Lush Chocolate Milo Cake

Lush Chocolate Milo Cake // The Sugar Hit

 

Is it a weird reaction to want to laugh hysterically when I spy something as delicious as this cake? Because that’s my instinct. It makes me so damn happy to see a cake this gorgeous. I get the giggles and I can’t stop grinning – I’m like gosh darned school-girl.

 

But that’s just how I am around beautiful cakes! And this is truly my idea of a beautiful cake. You can keep your flamingo-shaped, modelling chocolate monstrosities. Give me a big, tender, luscious chocolate cake any day of the week.

 

Lush Chocolate Milo Cake // The Sugar Hit

 

And I mean, can you SEE this thing? You can tell just by looking at it how beautifully moist and chocolaty those layers are, and how silky and rich that icing is. Add the crunch of a layer of Milo and you’ve arrived at what I think is pretty much the PERFECT birthday cake.

 

Which is why I made this just in time to celebrate Australia day on the weekend! Milo is a quintessentially Aussie ingredient, and it seems I’m making a habit of celebrating with it every year {check out last year’s!}. What is Milo? Think crunchy, salty, chocolate-malt powder and then take what you’re imagining and times that by a thousand. It’s the best.

 

Lush Chocolate Milo Cake // The Sugar Hit

 

The cake recipe I used is Ina’s, and it’s a classic buttermilk chocolate cake – no mixer required, just a big old bowl and a whisk. And the frosting, oh, the frosting. That is something I’ve been working on for a while.

 

It’s a malted chocolate sour cream frosting. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Not too sweet. Plenty of flavour and depth, and with the perfect creamy, velvety texture. Combined with the cake and the crunch of that milo? Killer.

 

Lush Chocolate Milo Cake // The Sugar Hit

 

This is pretty much the best cake I’ve ever made and/or eaten. It’s totally in balance, with the perfect ratio of frosting to cake. I know it looks like it could take more, but trust me on this. If you love frosting, you could make a double batch and cover the whole thing, but I think it’s perfect.

 

And as much as I feel this is THE BEST birthday cake choice that could ever be made, a little voice in my head can’t help but whisper Valentine’s day… That is, if you’re at the ‘stay in bed and eat an entire cake together’ phase of your relationship. Or if you celebrate GALentine’s Day!

 

Lush Chocolate Milo Cake // The Sugar Hit

 

Come to think of it, there’s no bad time to make a Lush Chocolate Milo Cake. Just the fun and sheer meditative enjoyment of putting the cake together is reason enough for me.

 

The way those cake layers are so pliable and moist, but still light. The way the frosting swirls and swoops onto the cake. Raining down a blanket of crunchy milo. Placing the next layer on, just so. And then ever-so-gently pressing down to squish that middle layer of icing out to the edge. Just reading that makes me feel better already.

 

Lush Chocolate Milo Cake // The Sugar Hit

 

Lush Chocolate Milo Cake // The Sugar Hit

 

So there you have it! This beautiful beast of a cake is how I’ll be celebrating Australia Day this year! Or how I would be if it wasn’t my sister’s birthday which totally takes precedence for me. We’re having an epic Southern feast of Brisket, coleslaw, potato salad, biscuits, corn on the cob and Pecan Pie. And if it’s wrong to eat that on Australia Day, then I don’t want to be right.

 

But please know that this cake is right. It is so, so right. It’s right on.

 

xx Sarah.

 

Lush Chocolate Milo Cake // The Sugar Hit

 

Lush Chocolate Milo Cake // The Sugar Hit

Lush Chocolate Milo Cake
 
A rich, tender chocolate cake, slathered in silky malted sour cream frosting and dusted with Milo!
Author:
Serves: Serves 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 x batch Ina Garten's chocolate cake (link to recipe in post)
  • 4oz (100g) milk chocolate
  • 2 oz (50g) dark chocolate
  • 1½ sticks (150g) butter, softened
  • 1½ cups (225g) icing sugar
  • 2 tbsp malt powder (such as Horlicks, or Ovaltine in a pinch)
  • ½ cup + 2 tbsp (155ml) sour cream
  • 3-4 tbsp Milo
Instructions
  1. Bake the cakes, as per instructions, and then leave to cool completely on a rack. Trim the layers so that they're even.
  2. For the frosting, melt the chocolates together in the microwave in 20 second bursts, stirring well between each. Set aside to cool.
  3. Beat the butter in a large bowl, until pale and fluffy and then add the sugar and malt powder and beat again until light and smooth. Add the sour cream, and beat again until completely incorporated.
  4. While beating slowly, stream in the chocolate, and mix until just combined, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
  5. To ice the cake, place one of the layers onto a serving dish, cut side up, and dollop on about half of the icing. Spread it out, leaving a half inch (1cm) border around the edge.
  6. Sprinkle over a few tablespoons of milo, then top with the second cake layer, cut side down.
  7. Press gently, if required, to spread the icing to the edge of the cake, and then dollop the remaining icing on top. Spread and swirl the icing around, and then sprinkle on the remaining milo. Place in the refrigerator, to firm up slightly before cutting, for neater slices. Serve!
 

Lush Chocolate Milo Cake // The Sugar Hit

 

Lush Chocolate Milo Cake // The Sugar Hit

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