Instructions

1. For the white chocolate malt ganache, pour cream into a small saucepan and sit over medium high heat to scald. Remove from heat when it starts to steam and just beings to bubble around the edges.
2. Pour scalded cream over chopped white chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Leave to sit for about 10 seconds, then add malt powder and stir with a fork or small whisk until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Tip: If it cools too quickly for the chocolate to melt, place bowl over a pot of steaming water or give it a few 5 second bursts in the microwave to help melt the chocolate completely.
3. Leave to cool at room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until needed.
4. For the sponge, pre-heat oven to 180°C /160°C fan assisted and line the bottom of two 20cm (8inch) tins with parchment paper then grease and flour the sides. Set aside.
5. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients except for the boiling water.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix just until combined. Add the just-boiled water and mix just until combined with the batter, which should now be very liquid and with no lumps. Tip: If using an electric hand or stand mixer, start with the lowest speed to avoid splashing hot water, then slowly increase the speed to a medium until just combined.
7. Divide batter evenly between prepared baking tins then bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out without any wet batter, though a few wet crumbs are ok. Between 35-45 minutes.
8. Once baked, leave to cool completely in baking tins on wire racks, once cold, run a sharp knife around the sides of the sponge to make sure it’s released from the tin then carefully turn out and peel away parchment paper. Leave on wire racks until ready to assemble.
9. For the Swiss meringue buttercream, combine egg whites and sugar in the steel bowl of your stand mixer. Place this over a saucepan of just simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Tip: Before adding the egg whites to the bowl, make sure it is completely grease-free.
10. Using an electric hand mixer, whisk the sugar and egg whites together over the bain marie until the sugar has dissolved and you have a very soft meringue that looks like marshmallow fluff.
11. Remove bowl from the bain marie. To help remove the high heat from the meringue, either carefully run just the bottom of the bowl under a tap of cold water, making sure no water gets into the bowl, or have an ice-bath ready that you can sit the bowl into. You want the intense heat to be removed, but it doesn’t have to be completely cool before you continue.
12. Dry off the bowl then sit in your stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whisk the meringue until thick and glossy and the bowl is now room temperature. Tip: If you’re still feeling a bit of warmth, you can dip a tea towel in the ice-bath water or in cold water from the tap, wring out so it’s not dripping, and hold it against the bowl while whisking. Continue this until the heat has gone from the meringue.
13. It’s time to start adding the butter. Cut the butter into cubes roughly 1 tbsp each, place cubes on a small plate. Tip: The butter should be soft enough that you can easily leave an indent when pressing it with a finger, if it’s too hard, give it a 5 second burst in the microwave. Test again, if still too hard, another 2-3 seconds.
14. Switch to the paddle attachment, and with the mixer running on a low speed, add 1 cube of butter. Once it has been mixed into the meringue, add another cube of butter. Continue doing this, slowly adding the butter 1 cube at a time, you can also start increasing the speed to medium low. Tip: If you don’t have a beater attachment with the silicon spatula, make sure to stop mixing from time to time to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is being mixed together.
15. Tip: Once about half to two thirds of the butter has been added, the mixture will look curdled with a lumpy texture, this is completely normal so don’t panic! This is always a shock to first-time Swiss meringue buttercream makers, but it will come together! As if by magic, it comes together, normally, with the last few cubes of butter.
16. Once all the butter has been added, you can increase the speed slightly and beat until the buttercream becomes thick and smooth.
17. For the flavourings, melt the chocolate and leave to cool until room temperature and mix together the malt powder with milk in a small bowl to form a paste. Tip: This can be done during the process of adding the butter so that the chocolate has cooled by the time you need it.
18. With the mixer on a low speed, add the malt milk paste and cooled chocolate along with the vanilla extract to the buttercream and beat until completely combined and the buttercream is a uniform colour. Tip: We haven’t added salt to the recipe as we find Horlicks already has enough saltiness to it, if you’re using a different brand and feel the buttercream needs a little bit of salt, add a pinch or two when you’re adding the other flavourings.
19. To assemble, place one of the completely cold sponges on a serving plate. Spread the white chocolate malt ganache on top of the sponge in an even layer with a small spatula. Tip: The sponge is a bit delicate, so make sure the ganache is an easy spreading consistency before topping the sponge so that it doesn’t tear and bring up crumbs. If it has become a little too hard from being in the fridge, place over a bowl of steaming water and use a sturdy spoon to stir until softened slightly so it’s spreadable.
20. Stack second sponge on top and press down lightly so it’s sitting firmly on top.
21. Cover the cake with the chocolate malt Swiss meringue buttercream and decorate any way you like. We did big swirls on top of the sponge and mostly smoothed the sides, then used a large plain round icing tip to pipe buttercream kisses on top of the cake around the edge.
22. Finally, decorate with Maltesers.
23. Store in a large container or cake tin at a cool room temperature for up to 5 days. If it’s a bit warm, store in the fridge. To serve from the fridge, cut your slices and leave slices for about 15 minutes at room temperature so that the buttercream softens.