Malted Milk Chocolate Sunflower Peeps Cake with Malted Chocolate Frosting Recipe

Easter is coming in just a few days. I really love this time of year where we can celebrate new life. I go outside and see all of the bulb flowers starting to nudge their way up again. The grass is greening. The trees are blossoming and releasing flowery fragrances – this is my favorite part – the sweet air!

To be honest, I try to stay pretty low key for the holidays because otherwise I tend to get stressed out and then just don’t see the point of it all. I don’t want to lose my true focus. Because the most important thing for me is enjoying and spending time with my family and close friends.

But it is fun to do a couple of little things. Like, since I have a little two-year-old who is exploring everything right now, I’m trying to help her find her artistic side by making some ‘holiday garlands.’ Which, what it boils down to is that we cut some letters and shapes out of paper, let her color and apply stickers, and then hang everything up with clothes pins in front of our curtain. Voila. Now am I crafty or what?

Really, I don’t pride myself in my craftiness. I’ll leave that to someone else for the most part and instead make a big mess of flour and cocoa powder in the kitchen. Because that, I can eat. Even then, I guess I can try to make my food look cute or crafty once in a while.

This Malted Milk Chocolate Sunflower Peeps Cake is something that can bring a smile to everyone’s face because it just screams Spring. I don’t really like Peeps that much – now Ben, he’s a fan. But he will tell you that they do need to be a little stale to be perfect. For me, still no, but honestly, I don’t mind eating one along with the cake. And then my crew takes care of the rest. 🙂 (Btw, have you ever tried to roast a Peep over a campfire? Doesn’t work, just so you know. Unless you like to eat charred sugar crystals.)

Most of you have probably seen this cake design before. Basically you just need a couple packs of Peeps and some chocolate chips to create the sunflower. Easy-peasy. There are so many different colors of Peeps that you can kind of go any color you want.

I wanted a chocolate cake that was a little different than usual and for some reason, malt has just been on the mind lately. I always love chocolate malt shakes and not too long ago we tracked some malt powder down. Then I started realizing that malt can go a lot further than shakes.

I also wanted a cake recipe that made less cake – one layer please. It seems that most recipes I find are for two to three+ layers. When it’s just me and Ben and two little munchkins, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to make that much cake. Why? Because although I have good intentions to share with my neighbors, well, I guess I’m just too lazy! (And I don’t think I should be taking them cake at 11 pm.) And then by the next day, we just eat it because it’s around. It hasn’t caught up to us yet, but it’s not a great habit.

So this recipe is for one nine-inch round. You can easily double or triple and/or slice the layers in half if you are going for that huge towering cake.

Here’s to sunny days ahead!

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Malted Milk Chocolate Sunflower Peeps Cake with Malted Chocolate Frosting

Course cake

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 1 single-layer cake

Author Christina Lakey

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup malted milk powder such as Carnation or Nestle
• 1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• dash of salt
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup sour cream

For the Frosting:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup malted milk powder
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups powdered sugar

For the Assembly:

• 20 Peeps
• cup about 1/2 chocolate chips

Instructions

For the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease and flour one 9-inch round baking pan.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, malted milk powder, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine.
4. Add milk, oil, egg, and vanilla extract to dry ingredients.
5. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until batter is smooth, about 1 minute, scraping sides with a spatula as needed.
6. Fold in sour cream until just combined.
7. Pour into prepared pan and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until set.
8. Remove from oven and cook in pan on a rack for about 10 minutes.
9. Remove the cake and cool completely on rack before frosting.

For the Frosting:

1. In a medium bowl, combine butter, cocoa powder, and malted milk powder.
2. Beat with an electric mixer until creamy.
3. Add cream and vanilla, and blend until combined.
4. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until smooth.

For the Assembly:

1. Place cake on serving platter.
2. Frost the completely cooled cake.
3. Take your peeps out and separate them. Fan them around the edge of the cake (half on and half hanging over), nestling into the frosting in so they will stay supported and not slip off the edge.
4. Get your chocolate chips, and starting in the center of the top of the cake, place down in a circular fashion until complete top is decorated.
5. Place cake in refrigerator to help the toppings set into place better and take out at serving time.

Recipe Notes

Dress it Down:
Make this cake quick and easy by using a boxed cake mix and canned frosting.

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Christina | Food Apparel

I'm Christina and I'm a self-proclaimed foodie and chocoholic! I am a real estate broker by trade. I have a wonderful husband, 3 girls 4 and under (crazy!!!) and a hyper dog. Want to know my quirks? Go here for a little Q&A.

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