’s seems so delicious and pretty. I would to ask you about Malt Powder what is it? And what’s the replacement? Thank you so much.
Jane's Patisserie
April 10, 2017 at 8:36 amMalt Powder makes a Malt drink, kind of like Hot Chocolate (but slightly different). Are you from somewhere out of the UK? It might be worth googling an alternative from your country.
Souha
March 30, 2017 at 8:59 pmHi, for this cake i don’t hahe malted powder, so please if u can tell me by what i can replace it in the cake and the creme preparation