Strawberry Malt Cake
Soft swirled strawberry malt vanilla bean cake layers, frosted in sweet and thick strawberry malt buttercream, dripped in white chocolate ganache and topped with sprinkles, gumballs, and fresh strawberry slices. This cake is everything for your malt-loving friends, and for those who don’t know they love malts just yet!
This cake flavor is 100% inspired by my husband. Whenever we get burgers at our favorite burger places, he always scans the menu for a cold and sweet dessert to top off all the salty & savory we’d eat together. Strawberry malts are almost always at the top of his list.
For those who don’t know what a malt is, it’s like a milkshake, but with the addition of malted milk powder. It enhances the flavors in the milkshake and gives a really sweet & rich taste to the shake.
While creating this strawberry malt shake, I knew the addition of malted milk powder was essential to get that signature malt taste, and boy was I right!!! I found the malted milk powder next to the evaporated & condensed milk at the grocery store. It doesn’t add any color to your sweets, just the thick rich taste. Tossing it right into the batter was easy, and I also added a bit right into the buttercream. This recipe basically came together by itself, haha.
I’ve used several different methods to achieve a “strawberry” flavor in my cakes, but for this particular cake I wanted something that tasted a bit more candy-like, and also something that would compliment the vanilla-bean ice cream taste I was going for. So for this cake, I used strawberry emulsion (less strong than an extract), and it worked beautifully! It also made it so I didn’t have to use a single drop of food coloring for my cake swirl or buttercream. Strawberry emulsion has a naturally pink tint to it, so everything came out with a soft sweet pink shade from using it.
For the swirl, I made my white cake batter as usual (but with the addition of vanilla bean paste for that awesome ice-cream flavor and little cute vanilla bean flecks), but I halved the batter at the end, and stirred in the strawberry emulsion into one half the batter. Alternating the vanilla and strawberry cake, I used a cookie scoop to scoop the white and pink batter into my prepared cake pans. Then, to achieve the swirl, I used a knife in a figure 8 pattern to swirl it together. I love the way the swirl is simple, easy, and adds a little whimsical dimension to the cake rounds.
I know, I know, the DRIP AGAIN?! Well, this one called for a bit of that melty whipped cream look on top, and I thought the drip would be a soft contrast to the light pink buttercream. I topped everything off with some gumballs, strawberry slices, and some darling Sweetapolita sprinkles appropriately named “soft serve” 😉 .
So what do you say?
Ready to make some cake right about now?
OH YEAH YOU ARE.
Let’s do this.
Here’s a quick video of me making it:
As always, I LOVE to see your creations! Make sure to tag @bakingwithblondie and #bakingwithblondie when you post your beautiful cakes. Seeing what you create is just icing on the cake for me. Thank you!!
- Strawberry Malt Swirl Cake[br]
- 3/4 Cup Buttermilk
- 2/3 Cup Sour Cream
- 1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
- 3 Egg Whites
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Bean Paste
- 1/4 Cup Malted Milk Powder
- White Cake Mix (Duncan Hines)
- 1 Tablespoon Strawberry Emulsion
- [br]
- Strawberry Malt Buttercream[br]
- 3 Sticks (1 1/2 Cup) Unsalted Butter
- Pinch of Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 3 Tablespoon Malted Milk Powder, sifted
- 3 Tablespoons Strawberry Emulsion
- 1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
- 6-7 Cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted
- [br]
- White Chocolate Ganache Drip[br]
- 1/2 Cup “Very White” White Candy Melts
- 2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
- [br]
- Garnishes[br]
- White Gumballs
- Sprinkles
- Strawberry Slices
- FOR THE STRAWBERRY MALT SWIRL CAKE:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, prep 3 6″ cake rounds, or 2 8″ cake rounds with a swipe of shortening and dust of flour. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, oil, egg whites, and vanilla bean paste.
- Sift in the malted milk powder and cake mix. Stir until just combined (don’t overmix).
- Divide the batter in half. Stir in the strawberry emulsion in one half of the cake batter. It should turn the batter a light pink shade.
- To make the swirled cake look, add in a scoop of vanilla cake, then strawberry cake, etc, until all the batter has been used (I use a cookie scoop for this step). With a knife, make a figure 8 in the batter by swirling the batter around.
- Bake for 25-27 minutes. Remove from the oven. Let cool in the pan for 2 minutes, then flip out onto a cooling rack. Let cool to room temperature, wrap in plastic wrap, then freeze for at least an hour to make for easier decorating.
- FOR THE STRAWBERRY MALT BUTTERCREAM: [br]
- Remove the butter from the fridge and let sit at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes until it’s slightly soft.
- Whip up the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on high until it’s light and fluffy.
- Add in the salt, vanilla, malt powder, emulsion, and heavy cream. Scrape down the sides and add in the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Add more heavy cream if needed for a thinner consistency.
- Whip up buttercream on HIGH speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer down to low speed for 30 seconds, then hand beat with a wooden spoon to get out any remaining air bubbles.
- FOR THE GANACHE: [br]
- In a small bowl, microwave the heavy cream and chocolate for 30 seconds, stir until smooth, place into a squeeze bottle. Set aside.
- ASSEMBLY: [br]
- Pipe a small amount of buttercream in the center of a 6″ cardboard round taped to a 8″ round. Place on the first cake round, then add on about 2/3 cup buttercream. Repeat with the remaining 2 cake layers, then crumb coat and freeze for 2 minutes.
- Add on final cake layers, drip, and toppings.
The strawberry malt cake is beautiful. Looks like it’s for a princess!
Thanks, Maureen! 🙂
Hi Mandy! I’ve made your coconut cake and LOVED it. I just made this strawberry malt cake and it fell horribly, and it could have been a variety of things (too much going on opps!) so I just wanted to make sure the Duncan Hines mix is the same mix amount. Is the one you use 432g?
Thanks for putting out amazing recipes 🙂
Hi Natalie! I’m so happy everything worked out for the coconut cake. I think with the strawberry malt cake, you have to be careful to not overmix or underbake. The one I use is the same. 🙂
Thanks so much! I realized I don’t have the right malt, so I ended up using your white cake recipe and adding the strawberry emulsion to it, turned out delicious!
Hi Natalie! No worries – I’m so happy you loved it! That totally works, too. 🙂
Would love to make this for Valentine’s Day. How do you make the strawberry emulsion?
Hi Lunda! Strawberry emulsion is like an extract you purchase from baking stores. The brand is usually LorAnn.
Hi Lunda! I purchase it here: https://bakingwithblondie.com/shop/
Can I use Horlicks, which is a malt hot drink powder that we get in South Africa?
Hi Lydia! I’m not sure, I’ve never had it before. Definitely use your best judgement and go from there. 🙂
hi, just wondering what brand of strawberry emulsion you use? i’m from the UK. will all strawberry emulsion give the same pink colour?
Hi Lorann! I use Lorann Emulsions. I have a link to it on my SHOP page from Amazon. 🙂
Am I able to use pasteurized egg whites from the carton? I would definitely like to try this cake. It looks delicious. Thank you for all your recipes. I love your book.
Hi dee! I haven’t tried it, so I’m not sure. Thank you so much! So happy you’re enjoying my cookbook!
Hello, I would love to make this. The box of cake is that just 1 box? Thank you
Hi Militza, Yes! Just one box.
I don’t usually like cake but I made this for my daughter’s birthday and it was amazing!!
Hi Brandi! Happy to hear this! So glad you enjoyed it.