Happy Birthday!

So satisfying when the cake comes out looking like the one in the recipe book. I was a bit mean with the Maltesers on top – Nigella has 24, I have 17. And no, I was not going to put lots of candles on it.

This is the Chocolate Malteser Cake from Nigella’s Feast [thank you Liz for lending me this book last weekend]

Very easy to make, and extremely tasty.

Do you like the Autumnal Plate on which I have presented it? [it is balanced on a teacup pedestal for the photograph!] Half the cake is in the freezer now!

150g soft brown sugar
100g caster sugar
3 large eggs
175ml milk
15g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons Horlicks powder
175g plain flour
25g cocoa, sieved
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
For the icing and decoration
250g icing sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa
45g Horlicks
125g soft unsalted butter
2 tablespoons boiling water
2 x 37g packets Maltesers
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3/170C. Butter and line two 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich cake tins with baking parchment.
Whisk together the sugars and eggs until light and frothy. Heat the milk, butter and Horlicks in a small saucepan until the butter has melted and the mixture is hot but not boiling. Beat the milk mixture into the eggs a little at a time. Fold in the dry ingredients thoroughly. Divide the cake batter evenly between the two tins and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, by which time the cakes should have risen and will spring back when pressed gently. Cool on a rack for about 5-10 minutes and then turn them out of their tins.
Put the icing sugar, cocoa and Horlicks in the processor and blitz to remove all lumps. Add the butter and process again. Stop, scrape down, and start again, pouring the boiling water down the funnel with the motor running until you have a smooth buttercream.
Sandwich the cold sponges with half of the buttercream, and then ice the top with what is left, creating a swirly pattern rather than a smooth surface. Stud the outside edge with a ring of Maltesers