Maltesers Indulgence Easter Cake

This cake is a real celebration of Easter and for me, chocolate is the key to a happy Easter, especially with my two girls, Bridget and Beatrice. This cake is not frugal, nor healthy - it is truly decadent, indulgent and calorific, but it is also absolutely delicious and fun to make with kids or solo. It takes a little more time than an ordinary sandwich cake, but is well worth the effort.

If you do want to shave off a few calories, you could make it without the vanilla sponge layer, but the height does help to make a hidey hole for the Maltesers which pour out as you slice into the cake. 

Malteasers Indulgence Easter Cake

Here's how:

For the chocolate sponge:

• 8 tbsp boiling water
• 50g cocoa (sifted)
• 4 eggs
• 60ml milk (use full fat if possible)
• 180g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 115g butter (room temperature)
• 270g caster sugar

For the vanilla sponge:

• 2 eggs
• 120g butter (room temperature)
• 120g caster sugar
• 120g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

The chocolate buttercream:

• 100g milk chocolate
• 200g butter (room temperature)
• 450g icing sugar
• 6 tbsp cocoa powder
• 4-6 tbsp milk

To decorate/adorn:

• x3 large packs of Maltesers or 1 share bag
• x6 Maltesers Bunnies

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and grease and line x2 20cm round sandwich tins and set aside.

Make the vanilla sponge first by simply using the all-in-one method, literally put the butter, caster sugar, self-raising flour, baking powder, vanilla essence into a mixing bowl, crack in the two eggs and mix well to form a cake batter. 

Pour into one of the lined cake tins and tilt the tin to ensure the cake batter covers the entire bottom and is well spread out. 

Place into the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown, risen, and you can stick a skewer inside without any wet crumbs coming out. 

Remove from the tin, place onto a wire race or a board to cool. Re-line the cake tin, firstly removing any cakey debris. 

While the vanilla sponge is in the oven, set to work making the chocolate sponge. First place the cocoa into a mixing bowl, and pop the 8 tbsp boiling water into the bowl too, using a wooden spoon to stir and making a bit of a paste. It shouldn't be too dense, and should have some movement, so if you need to add a little more boiling water, do so, 1 tbsp at a time until you're happy with the consistency.

Now add the rest of the cake ingredients; the butter, eggs, milk, sugar, baking powder and self-raising flour and mix well with the wooden spoon until a batter is formed. 

Now pour the batter into the two sandwich tins, as evenly as you can (you can use scales to be precise but I don't bother for an 'at home' cake and gauge it by sight instead.

Again tilt the tins to ensure the batter is all over the tins and spread out well then place into the centre of the oven and bake for 25 minutes. 

Again, use a skewer to ensure the cake is cooked through, and if not return to the oven for a further five minutes.

Gently remove from the tins after a few minutes and turn out onto a wire rack or a board to cool and leave for 20-30 minutes so they're cooled through.

For the buttercream, first break up the milk chocolate (we used an Easter egg) and melt in a bowl over a pot of boiling water or in a microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, then set aside.

Now in the final mixing bowl (or the one you've washed up twice) combine the butter, with the icing sugar and cocoa. If you can, sieve the icing sugar and cocoa in, as it will make the buttercream less grainy - but I was lazy yesterday! Add the milk and stir well with a wooden spoon. You want it to be loose and easy to spread with a knife or palette knife, so add more milk a tbsp at a time if it feels a little too thick. Pour in the melted chocolate and give a final stir then set aside.

To assemble the cake, use a cake stand or whatever you want the cake to sit on, and place the bottom layer (whichever one is tattiest) of chocolate sponge on the stand. Use a cookie cutter and cut out a round right in the centre of the cake. Remove the centre sponge piece, (if you have small children I'm sure they will help to get rid of the cake!). 

Now spread the rest of the top of the bottom layer of chocolate sponge with a thin layer of the chocolate buttercream.

Next cut out the centre of the vanilla sponge and place the remaining outer circle on top of the chocolate sponge on the cake stand. Now you should have the two layers, with a big, deep hole. Fill with two thirds of the Maltesers. 

Maltesers Indulgence Easter Cake

Now spread the vanilla sponge on top with the chocolate buttercream and place the final, full chocolate sponge on top. It may dip a little in the centre, but don't worry about that.

Now spread the chocolate buttercream all over the cake, using the back of a knife or if you have one, a palette knife to get it as neat as you can. Any remaining buttercream pop into a small Tupperware dish and it will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks for any cakes you might want to ice.

Now to tidy the stand, so if you are like me, you may have made a little mess of the stand with the chocolate, use some kitchen roll or tissue to mop up any spillages and make neat and then you can pop on the final decorations.

Add the x6 Malteser Bunnies around the outside, they should stick to the buttercream without anything extra needed.

Bash up the remaining Maltesers with the end of a rolling pin so they're all crushed and then scatter over the top of the cake. Enjoy!

If you love a chocolate bake like us here are a few other recipes you may enjoy:
Mini Egg Brownies
Mary Berry's Marbled Chocolate Ring
Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Olive Oil Cake
Rich Mocha Cake
Simple Double Chocolate Traybake
Triple Chocolate Cookie Brownies